A Slight Mishap.

This morning I had an appointment to see the nurse at the surgery following an incident on Monday. We were clearing the last room of the bungalow which was the worst affected room. Years of a leaking roof even before the place was closed up for a year had resulted in various kinds of growths on the walls and carpet. We aimed a lot of air freshener into the room before we even went inside and wore face masks. I had been cutting up the carpet and been very careful with the Stanley knife I was using. To clear some more space I joined Peter in breaking up the furniture. Being good quality old style cupboards they didn't fall apart after a quick blow with a hammer unlike modern stuff which would. As I hammered a chisel into a join the cupboard came apart which was good. Not so good was the fact that one panel fell back onto my shin. The board was covered on all sides with white laminate? which made the edge very sharp. It scraped down my shin peeling off a section of skin roughly 1 1/2" x 1" and causing more grazes on the way down. I was so shocked to see a section of white tissue that I instinctively put my hand over the area. Yes the hand still clad in a dirty work glove. I hobbled to the kitchen where I wiped all around the scrape then folded a tissue and fixed it in place with plasters as I didn't have one big enough. I then walked limped down to the doctors' surgery which was not far away passing the pharmacy which was closed for lunch. I asked the receptionist if there was somebody who could look at and dress the scrape but apparently there was no one there to do it. The receptionist said if I needed stitches or it was serious I should take myself to the hospital 7 miles away. As if I needed the A&E department! She did say the pharmacy would re-open in a quarter of an hour so I ate a medicinal ice ream sitting on the wall outside the pharmacy. The pharmacist looked at the wound and said I should wash it out with disinfectant before putting on a clean micropore dressing. This I did at the bungalow even though the label on the disinfectant said not to be put on broken skin. I phoned my doctors' surgery and made an appointment to see the nurse this morning. When we got home yesterday I was concerned to see the dressing looking yucky so instead of phoning 111, the non-emergency health helpline who generally cover themselves by saying go to A&E I rang my surgery. They said I was fine for the time being but to come in earlier today. This I did and a nurse washed the wound before putting on iodine dressings. As there didn't seem to be a record of when I last had a tetanus injection she gave me one anyway which as I don't mind needles was okay and I'm to go back on Monday. It was baby vaccinations morning so there was a lot of wailing. Such a shame that they have to have 2 injections in one visit or even 4 if they'd missed the first ones. No wonder so many people hate needles. I did some shopping on the way home but now I'm so tired I'm doing nothing until Saturday's Green Man festival. I did put some washing in the machine and had to hoover the kitchen because Speedy had knocked a small china bowl onto the marble floor where it had smashed into smithereens but that is it for now.

Apart from the long drives and the hard labour we did part of my tiredness comes from only sleeping for about an hour on Sunday night. Peter's snores were echoing around the empty room which didn't help my headache and my toes that I ran over with the trolley were throbbing. I got to about 3.00 when I was able to take some more of my strong pain killers but they had little to no effect. I found out later that I'd taken paracetamol by mistake, they were the same shape tablets in the same size blister pack. By 5.00 I decided to get up and by 5.30 I was out walking on the beach. So wonderful to have that on our doorstep. I saw one chap walking his dogs on the beach which I thought was admirable until I remembered that there is a dog ban on the beach for the whole summer, May to September I think.

As part of the flooding defences there is a shingle bank along the top of the beach and further rock structures which are also designed to improve the surfing conditions. Lower Borth, including all the very expensive holiday homes backing on to the beach is still at risk of flooding from a 1 in 100 year storm. Not to mention the fact that the waves will pick up the stones and throw them against the windows. The mother of the pub landlord told Peter of one house where they've spent £100k on the kitchen alone. "Come a big storm it'll all be floating down the road." she told Peter with some amusement.

In one section of the ridge there seemed to be a strange mixture of stones. beautifully rounded grey pebbles mixed with dark grey shards. It was only when I looked more closely that I solved the mystery. The pebbles are made of a very soft slate which after being knocked together suddenly shatter into dark shards. 

It was peaceful listening to the cries of the sea birds and gentle whooshing of the waves. The sand slopes very gently making the sea perfect for paddleboarding, kayaking and swimming. One of our neighbours goes down each evening for a swim in the waters which have been warming up through the day.

We ate our meals and took plenty of rest breaks out on the balcony. From there we could watch what was going on on the beach and sea; a couple of people out riding, a schools sports event, the life guards out training, the rowing club and families just enjoying the beach. The sounds drifted up at a level that was pleasant without being intrusive. Not to mention the wonderful sunsets.

Back From Borth.

It's always seems rude to suddenly stop posting but on the other hand I don't want to tell all the world that we're leaving the house empty. Anyway, we went up to Borth to do some clearing as it's been difficult to organise that from Devon. The first fix for the plumbing and electrics have already been done and the rats dealt with.

Driving up the last 30 miles are through mountains which appeals to my love of wildernesses and though it was dry it was overcast. Breaking through the mountains there's a point where you get a panoramic view of the coast and there the sun was shining. As we arrived I jumped out of the car to get some milk from the store at the end of the road and I was hit by the warmth and the holiday feel of the place and it stayed that way for our whole visit.

