Day Two In York

We woke later than we expected, the journey must have worn us out, and didn't make it into the city center until after ten. First stop the Minster and then a change of plan.

Our room

It was lovely in the Minster and, apart from the hoards of foreign tourists, who all seem to travel in packs, very peaceful. I took time out to light a candle and I was a little bit selfish I'm afraid and prayed for myself. Our tickets are valid for a year so we are planning a quick re-visit on Thursday before we leave and I'll light some more candles for other in need then. 

As you know I was very disappointed with not being able to do the wall walk yesterday, so imagine my delight when we discovered the cat trail. There are twenty one lucky cats dotted all over the city and you just follow the trail and you get to see lots of lovely sights as you go. Again I have pictures of them all which I will share when I get home. This happy adventure took us right up to six when we returned to the hotel for a little bit of a rest and so I could change my cassette over.

The Choir

This evening we are going out again and back to the Minster to take pictures by night. I used to love night time photography and I'm hoping I still remember the techniques. Hopefully I'll have some spectacular images to share. We are also hoping to find something rather simpler to eat tonight. I fancy good old fish and chips but whether I'll get is is another matter as Peter has mentioned Indian.

Tomorrow we are planning to visit the Jorvik center and maybe the museum. We have also arranged to meet up with Carole Ayrton and her husband and that is something I'm really looking forward too. It is always nice to put a voice and a real person to the images on facebook etc.

As for the evening I'm trying to persuade Peter to go on the Ghost Bus for the Haunted York Tour. Peter dismisses all that sort of thing as rubbish while I'm a 'don't know what to think'. I've had some very strange things happen to me over the years that I cannot explain so I would never dismiss anything out of hand. I think it would be a bit of fun but I don't think Peter is convinced.

A glimpse of the Minster

That's it for now, I'm sorry for the poor pictures. Just look at them as a taster of better thing to come. Will post more tomorrow, unless I've got my way with the Ghost tour then it will be Thursday.

First Impressions of York

We had a brilliant run up this morning, The sun was shining, the traffic, once past Northampton, was light and we made good time arriving just after one.

We were both starving so we found a nice little pub with a car park nearby and pulled over for lunch. Peter enjoyed ham, egg, beans and toast while I was a bit bemused by my tuna bagette with added chips. The menu told us exactly how many calories were in our meal, which we both found off putting and sort of spoiled the enjoyment. We both agreed we probably wouldn't go there again, even though the food was nice and reasonably price. I'm on holiday and really do not want to be told what I'm eating is bad for me. I just want to enjoy it.

After lunch we found our hotel and booked in. Never having been in an accessible room before we were both a bit worried that everything would be designed for wheelchairs and not for an able bodied person. Apart from the obvious handle bars in the bathroom and the much bigger space you really couldn't tell it was a special room and we were very impressed.

Checked in, and with our stuff dumped in the room, we went on a fact finder. First stop was the tourist information place where I faced my first big disappointment. There will be no wall walk for me on this trip. The walls are very narrow and there are a lot of steps, so I will have to content myself with going around the city as close to the walls as possible. We attempted the Shambles and I was pleased to find the pavements were quiet wide as the cobblestones were already proving a bit of a problem on my trike.

We then went to the Minster where we found that almost all of the Minister would be accessible to me with only the tower out of bounds though as I'm not good with heights that is no great disappointment to be honest. This evening we enjoyed a couple of bowls of hot and sour soup at a local Chinese before returning to the hotel bar and a few well earned drinks.

Tomorrow we plan to tackle the Minster, the Cat trail and possibly round the day off in the museum.

So othat's all for now. More tomorrow and hopefully with pictures.

Shivering Saturday.

What on earth has happened to the weather? We were expecting a mini heat wave and so far all I've had is grey skies, drizzle and a cold breeze. Even as late as ten last night weatherman Thomasz Shafenwhatever was telling me that I'd be having a lovely day with temperatures up in the twenties. So far we have just hit the heady heights of 16C, and it's still cloudy.

