Nostagia

Impenitentless Inchy: Wednesday 31st July 2024

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The sleep was lousy, maybe the worst ever for getting disturbed. This time, by . He’d given me a break for two nights, but he was back with a vengeance last night.  I wish that & would ease off a little bit… if not go away altogether.

Sorted the night pouch. The next task was the utilising of the Porcelain Throne. After a long slog, the first of the three tungsten steel-type sausages was released. The second one was not too keen to escape. Several Oohs and Arghs later, it was released. A moment later, I was getting on my feet to sort the after-the-release cleaning out. I had to hastily get myself down again, just in time, too. The final flurry produced a tough, tiny torpedo that hurt more than the first two put together! Hehe!
My ankle ulcer looked much better, although the legs were a little bloated and misshaped, to say the least. Hehehe!
Shaving and showering – yes, a lovely shower, were bloodless, which can’t be said for Little Incies Fungal Lesion.

I then got the late morning (I got up later today) morning views taken and realised something about each of the shots taken.
Zoomed in shot of HMP Nottingham. Opened in 1890 as a city gaol but was reconstructed in 1912, and until 1997, served as a closed training establishment for adult males. In 1997, D wing and E wing were opened, and the prison became a category B local establishment serving local courts in Nottingham and Derby. Currently holding 1,200+ interned villains. 2 local and 7 illegal immigrant killers & Murderers, 5 attempted murderers, muggers, con artists, causing death by dangerous driving, con artist, child molesters, drug dealers, pick-pocket, rapists, and an ex-politician. Having just released a convicted murderer of three old age pensioners from his 20-year sentence after 6 years. No doubt he’ll kill more innocents again, thanks to the murderous Parole Boarder’s decision to free him.  
Within this shot towards the City Centre, there have been, in the last year, eight murders.
The biggest drug raid done by the police in Nottingham was at these flats. They found drugs worth £1.2m in one flat. In which four immigrants were living free of all charges, awaiting a decision to be made. Only one was charged and is still waiting in the same flat for him to be deported back to Lithuania. Perhaps they will drop him by parachute?
Home from Home. Nottingham City Hospital

Pod pea preparing – a nibble pot?

Afternoon view.

Early meal – Nice!

Afternoon shots of the sky.

Dizzy, double vision, I had to give up on the blog.
TV,,, and nodded off for a few minutes – sprang awake… repeatedly until the Care arrived, who caught me nodding and woke me up. Hehe!

I fell asleep. The springing awake continued, so I got up to check the taps, cooker, etc., and apparently took this photo.
What was supposed to be, I know not.

Ahem, I found it within 3 seconds!
No, I’m not joking.  

It’s darned slow work having to recreate all signs, as the Smug-Mode one each time I want to use one. Grumph!

Thursday is likely to be a heavy day with other things too.
The snotty, superior, humourless SpecSavers chap is coming to find the new spectacles. Sister Jane & Pete might be calling. The nurse is due to take out and fit a new catheter set-up. The Ocado food delivery is due. The delivery of the present for someone is due. There’s something else as well, but I can’t remember what it was. Might it be a call coming in from the Diabetes Program chap? Or… well, summat else. 

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TTFNski, Each! 😴

Inchy Old Ode Archive No. 3, from 2023

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Hope you find one you like!
Fare Thee All Well!

Inchoated Inchy: Tuesday 9th July 2024

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I wish I could have found a turn-off button to the brain today.
Because it was of little use to me. And as for talking to myself out loud and swearingly, it went on and on, with no solutions, ideas, or hopes being created. By the time it came to Wednesday morning, all I’d done on this blog was the top section of graphics! And didn’t start this paragraph until nine o’clock! So this one will be sparser than usual, sorry. 
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Not a good start!

I never considered washing and shaving until I smelt my B.O. as I got my head down 14 hours later! I did visit the Porcelain Throne with the intention of doing the ablutions after the evacuation, but as I sat there emptying the liquid product from my innards, I realised that the nurse was coming today to redo the ankle ulcer bandaging. I thought, well, I’ll do it later… but ashamedly, it wasn’t done at all!