We were pleasantly surprised to find hat the electrician had taken up about half of the carpets and left them folded up. Sunday afternoon was spent cutting up carpets and leaving them by the drive where the skip would be delivered the next morning. As we were going to be 'camping' in the sitting room I swept the whole room on my hands and knees so as not to raise the dust and also to remove every nail and staple left in the boards as well as the gripper strips around the edges. 

Once we got the outside doors and windows open to air the place and took the carpets out it all looked and smelt a lot better. In the worst room at the back we pulled off a lot of the wallpaper and sprayed all the walls with bleach. The skip arrived Monday morning and by the end of the day Peter had methodically laid all the carpet pieces flat in it. For a 69 year old with his joint problems Peter worked heroically breaking up furniture and loading the skips. The full first skip was replaced by a new one late on Monday. That was filled the next day. 

This time we took up a duvet to use instead of sleeping bags on the air beds. Unfortunately the air beds were also a problem for us especially after 3 days of hard work. I'm just a delicate flower but Peter had serious difficulties getting up from floor level. His knees only have limited flexibility and the extra lumps on them cause a lot of pain when he attempts to kneel. However we came up with a solution for future visits. When we left Dingles we gave away the spare beds and only kept the 40+ years old foam Ikea sofa bed for any visitors. That too has since been given away and my plan when we get to Borth was to buy a trundle bed, a single bed with mattress that stores another slide out single bed underneath. All we have to do is check with the neighbour when he can let the delivery people into the bungalow and order one asap. Real beds, bliss!

We got the door to the small terrace open and took plenty of rest time simply sitting out there and being amazed that we have such an amazing place. We've met more neighbours and without fail they've been friendly and helpful. ……. Will be posting more photos and details over the next few days. 

When we got home today after an easy 4 1/2 hour journey (4 hours on the way up) it was to find the kitchen bin tipped over (I'd forgotten to empty it), Speedy's cone and collar on the floor and no sign of Speedy. The automatic feeder had been working but I still had a momentary thought that he'd died from neglect before I realised he'd been able to push away the board that was keeping the cat flap shut and get out that way. Once everything was unpacked I went out to the road, whistled a couple of times and up he trotted hoarsely uttering baby cat noises. His feet weren't dreadful but still not a good as when we left.

It was the last choir session of the term tonight so I quickly made some Rocky Road and had a practice of the songs before heading out. Peter, who did all the driving was fast asleep when I got home. 

Tired.

What a wimp I am. So much fuss about my toes and today all there is to see is a graze and a little bruise under the nail. They are sore though and I was careful to not put any pressure on them when I did my exercises.

It has been overcast and cooler today. I don't know if it is due to the change in the weather but I have felt so weary today. So I haven't done much apart from the usual routine. 

Yesterday we had a couple of chaps come round to sort out one of the patio doors leading in to the conservatory. Something had gone wrong and it wouldn't close properly. At first we thought it was the lock that had jammed until we realised that the door wasn't level. Two young men came and replaced the wheel that had broken for some reason. Speedy joined in throwing himself to the floor for cuddles. Then he decided to start batting the tools across the floor. The screwdriver was the favourite as it spun in circles under a chair.

Poor Toes.

A mostly sunny day with some sudden gusts of wind one of which blew over the smaller acer in the garden.

I woke early this morning and was doing my exercises by 6.00. Not so much from good intentions but due to a few twinges which could only be banished by getting up and moving around.  Still it felt good to get the day under way so early. 

The first 'job' of the day was to go shopping, Lidl's first and then Tescos. I was swinging my trolley round to the checkout when I managed to catch two toes, under the wheel I think. Oh the pain. If I had been at home I'd have yelped and maybe even said some unladylike words. As it was I froze in shock and couldn't even look down. I just grit my teeth and focussed on putting my shopping on the conveyor belt. When I eventually did look down I was expecting to see a pool of blood or a swollen toe but in fact it didn't look that bad. The pain faded until I got in the car and gave my little toe a poke which set it off. The nail began to bruise and the top of the next nail and a bit of skin were ripped off. This evening the toe is a bit more swollen so I applied an ice pack and probably more effectively some anti-inflammatory gel. Even if it was broken, which I doubt, there isn't any other treatment.

In Tesco's I returned the rust vest and then decided it was time for a new microwave oven. We usually buy the cheapest supermarket one  but generally after a year rust begins to form along the back and front edges. This time I went for a more expensive model with a large handle rather than a button to press to open the oven. I prefer to have dial controls instead of digital controls in the belief that they are less likely to develop a fault. The choice was between a black or a cream model so I went with the cream which goes well with the kitchen tiles here though I would have preferred white for Borth.

Broken Sander.

The day began rather coolly, gradually the clouds lessened and it got a lot warmer. 

