Shopping.

It's been a sunny day with sudden sharp showers. I got up early this morning so that I could ring the doctor's surgery and make an appointment to see one of the nurses. This was to look at a blister on my toe which I was getting worried about. It started off as a 1 cm circle on the top of my big toe which I guessed was from a drop of hot water or even oil, in the kitchen. Next to it was a second tiny blister and I left them uncovered as I went to work in flip-flops. They stayed much the same for 4 or 5 days until Tuesday. Because of the wet weather I put on a pair of sheepskin boots and in case the blister burst I covered it with a plaster. When I took the plaster off that night the blister had increased to nearly triple the size. I didn't know if that was due to the boots or if it was getting infected so I covered it with a plaster and wore flip-flops again the next day. The blister didn't seem to get any bigger but I took the precaution of drawing a line around it to make sure. By evening it was stinging a bit which was why I made today's appointment. Imagine my embarrassment when the nurse told me it was just a big blister! She did lance it as I was concerned about the children at school stepping on my toes, which they often do and now all I have to do is to wait for it to heal. My trip wasn't wasted though because she offered me a flu jab which I was happy to have. It only seems like yesterday I had the last one but of course it was last year.

Then today there has been the saga of the fridge. Our current fridge even though it is making 'working' noises is not keeping food fresh and doesn't feel that cold. At one point recently it was icing up but now no amount of fiddling with the thermostat has any effect. It's only a basic under the counter larder fridge and looking on-line the best deal on a known make was Tesco Direct. I foolishly thought it would be easier to order while I was at Tesco's in town. The Tesco's nearest the surgery didn't do the ordering so I thought I'd go to the bigger Tesco's near the station. Yes they could order a fridge but they couldn't show me a picture of the model on their computer and the customer stand with a screen and on-line catalogue wasn't working so in the end I came home and ordered it from here. At least it comes with a free take away service and should be here in 5 days (delivery to be confirmed).

The other thing I was going to buy was a new cordless house phone with 2 handsets as the recent powercuts had resulted in one of our handsets not working. Thinking it would be quickest to pick up one at Tesco's I checked out their phones. We only wanted the basic model, no call blocking or additional answer phone needed but they only had one with a single handset or else the more elaborate ones. So I came home without a phone which was a good thing as Peter had taken the broken handset apart, given it a shake, put it back together and hey presto it worked.

One of the places I went to today looking for a plastic indoor *watering can to replace the one Peter broke bashing a bag of frozen veg, was Homebase. This used to be a bit more upmarket than the other DIY places but now it looks like a jumble sale. All round the place are goods in tatty brown cardboard boxes with hand written prices on crumpled card randomly stapled on. I spoke to the lady at the check-out and she told me that Homebase has been taken over by an Australian company who go for the basic warehouse layout. Out in the plant area were these tacky spray painted heathers - yuck.

* Native English speakers may not realise it but there is a set order for lists of adjectives. One more obstacle for people learning the language.