The morning rain rained down.
I did notice it didn’t rain up (Hehe!).

This is the second brew of the day, which should mean the last brew, as I’m restricted to only two mugs daily. I consumed it as I worked hard, confused about what I was doing and possibly making more errors than ever before.
On the bright side, was so kind to me. I don’t think I had more than ten shocks all day!

The precipitation persisted for a while longer.

The Community Nurse Arrives.
This always cheers me up!
She set about getting the swathes of bandaged off of the right leg for me. The punctured ulcer was looking and feeling much better this time. And no sooner had she let the air in; an irresistible urge to scratch at the wound tempted me so much to chafe at it. Hehe!  So, I think it might be getting better now. We, well, I, spoke of the eye problems. The nurse said I should get the Caregiver to call the Doctor for me. Carer Kara did it yesterday, but I’m unsure if she did it in my state now.  Maybe she did later when she arrived today? I’m getting confused. Well, I fancy that; I’m getting confused! Har-Har!

The rain was getting lighter.

I got a letter informing me that I will be made an appointment at the Highbury Hospital shortly, and they will let me know later by post. The photo above was taken on my last visit.

Only the odd droplet of rain falling now. I went on the balcony and took a Kodak Tim from the end car park, where the mud-slide was. Plenty of it, too.

Then, as the eyes faded, I gave up on the computer and prepared the day’s meal. I made some roast spuds in the oven and added them to the sweet and sour ready-made meal I cooked in the microwave.
I’m sorry I bothered with it, now! It tasted just plain overly sweet; what happened to the sour bit of the contents? I’ll not be bothering with one of these again, Mr Asda!

Went to do the washing up, , I again the server trolley wheel. To a certain degree, I swore, rather viciously, washed the things up and took this photograph from the kitchen window. I love it when a snap comes out okay.

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What for you is happiness?
Not being loveless?
What are your favourite meal appetisers?
Mini Steak & Blue Cheese Pizzas?
Maybe tasty Stuffed dates with Ricottas?
Or, like me, cheesy baked potatoes?
Whatever – I’d love you to find that bliss!

TTFNski, Each!

Incarcerated Inchy: Saturday 6th July 2024

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Sorry, it’s not a good one (blog) from here on.
The England match, Seizures with the shock of them winning on penalties, the tumble, and much-needed sleep overtook me.
Highlights here and there, but little written content.
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Very dark.

Unknown why I took this. I can’t recall taking it.

Morning.

Taken seconds before the tumble.
Struggled to get the slippers on. You can see the loose carpet I slipped on seconds later between the slippers.

Waste sorted.

Bootiful!

Food delivery.
4 Frazzles were ordered and charged for, and 2 arrived.

Football Match. Seizure. 

Taken to the right.
Taken to the left, both from the kitchen.

Still kaki, almost cube-shaped.
Had to patch up the compression dressing, then do the usual medicationings, olive oiled the wears, and Germoloided the haemorrhoids. Acne and Barrier creams were applied.
Had a struggle to get the PPs on today.
And getting the Phorpain Gel on;
MedPhorpainIt was as painful as it had ever been.
Talk about making myself jump, which, of course, got the Cartilages playing up. With the compression tackle on the right leg, I can no longer use Phorpain to ease the agony. Hehehe! 
So, more painkillers were taken. At least getting dressed was not so bad; it was just the long pullover nightshirt.
The carer arrived and got the one odd bamboo diabetic sock and slippers on for me.

Fantastic sun rays are coming through the cloud to the right of the balcony. Had the alien invasion started? Hahaha!

Lamburgers with sliced tomatoes in sourdough rolls, & a can of carrots & peas were cooked and served up. A pot of mandarin segments in orange jelly was the day’s dessert.

What a great hue later on!
A Pareidoliaising Delight!
Heads, eyes, animals, Great!