Today I thought I'd crack on with my furniture refurbishments. Many, many years ago this pine chest was stripped, probably by me, using the old traditional method of Notromors (a strong acid) to dissolve the paint which was then scraped off. If it was me I got so far but no further but really the chest has been beyond trendy 'distressed'. I emptied it out and set myself up in the front garden with my electric palm sander. I first went over the whole thing using the larger rectangular attachment. It was when I switched over to the iron shaped plate that the trouble began. The first I knew was that the plate and a part from under it came away from the rest of the sander. I thought that maybe the screw holding the part on had come undone so plan 1 was to screw it back on. Of course even though there were only a few components I wasn't too sure which way up they had to go and got no help from the diagrams in the booklet. When it fell off again I thought maybe I hadn't tightened it up properly so went through the whole process of undoing 3 screws with an allan key to take off the sanding plate and then another screw. I did this several times more noticing that one of the rubber feet that supported the plate kept coming out. I also wandered if the fact that the way I was using the sander angling it to get to the small marks might be causing the problem. In the end I decided the foot was the problem. I found one place on-line that does spare parts and have sent them an enquiry about replacement feet. The galling thing is that B&Q have the same sander highly reduced but not in any branch near us. Due to the many metal fittings I was going to have to finish off by hand anyway and luckily the pine is very soft.

Taking the chest out had made my study look a lot bigger so once finished I'll put it in the conservatory. With so much in here I imagine it's hard for people to see that it is a generous sized single room. You could even fit a double bed in but not much else. 

Peter has been doing a lot of phoning today and it looks like we'll be getting a small skip to clear the carpets and stuff from Borth. I can't wait to get things moving.

Cooler.

Cooler again today with a good drying breeze. It was still nice enough to spend a while sitting outside chatting and watching the swallows above. Earlier I mowed the lawn and the main grass which is all getting a bit dry. While my neighbour cut her section I tidied up the edge along the path, cutting and clearing the soil and plants that were growing over the path. As the central grass is really the council's responsibility I felt justified at tipping out the soil etc. on a bit of waste ground by to the steps that lead down to the next road. I have to say it does look a lot better now.

When we went downstairs this morning Speedy had his cone off and had licked his feet, not too badly but I wish he hadn't. 

This evening was choir so I thought I'd post a couple of photos from Saturday's trip to Lynmouth. Next week's practice is the last of the term so we will be having some nibbles. I think I'll be making ……. Rocky Road. That will use up the rest of the marshmallows that I've managed not to scoff. It's Green Man Day on the 20th and we'll be giving a concert in the church followed by drinks, food and relaxed singing in the pub in the evening. Tonight we ran through the concert songs including the seaweed song. We've upped the speed which at least means we get to the end more quickly.

Me in shorts and black vest (surprise, surprise) next to Jackie our choir leader. 

Peter in his gig club top with some more of the gang. The singing in the pub was lacking a few of the stronger singers but you can see a couple of short clips here and here.

An update regarding yesterday's events. In brief, it was a non-accidental injury and the chap had to be air-lifted to the main hospital in Plymouth. 

Our For a Walk.

Tuesday mornings the bin men come for our big wheelie bins. I thought I might as well give our bin a good wash before bringing it back to the garden. I went out with a watering can of water, broom, soap and bleach. When I got out there I found a neighbour across the way doing exactly the same thing and then our next-door neighbour came out to wash her bin too though she has an outside tap at the front of her house and didn't need a watering can.

The good weather continues and at last Peter felt his knees would be up for a walk. Initially we thought about heading down to Barricane Beach but it would have been at high tide with very little of the beach accessible. Instead we headed out to our favourite walk on Morte Point. It doesn't show up well in the photos but there were flowers everywhere. The grass was studded with tiny gold blooms and the heathers were adding their purple to the rich tapestry of flowers.

There was enough of a breeze to make walking comfortable. We took coffee and sat on our usual bench to watch the sea and some sheep that wandered past us. 

While we were drinking our coffee we kept hearing loud booms from across the sea. At first we thought that it was a sonic boom but there were repeated booms often in a pattern; boom ……… boom, boom, boom. I've searched the web but couldn't find an answer and have asked on FB if anyone knows what they were. I still remember  when Concorde flew over daily. The boom had to be triggered before it flew over land but we still heard it. That was how I knew it was time to stop working outside and go and start the evening meal. Good old Concorde.

Back home I baked another batch of peanut and chocolate cookies. I did a little deadheading of the rose but it wasn't very peaceful outside. It must be a sign of my age or at least a different upbringing but I can't help getting annoyed when a radio is blaring loudly for the whole afternoon in the garden even though people are not outside.

The last batch of biscuits were in the oven when I went upstairs to find Speedy watching the world from the window sill. It was a bit of a shock to see an ambulance and an emergency doctor's 4WD vehicle parked on the grass with a police car parked nearby and lots of people milling about. We watched discreetly from the window and saw one of our neighbours brought out on a chair to the waiting stretcher trolley. He had a pelvic binder on so we assume they suspected a hip fracture. That was a shock as the gentleman is younger than us, is still working, looks fit ie not overweight as so many people are and always busy about the place. I expect I'll hear more details from the neighbours eventually. A hip fracture is not a good thing at any age.

We're getting so fed up with the lack of progress in clearing the house that we're thinking about getting a skip and at least taking out the carpets ourselves. I went on Google earth (hence the blurry bit) and photographed the drive from a couple of angles so that the skip people can tell us which size skip they can put there.