Where did summer go?

All this does not bode well for Monday, especially as we are heading north.

Now I don't mind it being a little bit cool but I don't want to be cold. The trouble with sitting on a motobility scooter is that you are not moving around generating your own warmth. You are strictly at the mercy of the elements. Yes you can wrap up warm, in winter I wear thermal underwear, thick jumpers and wrap myself in a blanket when venturing outdoors. This keeps me warm but means I overheat when going indoors so it is a constant applying or dis-guarding of garments throughout the day. Of course the worst thing that can happen is rain. I can get very wet, very quickly and that means getting cold. I do have waterproofs but they are so awkward to get on and off I frequently don't bother unless it's actually pouring down when I leave the house. I'm hoping that the weather will be kind and I can just potter around in a fleece and jeans. I'm hoping but realistic so will pack everything just in case.

Today marks the start of Andrew leaving home for the second time. Although he has finished university he has agreed to continue renting a house with some friends while they complete their final year. They got on so well that Andrew agreed to stay to save them from having to find someone new to share and possibly loosing the house if they couldn't. However Andrew will still reside with us when he has time off. This arrangement suits both of us as he has got used to his own space and doing his own thing whilst we've got used to having a bit more time to ourselves.

All he's doing is moving his stuff in this weekend so he can claim the room he likes and grab some kitchen space. He arrived last the previous year and ended up with the smallest space of any of them. As he is the only one working, and that means early starts and night shifts, he wants the room he can get in and out of without disturbing anyone else. It also means he's less likely to be disturbed when trying to sleep during the day when he's on nights. We usually go with him to look over his house but as he now has a car we don't need to go as he can transport his own stuff down there. So we will visit when he actually moves in later this month. Today's trip is purely about claiming territory.

I'm beginning to suspect Smirnoff is either bored or developing dementia. He has regained his inner kitten in a big way this week. I was brushing my teeth and heard this terrible commotion outside the door of the bathroom. I opened it slowly and found Smirnoff chasing his tail. It is ages since I've seen him do that. Then he sat beside me on my study desk, gave me a lovely rub under my chin, stretched up against the wall, stuck his claws in and pulled. The result, two thin strips of wallpaper pulled away. Thankfully we are actually in the process of decorating the study so we were not too upset. He hasn't done this to any other room so either he's figured out that if we are pulling the wallpaper so can he, or it's a trend that's going to increase. If he does it again to another wall he's going to find himself at the wrong end of my water pistol.

Little devil!

This afternoon we are nipping out to get some paint charts to choose a colour for the study. I don't hold out much hope. We still haven't agreed on the tiles for the bathroom floor and you know how long that has taken. It must be going on for a year. However there are some things that will limit out choice. The carpet is a dark, rich green and the curtains are dark green with a red pattern running through them. Hopefully these restrictions will make the choice easier, or not as the case may be.

And with that in mind, time to stop writing and get on with things. More tomorrow.

It's a Funny Old Game

Well it's here! My holiday week has arrived!

I have to say my working week was probably the longest on the planet. Every single day felt like a whole week but it's over and now it's time to party, well almost. Last night Peter and I relaxed in front of the TV and shared a small bottle of cider. It was a small treat but a welcomed one.

Ohps!

This morning we were off to Milton Keynes, as I wanted to pick up a few things from Lush as I was out of bath bombs, and to visit the new cooking shop to look for pickle jars.  The trouble with going to the actual shop is two-fold. One, Peter refuses to come in to Lush with me as the smell sets off his asthma and two, I get caught up in the whole shopping experience and enjoy myself far too much. The result is I have enough bath stuff to last me until Christmas. I was not tempted by the jars though. Well not yet. I want to see how many blackberries I get first before I spend money on things I may not need.