Here’s the brolly revealed that I could not find!

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May your foibles ferment with festivities!

Titchy Inchy: Sunday 5th May 2024: Mental Commotion, and an Accifauxpas!

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If I say that today was an odd day, this would be an understatement, a mild euphemism, and an undeniable matter-of-fact. Morning Carer Selina arrived. She medicated me and put on the socks, and after the gal had gone, I’d lost the plot with what I was going to type. Sad, innit?
The day continued in this mould. There were a few Out-of-it moments. Either I fell asleep, had mind blanks, or had a few Non-Epilectic Seizures. Take your pick; it could be any one of them. Or perhaps a mixture. Occasionally, when I returned to imitation life, I found I’d been working on something on the computer while mentally AWOL, with no memory of doing so! On other occasions, I’d done nothing whatsoever as far as I could ascertain. Also, before Selina departed, she took photos of the wee-wee I released into the jug…
The fluffy bits of whatever were back again! But the nurse last month wasn’t worried. I’m sure it will be alright. Likely, it was bits of my prostate coming out. Cause when the Specialist Doctor put me on the Finasteride tablets for a month.
Hoping they will reduce the size of my prostate to let me manually wee again.
So the month’s course is now a year-long one, and still, they ply me with more Prostate (RIP)-killing capsules?
A touch of overkill here, methinks. This is what makes me believe it’s the residue of my prostate floating in the jug of released urine? I don’t know, really. You never know; the Finasteride may have already done for the prostate and has now moved on to another organ to murder? Hehe! Haha!
I hope it doesn’t have a go at a larger organ; that would be pure agony to try and get whatever it was through Little Inchy and the Catheter’s narrow tube. (Inchy laughs weakly) With Confusion reigning again within my poor brain.
Concentration was as bad as it’s been for months today.
I’ll have to rush now; it’s Monday (10:15hrs), and as usual, I’m miles behind with the blog. I’ll have to comment quickly on the photos if I can recall the moment I took them. I’m so frustrated! And this morning (Mon), when I did the ablutions, I turned on the fan heater, and the room was filled with Acne and Eczema bits blown from all over my chubby, belly-dominated body. I don’t know why I told you that?
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A better colour this morning.

The sun was creeping up from the rear left of the blocks of prison cells—no, no, flats! It gave this shot a specific flavour, but I forgot what word I was going to use.

It’s safe to say that the oven burn scar will soon start to crumble off of the hand. It’s not easy taking photos with one hand.

Out came the new cordless hoover with its headlights on when in use. I think I’ll name it Vacuum Victor.

Had a good long session on the crossword before I could encourage Conrad to free it.

I caught my hand on the rack as I grabbed the toilet roll, and bits of a green-looking scar dropped off. It has taken eleven days to heal. I’d better not pick at it, though. 

Afternoon and evening sky snaps.
Pareidolia’s Delight.
Faces, bird heads, a human head…
A taser, a beast with an open jaw, and a bird with an open beak—it’s incredible how many things I spotted today.
This is the last of the sky shots I took. I took some later ones without the SD card being inserted into Kodak Tim. Tsk! It could happen to anyone, (he says).

16:20hrs: Carer Ali arrived as I sat down to have the meal. The feasting was resumed after he’d gone. Baked beans with BBQ seasoning were added to some tomatoes and veggie sauce, mini vegan sausages, and chips, and I had such a hard time getting grime off the oven tray. I tried cleaning it, but I gave up and threw it away! Hence, the chips were mangled, but I still enjoyed them, even if they had cooled too much. The pot of jelly was of a sour-type one. Nice & Tangy! I put the TV on until Carer Richard arrived. He suffered from leg problems and was in pain, so there was no laughter tonight; bless his cotton socks. Gave him a cold drinkie, and he soon had me sorted. Diabetic socks removed.

