Here Today .......

I started the day with a spot of bird watching from the terrace. 

I didn't get up early since for me this is my week to have a break. The house is tidy and festive while the cupboards and fridge are full of lovely things to eat (that don't need cooking) and my schedule is clear. Time to take things easy at least for a while.

 

Straight after breakfast I walked down to the pharmacy to find out what had happened to my repeat prescription of which there had been not a word (they send a text when it's ready to collect). 

On the way I passed the empty space where the falling over house had been demolished.

At the pharmacy they told me that they had sent the prescription to the surgery in November but nothing had come back. (A likely story.) Rather than wait for them to resend my prescription they gave me a note and I stomped my way to the surgery. Thank goodness both the pharmacy and surgery are in the village. There I explained the situation and of course was told that they always order the prescriptions once they get them. Who knows where the fault lay? My prescription will be back at the pharmacy tomorrow morning and I'll pick up the medicines in the afternoon. What a palaver.

To cheer myself up I walked home along the beach. 

It was lovely walking with the warm sun on my face though the minute the sun disappeared behind the clouds the air was icily cold once more.

Here I'm standing at the bottom of the slipway which has been completely covered by shingle. From the tracks I could see in the sand the lifeboat tractor had to take a different route (over on the right) to get the lifeboat into the water. I guess they'll need to get some sort of digger in to clear the slipway.

And now for something that quite spoiled my enjoyment of the holiday. A case of 'Hair today, gone tomorrow'.

Here I am with the long plait I nearly always wore my hair in. 

To me, especially when I brushed it out in the morning my long hair symbolised my refusal to conform. I was a confident and content rebel and thought turning 70 next birthday was the funniest thing ever.

But since my hair had thinned even more after being given beta blockers which it turned out I didn't even need, the end of my long plait was a bit on the straggly side. So after our Boxing Day dip I asked if one of the youngsters would take off 2-3 inches to tidy it up. Vytas volunteered and as he is a scientist I thought I could trust him to do the job. That I should not have done because he decided I needed more taken off and cut it to the length you see below. I simply did not know what to say as I felt utterly devastated. Gone was my long hair and so too has my confidence. Now when I look in the mirror all I see is a slightly overweight elderly woman with a stooped back and a wrinkled face. I've joined the ranks of the invisible old women. 

Saying that it will grow back did not take into account that hair growth rate slows with age or that genetically I happen to be someone whose hair grows very slowly. To me that comment was on a par with someone telling you they had run over your cat but you could just go and get another one. That's how bad I feel. I know that feeling things so deeply and being unable to cope with change is part of my brain wiring but that doesn't help either.

Rant over, I know there's nothing I can do.