From there it was on to Tesco, well even though we are going away Andrew is not, he is house and cat sitting, so the fridge still needed a top up. Whilst there I decided to go and look for a new nail polish as my favourite silver one is very old now and almost empty. I found a lovely replacement of almost exactly the same shade. Somehow another two bottles also found their way into the shopping basket, so now I have three new shades to choose from. As Peter pointed out, I do not have enough fingers and toes to try them all at once but I can wait. The agony is which one to use for my trip away. And do I bother with my toes in case the weather is nice? I know a lot of you, especially the blokes, will think these things are so petty, and they are, but it is so nice to worry about something trivial for a change.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted on the nail situation. For now I have more important things on my mind. (Only those actually on the transplant list will understand the next bit.) I've spent months praying and pleading every night that I get my call, now I'm pleading that it doesn't come just yet. If the call had come last week I wouldn't have minded in the least but now I just want to be able to enjoy my trip away. Does that make any sense at all? I'll quite happily get the call on Thursday, the night we return, but I just want Monday to Wednesday to be perfect and worry free. Fickle or what? Of course if it does happen tonight, or any time during the trip for that matter, we would not be turning it down. I just hope that God, fate, or whoever you believe in, lets me have this next week to enjoy first.

I had to re-tune the TV this week as all the channels changed around, again! I hate it when this happens. You just remember which channels your favourite programmes are on and which number to press to get them and they go and muck it all up. Terrific!

Whilst flicking through, to sort out what was where, I came across a sports programme where they were still going on and on about the world cup. Honestly, it's not as though England was any good or anything. Goodness knows what would happen if England ever actually won a major tournament. We'd never hear the end of it. The bloke was moaning away at how the players had 'let themselves down'. Humm, lets see now, why do you think English football players can't be bothered to win anything?  Maybe because they are not hungry enough? They are the most highly paid players in the world and they get their money whether they win or loose so why bother trying to win?

No. no, don't get me started on that one, I'll never stop.

And on the note time to put my feet up and grab a cuppa and one of the nice chocolate biscuits I bought. Sometimes life's good.

One X Viewer

The X Factor returned last night and I was quite looking forward to the usual parade of tone deaf no hopers. However it quickly became apparent that this was the Cheryl and Simon show.

They preened, they flirted, they were all over each other. Cheryl did exactly what she was expected to do. Play fight with Simon, stare wide eyed at the contestants and shed a convenient tear here and there. Simon on his part seemed more interested in Cheryl than the contestants and only occasionally acknowledged Louis and Mel B. In fact if you weren't careful you'd forget that there were two other judges, so firmly were they pushed to the sidelines. The camera only briefly rested on them when they gave their verdict, other than that it was only the wide shots that reminded us they were there. As for the contestants, well they barely got a look in and most were on screen of less than 30 seconds. Hardly time to stutter out their name. There were two exceptions, both involving Cheryl, of course. The boy who had the hots for her, was it just me or was he really creepy, much to Mel B's disgust. And the girl who had been booted out of boot camp previously. This gave Cheryl the opportunity to shed a tear and transform into 'the nations sweetheart'.

Maybe it is just me. I'm sure there will be many that absolutely loved it but I will not be watching again. At least not until Cheryl is sacked again.

So how did my cooking go. Well the walnut and date cake didn't as, after all the messing about with the tart, I couldn't be bothered. The tart is a real pain to make but tasted so delicious that it was sort of worth it. It took the best part of two hours and involved a lot of sticking things in the fridge to cool and raising things to room temperature before you even got the thing in the oven. It was nice though but I think I'll keep it for a special treat. The date and walnut loaf is still pending but I don't feel like it today so that has been put on the back burner for next weekend. Instead I had a lazy afternoon working my way through my DVD collection.

This time next week I'll be packing to go on holiday. I can't believe it has come around so quickly. It seems like ages since I booked. They say the weather is set to improve but I see no evidence of it as yet. Oh well it is a whole week away and a lot can happen in a week.