Even I had to laugh at the mess I got myself into getting into the hospital bed tonight. Farcical? Yes? But at the time, it was also humorous. I’d done the safety checks on the taps cooker, etc., and pulled the curtains back to get as much light in the room as possible; this was to try to avoid needing to use the torch. Turned off the lights and edged my way in the semi-darkness, along the bed, towards the operating thingy… 
I trod on a power socket extension that slightly made me jump. I knocked the overbed mini-table over, followed it onto the floor, and tripped again over the walking stick that had been knocked over as well. I wish this was being recorded in something other than my memory! It was worthy of being a Brian Rix-type Farce! As I struggled with my painful knees, which took me ages and started to foolishly, unthinkingly pull myself up using the bed as a grip… What a Plonker! Of course, the loose quilt on the bed assured my falling back down onto the floor and my bum again! I did feel like a silly old fool!
and  started bleeding, I was back to square one, on the floor in agony! I somehow walked on my knees to the recliner to get myself upright again. The grief from Cartilages Chloe and Carole was so bad that when I did manage to haul up my elephantine-stomached body onto my feet again, I took a Codeine, creamed the Fungal Lesion and Harold’s Haemorrhoids, and Phorpain-Gelled both knees and Back-Pain-Brenda! I rose upright to make my way to the bed again… No, there’s more to come yet!
I fought my way carefully and cautiously into the hospital bed, using the torch this time. Within seconds of finding a comfortable position, the need for me to use the Porcelain Throne arose! I was extra heedful and got to the wet room without further hindrances. The flow started as my bottom hit the plastic lid. It came and came… and came! It was a Kharki, almost liquid type of evacuation. You know, the kind that leaves an uncomfortable sensation in your innards… well, my innards!
The cleaning up afterwards took a long time. I had to clean and medicate again.
Then, a high alert mode was adopted for the trip back to the long overdue, belated sleeping on the bed.
Amazingly, all went well with the return trip!
I had a few hiccups getting into the bed, but they are not worth mentioning. I think I drifted off into the land of Sweet Morpheus Post-Haste. I woke up after a decent amount of time with a vivid memory of the farce in my mind. So, So, I scribbled down some notes to use here.

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Fare Thee All Well!

INCHIE: Tuesday 28th March 2023

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Not much memory in the grey cells of today.
Very late on Tuesday morning, before I wrote this,
Only the above had been done on this blog.
I believe I was in such pain, and with little concentration
power left, I had an early meal (found photo) and
. Being woken by my Caring
Carer, Jodie. Who mentioned how tired I looked.
Sorry that there’s not much to read or view this time.
Still no night bags or medications have arrived.

So the constant pains continue, that much I do know.
spent about ten hours in the recliner. Waking up to stabbing
pains every now and then and have to empty the small
day bag regularly. But as for getting up and carrying on
doing the blog, it was impossible; my mind and in-pain
body refused me permission. Tsk!

The Carers are aware of my being without many medications
& bags but cannot encourage the chemist to supply
them? The same with whoever it is that they order the night bags from.
No contact about it from them, but Carers Sam, Carolynne,
and Jodie say they have rung Carrington Pharmacy about it.
Apart from ram-raiding the shop, what else can they do! Hehehe!

I’ll have to make today’s short as well. It’s taking so much more time
to do this blog, with the eyes fading and so many mistakes to correct.
That’s if I ever get it at all. Time… or lack of it, to get things done
is enough to worry over without not getting my medications and
thus adding constant pains  (, and
, Having tumbles via added to the list. I’ve never been so miserable before as what I am now.
It’s the hopelessness and inability to do anything about problems.
, has reduced me to an incompetent,
fearful wimp. Who knows this but is restrained from correcting, or even facing, tackling any of my everyday worries.
Gawd, I’ve just read this – Did I write it?

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Ankle ulcers have lost their glow.

The Iceland Delivery arrived.
Some treats for the gals.
Got the fridge loaded up.

Then it was the Asda order that came.

Pleased to report that Asda has some Sourdough rolls in stock.

