21st century problems

 

The first class rail lounge at Newcastle Central station. I bought a first class ticket and it was worth every penny. What a lovely journey home. 

We had a power cut one morning this week. It was 8.30am and I was just about to leave for work. The only problem was that our garage door is electric, so my car was stuck inside. There is of course a manual lever but a) I wasn't sure exactly how to use it b) it was very dark as the light wasn't on c) you need quite a bit of strength to pull it and d) my car was in the way! A quick call to work to advise I would be late. My boss said she'd send someone to pick me up. So rather than give directions to my house I said I'd walk to the village. A few moments later Anna-Marie messaged to say she was on her way. Now Anna knows where my house is but you know what? I still decided to walk! It was a relatively pleasant morning and it's only about 15 mins, and I thought the exercise would be good. I kind of amazed myself because 2½ years ago, before my weight loss, I would not have volunteered to walk even that short a distance! I actually found that I really wanted to walk. Albeit not far but walk is what I cheerfully did! 

You probably also know that 2½ years ago, after having my op, that I suddenly became an insomniac! I don't think it was the op, that's a coincidence. I think it's my post menopausal hormones, which all came at the same time. Last Wednesday after driving to Newcastle was the last ok sleep I had. It's the getting to sleep I have problems with, and it's frustrating me. I'm a nine hour needer and I've been getting maybe 4 or 5 hours. After a week of this I was so tired I honestly could have wept. I looked awful, I had headaches and I was miserable! It's amazing that I could function, but function I still did. I know all the tips and use them - cold and dark bedroom, no stimulation too close to bed, no caffeine after 3pm, warm bath in the evening etc. I've even been abstaining from alcohol and cutting down on sugar in the evenings! The only advice I don't follow is getting out of bed when sleep doesn't come, mainly because I'm convinced if I stay put I must soon fall asleep. My boss gave me some Vicks to put behind my ears - maybe a placebo but not for me as it didn't help at all. Then on Wednesday a very special person treat me to a full body massage! I also bought a magnesium spray which I was told would help, and instructions to have a bath with Epsom salts, lavender and baking soda! The massage was amazing and I came home all relaxed. But, there's always a but, I was invited next door for chat and wine. Just a couple of glasses and it was delicious. Somehow Bella managed to come to bed with me and I couldn't be bothered to take her downstairs (I'm used to Mark doing that after Bella and me have snuggled). I fell asleep fast (thanks to the drink) and woke about 2am (thanks to the drink) eventually I got back to sleep just for the cat to come into my room (Bella left the door open) and wake me up even though my alarm was off! Thursday night I tried it all again minus a massage and the wine! Lol. Alas it didn't work. 😭😭

The bird, the bee and the bat all fly, but they use different kinds of wings. 

Ouch

A colleague messaged that her Strength Training class was needing new blood, was anyone interested? Of course, me. Just what my body needed - though I didn't ask any questions just presumed it would be great. Off I went, with Anna-Marie from work, though I must add that Chloe (the instigator) wasn't there lol (she was on shift). I walked into the 'Boat Shed' to be faced with a relatively small space packed with equipment. In the end there was about 10 of us and it was a circuit. 45 seconds full pelt, 15 seconds rest to move to the next station. There was a wee treadmill, rowing machine, pull ups, ropes, medicine balls, kettle bells 16 stations in total all done twice. The next day Anna and I were feeling chuffed, nothing hurt - maybe we hadn't worked hard enough? I thought I had. Obviously, it's been so long since I've worked my body like that that I forgot it's the day after the day after i.e. today! Yes, I hurt! But a good hurt. I can't wait for next week! Bring it on. I was describing the place to a friend. I said it was like a garage, it still had the garage door, and a door for humans and it was bigger than a standard garage. She said 'Like a boat shed then?!' D'oh what a idiot I am lol. It's all in the title lol.

I have a family of rubber ducks on the side of my bath. A mum and three babies. My BiL, Richard, likes to visit my home and hide the ducks around the house for me to find - sometimes weeks later! He once took them away and sent me photos of my ducks in all kinds of situations! This visit he brought his own ducks (see pic). I found them pretty quickly - one in my car, on my picture frames, my mantle. I am now the proud mother of 10 rubber ducks! The 'elephant' ducks are my favourites. 

Mark, and Richard, are going skiing for two weeks tomorrow. Flying from Newcastle so I've come down with Mark to have a quick visit with my mum. Catching up with friends and seeing my sister and dad. I'm getting the train back Sunday ready for work. It's great being here again. We were in Newcastle city centre yesterday which is so familiar but so very strange too. Buildings and roads are the same but shops and businesses are different. Things have changed so much. It makes me sad a bit because 40 years ago I started my full time career in Newcastle and everything was just as I knew it. Obviously progress and missing decades makes everything different. I hope one day Newcastle will be as familiar to me as Aberdeen is now.

The days are long, but the years are short. 