Talking of holidays Svet and Andrew returned from their road trip tired, hunger but very happy. They had a brilliant time and I've not doubt Wales will become a regular destination when Svet is over from Bulgaria (I got told off for spelling that with an 'e' in a past blog. I hope I've got it right this time). So sorry Svet.

Tomorrow is the first day of September and that means the start of my favourite season of the year is almost upon us. I love autumn. The colours, the weather and most of all the beautiful crisp mornings that make you feel really alive. I used to love walking on those mornings when the air smelt so clean and the frost crunched underfoot. All gone now of course and it looks as though I'm going to miss the experience again this year.

Of course there are a few things about autumn that I don't like. Shorter days for one. Busier roads in the morning because the school run is back on. And the shops selling Christmas stuff. Why they feel it necessary to bombard us with mince pies and turkey before we've even had Halloween is beyond me. And to be frank spoils things a bit. NOTHING even remotely Christmas related should appear in any shop until after November the 5th at the very earliest. No matter what your religion or beliefs Christmas is meant to be a very special time. It used to be that everything closed so that time could be spent with the family and relatives you only saw at that time of year. It doesn't have to be a lavish affair and no one is going to died because you forgot the brandy butter. Unfortunately the retail industry have got into our psyche and the world will end if we don't buy this cake or that toy.

This year I plan a very quiet special Christmas with just myself and the boys. We will exchange a few gifts, eat a good meal and spend the rest of the day playing games or watching films. No one will mind if I've forgotten the Brie, the fact that we are still all here to enjoy it will be the most important thing.

Wow, getting a little ahead of myself there. Let's get the next few months out of the way first. I've been feeling rather optimistic these last few days. I feel as though something good is coming my way. I know, I know, I've said all this before a million times. However it became extremely important to me that I got my Hudl loaded with my music this weekend. The last time I felt like that was in April when I just had to re pack my bag to make sure I had everything. I got the call a few weeks later. I'm hoping my internal predictor had kicked in and I'm right again. I'm probably not but I can but hope.

Time to get lunch ready for the hungry hoards. Next blog Friday.

Walnuts!

I lied when I said I had nothing to do yesterday. I'd sort of forgotten the shopping.

We went late as a result, and in the hurry I'd failed to check the larder. Big mistake as I'm trying out a couple of new recipes, and knew roughly what to get, but not the quantities. I decided that it would be better to buy too much than too little so bought two large bags of walnuts and 600ml of single cream. When I got home I found I needed 300ml of cream and 100g of walnuts. I have about a kilo.  The walnuts will keep and will no doubt get used up in my banana bread at some point. As for the cream, well I'm sure no one will object to an apple and blackberry crumble this Sunday.

Apart from that it was a quiet day. I didn't get to sit in front of the TV because I decided to transfer all my music onto my Hudl and it's a long process. I'm up to 'H' so far. I already have my music on two mp3 players but decided that for simplicity I'd get everything in one place and then I've got it one way or another. There is another benefit I've discovered too. I can use wireless headphones to listen to music from the hudl without having to carry it about. This is going to be so good when I'm cooking. At the moment I use one of the mp3 players and that means an extra wire to get hooked around door handles etc. It is so frustrating to be elbow deep in a meatloaf mixture and have your headphones pulled out. Now it won't happen, yay!

So what is it that I'm making this weekend. Well, inspired by the Great British Bake Off, I'm attempting a savoury tart with cheese ham and chives and a date and walnut loaf. I've never eaten the first and used to love the second when my mother made it as a kid. I still have about seven packets of dates from my buying frenzy last week so all I needed were the nuts. I will post pictures of my efforts tomorrow, with recipes if they turn out reasonably well.