Bit of a cock-up with the tray of vegetables. (Fancy that?)
I thought I’d ordered a potato & leek mix. But, no!
This one had continental vegetables, which included three on my Do-Not-Eat list from the hospital. Also, it had chinks of capsicums in it. I’ll hand this to one of the gals tomorrow. (I gave it to Denise in the morning)

Selection includes the rather tasty cartons of vanilla-flavoured milk.

Now the fridge is really stocked up!

Intercom on in the mini-hallway.

Potato & Vegetable soup. With imitation minced lamb.
I added potato chunks, that I’d cooked in the oven… again, well-cooked. I Fell asleep for an hour – which in itself was something of a miracle for the last few days; sleeping for 60 minutes is the record for the last week!
rudely woke me up. Which I was for once glad of! I membered the soup on the loan, and the potatoes in the oven were cooking!

In a bit of a panic, I almost fell out of the second-hand, £300, charity shop bought, crumb-retaining, microorganism-microbe producing, gungy, moth-eaten, beige-coloured, non-working, bacillus encouraging, incommodious, Haemorrhoid Harold testing, c1968 recliner, in my haste to check in the kitchenette for any signs of fire or burnt to cinders food.
All was well even after an hour! The potatoes were just as I liked them, brown on the outside, tough skins and, like me, soft-centred! Hehe!

Evening all!
Oh, no… It’s tomorrow afternoon now!

Inchcock: Sunday 13th November 2022

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07:00hrs: A second decent night’s kip for the old man, then. (It’s not often I can say that!)
I thought it wise to wait for a little before getting excited; I’d not done the checks yet, and I didn’t want to bring it back to reality just yet for a while.

I went into the kitchenette, mainly to check on the taps, stove, fridge etc. to make sure I’d not left anything on that shouldn’t be. All Clear!
So, a was duly adopted!

It was a foggy morning, not unlike those we used to get every November so many years ago. The memories flowed for a while. as I took these photographs!
Not necessarily good recollections. But a few did sneak in.
Got the Health checks done.

Pulse decent at 33.1°1f.

Sorry to say that the flipping Blood Pressure came out up in the Top Red area, Hypertension Three!
But only just. Hehe!

The SYS was really high this time at Red-Risk 162.

The Dia was fine in the Amber zone.

The Pulse was creeping back up again at 78.

I just can’t understand why they have classed in the red-three zone.
When three of the four are in the Amber zone?
I expected to be well lower down on the scale. Mind you, the SYS was high.
Came in. Got the medications sorted, and the lad was in a rush; I could sense it… his being so late told me that as well. He wanted his bed, and who could blame him. Talked him into trying a cold Starbuck Coffee for his thank-you treat. Be interesting to see what he say’s about it later next week. I bet Richard won’t take a coffee with Rum & Coke and his favourite, Pink Gin and lemon, being on offer. Hehe! He can have a coffee as well.
I got the mince in the pan with the beans and added some flavourings.

I’m well known as a flavourings-adder, you know. Hehehe!

Then I got two large potatoes in the big saucepan on the boil, and I nipped back to the computer to get her started and begin updating the Saturday blog. I had to avoid getting distracted with blogging for fear of forgetting about Josie’s meal cooking.

Went back to check, and the potatoes were already done? It only seemed like ten minutes. But, of course, it was longer.
As you can see in the photo here when it came to dicing the spuds ready to go in the oven to bake them crispy… This is how one potato turned out – Bad!
So, not so many spuds in Josie’s meal today.
Got the diced and olive-oil-sprayed spuds in the heated oven.
Had a clean-up. And back to the computer.
That is not blood on the paper towel. Oh, no! It’s probably jam or ketchup, something like that. As if a man of my calibre would cut his right index finger while slicing the spud, laughable.
Did some work on the blog, mostly correcting errors made. Tsk! Bet I still missed no end of them!

Added spuds to the saucepan of chilli-stew, or whatever you want to call it. But after taking out approximately half of the stew and placing it into a separate lidded-tub
This is Josie’s 2nd meal for Monday. She heats it up in her microwave. I try to make the two meals different for her. After taking out the Monday portion, I added some basil and BBQ to the first lot and stirred it up, warming it gently. No potatoes in the Monday one, either.
I had 20-minutes or so on the blog and made up Josie’s tray.