Still surprised

I got back to work, and I'm so grateful for it. If someone told me in December that I'd get an unplanned week off work without being ill I would have been 'Yeah!' but the reality was that I got cabin fever (wasn't going far - apart from a walk with Bella), once J & R left it was only really Mark I saw and he was working all day. I felt bad about not being in the office so that wasn't great either. I didn't get paid but that's ok, I got a £48 tax refund lol. It's so nice being back though and I've been super busy! Ahhh.

Friday the weather did nothing. Saturday I attempted to drive to the local shop for my paper and there were big machinery clearing both village roads to the main street. So I went to Asda for groceries - and spent a fortune. It started to rain and by Sunday Isaac couldn't get to Asda for work because the roads were closed due to flooding! Facebook community posted loads of pictures of the huge puddles! Not sure how Isaac's little car even got through them to get to the closed road sign on the main road. From the sublime, to the ridiculous! 

I didn't put a single ounce on during Christmas. It's amazing and just doesn't get old. My before life would have seen half a stone easy. And I didn't feel cheated or compromised. I ate and drank to my best effort. Having a new normal set point has simply transformed my life for the better, and I love it so much. Praise be to the fairies and people who got me here! Thank you to so many, I hope you know who you are. 

I just want to end this week by reiterating that the dark nights are getting lighter. When I drive home in the evening it's still dark but there is a redness to the sunset and a light blue glow. Whoop! Spring will be here so soon. I've even seen my daffodils taking a sneaking peek! 

If you want to fly you have to give up what's weighing you down. 

Good grief!

Today's blog is going to be akin to War & Peace. I considered writing half now and half next week but I think that will lose the momentum. So, here we go - my diary for 2026 thus far -

Thursday 1st 

Jane & Richard are with us for the celebrations. They planned to leave on Saturday but there's snow forecast so will probably escape Friday instead. I cooked a Christmas dinner part II exactly like the week before. (This was after I'd already written last week's post.) Half way through and my brother in law goes still. You alright Richard? Nope. He has a condition where rather than his gullet using peristalsis to get food to his stomach, it goes into spasm and locks it in. Generally, it clears itself. Sometimes a mouth of coke helps. Sometimes he needs to go to hospital for an injection of a muscle relaxant. It doesn't sort itself, and coke doesn't work. Jane tries NHS24 but there's a big queue on the phone. Plus the local cottage hospital shut at 7pm and we've all been drinking! J&R decide to just try to sleep cos if Richard can sleep he'll relax. Next morning no change. 

Friday 2nd

Richard can breathe ok as it's not his windpipe just his oesophagus, but he can't swallow anything (not even saliva) and it's painful. Quick, early call to NHS24 and they tell us to take him to the Peterhead wee hospital. They give him the jab and then coke. Nothing happens other than the coke still can't be swallowed. I was in the waiting room so not privy to the actual events but I'm pretty sure the coke came out of every orifice! I'm thinking mouth, ears, nose and even coke tears. They now send him to Aberdeen, and hey it's snowing, hard and I'm driving! This is the first snow Harriet has driven in but she's doing a good job. We arrive! As you can imagine there is a lot of waiting around, a bit of nurses taking bloods, blood pressure, ECGs etc. It's still snowing with no let up. Jane and I watch it out the ward window. The doctor tells Richard he needs an endoscopy. He sends Jane and I home before it gets dark. If he's discharged he's planning on staying in an Aberdeen hotel. The roads are covered in snow and it's coming down heavily - huge snowflakes! I'm not a nervous driver but I'm not having fun. Home safe and sound but Harriet refuses to go back into the garage. Mark tries but there's too much white stuff. So she stubbornly stays parked on the drive. Mark finishes work at 6.30 just as Richard rings to say he's had the procedure and is good to go. Mark drives to Aberdeen to pick him up, with Ellie taking the opportunity to get back to her own place. Finally, about 10pm they are back, after a pretty hairy journey. 

Saturday 3rd

J & R not getting away today. I'm also not going to get to work. It snows today. And it snows some more. And more, and keeps going! It snows a lot!

Jane is on antibiotics. A couple of days ago she woke up with a very painful thumb - it's swollen, red and hot. When talking to NHS24 yesterday they tell her to go see a pharmacist. However, we can't find one online that is open - 2nd January is a bank holiday here. So when at Peterhead hospital she asked the medical staff where she might find an open pharmacy. The staff decided to treat her directly, and diagnosed gout (aka infected arthritis). Hence the prescription.

Sunday 4th

J & R still not going to get home. Richard tries to move his car. Mark tries to move mine and Isaac's. They are pretty stuck. We have plenty food - lots of chocolate and wine! The dogs are loving it. Tilly (J & R's spaniel) is so little she almost disappears in the snow. Bella bounces around as Bella does. It is still snowing!

Monday 5th

When we take the dogs out the snow is up to the top of my wellies, and that's on the flat, not including drifts. It's bloody hard work walking in it! I don't remember having such deep snow before - and it continues to snow, big fat flakes! Isaac and I can't get to work again. Jane (who watches very little TV) and I binge watch Red Eye and manage 5 episodes in one sitting. It is pretty good too.

Jane's thumb is much better but Richard is coming down with a nasty cold. Oh the joys!