My plans for my holiday are gathering pace and, having done some research online, we've settled on a few places we'd like to see. The Minster is obvious and there is a city walk to follow. We always do a walk on the first day for two reasons. You get to see all the sites in one go and can then decide which ones to visit in greater detail.And it also hope to get you bearings so if you get lost you have a good chance of find your way back to the car. I'm beginning to get excited now. OK, more excited.

I'm especially pleased as I'm going to meet up with a fellow PH sufferer who lives in the area. Carole and I have been facebook friends for a couple of years now but have never met. So it was with great delight that I received an offer to meet up over coffee. I cannot wait as I always like meeting people I've been chatting too online. This will make our visit very special.

With that I will say goodbye for now. I have a bag of walnuts to crush. More tomorrow.

Autumn Approaches

How depressing is it that we are hurtling towards winter and summer is pretending to be autumn. All it has done this week is rain and blow and feel cold. So cold in fact that I've dug out some winter woollies and am wandering around the house in my slipper socks instead of bare feet. This is very worrying considering I only have one week to go before my, much looked forward too, holiday. However I thoroughly enjoyed myself last year in Canterbury despite the wind and the rain, so maybe I shouldn't feel too down about it.

Seen a lot of these little fellas racing
 around the lawn this week

This week has been a bit of a downer for me. I am not really sure why. After being told how well I'm doing by the Brompton last week I was disappointed to find myself feeling a little under the weather. I've struggled with my breathing all week and have found moving around a lot more difficult. I can only put it down to the sudden change in weather as I'm certainly not ill. That's the trouble with this illness one day you are feeling buoyant because you are told there has been an improvement and the next you are sent crashing down by a change in the weather. Stupid PH!

My lovely colleagues have been brilliant though and have helped me where they can. As you know I have a special chair at work now that supports me better and allows me to feel less tired. This chair is kept in the locker room when I am not there and so has to be wheeled from there to my place of work every time I'm in. Although it is a short distance, and the chair is not heavy, the sheer physical effort of getting it from one place to another makes me very tired. Now I find I am arriving at work to find my chair has been put in the room for me and I almost always get someone offering to put it away for me. If only they knew how much these little gestures help they'd be amazed. I am so lucky to be working with such kind people.

Andrew is currently taking his first road trip in the car and is exploring the delights of Wales. His girlfriend, Svet, arrived from Bulgeria on Wednesday and they set out to Aberystwyth on Thursday morning. The few communications I've had indicate that all is going well and they are enjoying themselves. They will be back late on Saturday so no doubt I'll hear all about it then.

Laurence celebrated his twenty sixth birthday this week, goodness that makes me feel old, and I enjoyed a chat with him on the phone.

Peter is applying for a new job this week. It is full time, 9 - 5 but it means no more getting up at three in the morning. no more late nights, no more having the weekends, bank holidays and Christmas ruined by emergencies. He will know exactly when he is working and because it is full time, rather than the part time he does now, I will be able to cut my hours and spend more time resting. I will be keeping everything crossed for him, and me.

So today I'm resting up and doing some online retail therapy. In truth I am running out of all sorts of things so need to restock so it is more necessity than pleasure. I will probably throw in a few treats here and there though, I always do. Later on I'm going to settle on the settee and watch a few Richard Attenborough films. Brighton Rock and Jurassic Park are my favourites so they will be watched first.

Talking of Attenboroughs I watched little brother David's programme on frogs last night. I have always had a bit of a soft spot for these creatures and until recently had a frog shaped computer mouse. I loved it! He made what essentially is a one hour lecture so interesting and the hour flew by. Apparently there will be a new series of his coming out in the autumn. I can't wait.

I went into the garden this morning have picked a huge haul of blackberries. There are more ripening and it looks as though I'm going to be on track to make at least one pound of jam. The freezer drawer is filling fast and I'll soon have enough for my first experimental attempt. I'm not going to try a whole batch until I've made a first attempt. These delicious squishy fruits are far too precious to throw away in large quantities if I mess up.

Right, time and credit card wait for no man (or woman). More tomorrow.