Tuesday 6th

No work again. I am feeling anxious now. Everyday I wake up wondering what the weather is like, what are the roads like. Could I get to work? Should I risk it? I feel guilty not being at work when I'm not ill. If you are off sick you don't give a second thought to work, usually too busy feeling awful. But this is weird. I call my boss and she puts my mind at rest. All my paperwork will wait for me. I can catch up when I can - working more days or longer hours. I try not to think about driving and my guilt. Jane & I watch the last episode of Red Eye! Hey, I think it's stopped snowing!

Wednesday 7th

We have a bit of meltage overnight, the avalanches off the roof are so loud they wake us up. I plan on taking Isaac to work at Asda and getting some groceries. If this is successful I'll get to work tomorrow, The farmer has been up our road. J & R pack the car and set off. I watch from the window and see them get stuck in the dip of our road. Richard is reversing then tries again, then tries again. Mark gets his boots on to walk down to give them a push...but they manage to pull away. 2 mins later Jane phones me to say they are stuck again, just round the corner at the school. Some time later she calls again. They are at the top of the road that leads to the main road. A car is stuck coming up the hill so they can't get down. Richard, and another guy, help 2 nurses that are stuck on the adjacent road. They then help the stuck car coming up the hill. After 40 mins since leaving my house they get to the main Peterhead/Mintlaw road - it's about 1 mile!! OK, I'm not going anywhere today - Richard tells me the roads are really not good.

9 hours later they are home in Worcestershire. Phew.

It rains a bit today and the snow is melting still. I set my alarm clock ready for work tomorrow and Mark gets my car back in the garage!

Thursday 8th

I get up and open the curtains. What?! I can not believe it. It has only bloody snowed again overnight. A good 3 or 4 inches! All the bits that were uncovered yesterday are covered again. Mark walks to the village shop with me and Bella. The roads are horrendous again. We help a couple of cars that are stuck. One ends up reversing all the way down the road because he just can't get up the hill. The shop has 2 loaves of bread (I buy both, one for us and one for next door), some eggs but they have no milk. I mean the shop's shelves are empty bar the odd tin or chocolate box!

The farmer ploughs the road, he ploughs our drive and behind our house. My car is now inadvertently stuck in the garage as the plough piles the snow up against it - oops. I wonder if I could now get to the supermarket (in Isaac's car obvs) - we plan to go after Mark finishes work so that I don't get stranded by myself. It is a lovely sunny day, things looking good. Seeing is not believing. Mark thinks the plough has made our road worse. In spite of the sun it is the coldest day yet. The flattened snow is just ice. The snow is piled abstractedly on top. No shopping today. 

I go to bed wondering what on earth the weather will bring. I'm feeling low and anxious again. If tomorrow is no go, I will not get my knickers in a twist. Next week will be better and no one will get harmed if I don't get to my desk. I must chill, like the weather outside my window.

If you are still reading this, well done. I'm impressed. I'm expecting most of you to give up by Sunday. I hope all my readers in Aberdeenshire are safe and warm. See you next week.

Thank you for the free 7 day trial of 2026, but I think I will cancel my subscription!

2026

 

Thank you for popping in to read my great wisdom on starting a new year (tongue in cheek). Resolutions are so last year. This Hogmanay is all about the manifesting, apparently. Of course, we all know what I'm manifesting so we won't bother talking about it. And, on top of that, is the forever mundane (but oh so true) health and happiness of my family and friends. Now the nitty gritty. Let's be specific, I want this year to be, on top of the obvious, a great year for health and wealth. I mean, no way am I promising to go to the gym, or walk more or play more sport. But, and it's a little but, I want to dance more and enjoy moving. The wealth part is a little beyond my control though it could be something to do with spending less. I love my holidays and breaks so that might prove tricky but I will state, here and now, not too buy too many clothes or make-up!

The picture is my crazy daughter. My sister and BiL came up for new year and we spent the evening off the 23rd in the garden, as you do in December! Fairy lights, candles, mulled cider and pizza from the pizza oven. Just lush!

2026 is the anniversary of writing this blog. In June it will be a full decade of weekly writing! 10 years of chatter! What started out as very much a tool to help me lose weight, education on diets and failure of getting thin has morphed into just my thoughts and opinions and general waffle. Thank you to all that have been with me from day one! Without you reading i wouldn't be writing! Bam! 

This week's general chatter is about tea (the drink). Before my op 2½ years ago I drank coffee, with the odd cup of tea or mug of hot chocolate. Now I can't really drink hot chocolate at all and I only drink coffee at work. Tea is my drink of choice at home, and it's taken me this whole time to figure out how I actually like it. It started as pretty weak with milk. I've never had sugar in tea so that wasn't in the equation. A couple of weeks ago I had a revelation that I actually liked fairly strong tea (but not builders) with a tiny splash of milk, but a big splash of cold water (just because I don't have an asbestos mouth). Bingo! How I like my tea. Stick it in a china cup and I'm just in heaven! Add a rich tea biscuit and I'll love you forever! 

The best way out is always through.