I’d got carried away today… Just look at that pile of stew in the bowl for her. It might get her eating better, but it is bound to get me accused of trying to make her look like Betty Bunter.
Now, for the less mature whippersnappers, these names will mean nothing. But to us kings growing up[ in the ’50s, they were previously revered. For they were in comics that we read.
Possibly. In this photo, Betty’s name is Bessie Bunter, but later she became Betty; I don’t know why. It’s me mishearing what Josie was saying… I’ll have to check that later with her.

But she was for the girls, and for us lads, we had Billy Bunter.
Two overweight kids that always seemed to get the better of their parents in the story we read. Hehehe!
I think that Sister Jane was a fan of that comic. There was the Topper, Beezer, Beano, Dandy, Eagle & others. Not bad for a bloke who read his instructions from the nut-house hospital last night and can’t remember anything he read?

Note the changing times in the covers here? In those days, the girls were trained as domestics, not future wives. So, Billy gets excitement out in the woods with criminals, and Betty-Bessie battles the fight to get food in the house. Not a single person back then mentioned them being unhealthily overweight. Hahaha! I wondered off subject again there, didn’t I?

Back to the diary: I delivered the meals to Josie.
I remembered taking the Lumix camera with me in my pocket, and I’d also got it in my bag! Every little victory, you know!

Josie was looking better today; bless her cotton socks. I’m not sure who is the more forgetful between us… but my guess would be it being even-stevens! Hehehe! The deafness we also share is just the same. She didn’t notice the over twice the usual amount of chillie-stew and the larger bowl I had to use to get it all in.
About Gawd knows when… I got the Saturday blog posted off.
Carer Carolynne arrived. We got the medications sorted and had a natter. (Well, I did!) Hehe! Forced treats in thanks on her. She took the waste bags with her as she left; with a smile.

Not in the flat, though. There was a fire in Basford or Sherwood area. I took these pictures of it. Much smoke varying from white to black and a few bursts of flames.
Annoyingly, I could find nothing on the news or the internet about it.

These chronologically go from left to right as you go down.

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Shame I couldn’t find them for a newspaper to use.

It’s 20:00hrs already! I’ll get something to eat, then my head down, I think.
♫ Food, Glorious Food ♫ Flavour-Rating 7.2/10. And I was surprised at how tasty the Adkins cobs were.
The Asda Soya lemon yoghourt was its usual tasty treat.

I got ensconced in the aged, grotty-looking c1966 made, charity-shop-bought, horribly beige-coloured, £300, Harold’s Haemorrhoid-testing, non-operational, acne-giving, virus-breeding, rickety, easy-to-fall-out-of recliner.

Sleep came quickly tonight!
But could I stay asleep? No! I woke up jouncingly, joltingly, or jarringly so often; it almost tired me out! Fair enough, I got back to sleep quickly enough, but minutes later (it seemed), I was once again twitchingly woken up!

Sweet Morpheus was playing with me once more…

Or, mayhap it was , continuing on her mission along with the other mysteries of Woodthorpe Court, with the hobgoblins, spectres, gnomai, phantasms, ghosts, the grotesque succubae, extraterrestrials, ectoplasms, spirits, or the Fata Morganas, that have been sent to taunt, irritate and terminate my already limited saneness of mind?

Inchcock: Monday 7th November 2022

/ Inchie / 2 Comments

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Sorry for the contents being short on details today.
One of those impossible-to-concentrate days.

Another can’t-get-to-sleep night. But at least I slept in, a reaction from the body mayhap in protest at Sweet Morpheus’s attitude to my requests for rest. So I reckon I’d got nigh on 6-hours of kip, much better.

I didn’t get up until 06:30hrs. A hint of mode came to me when I realised that if I slept this long on Wednesday, I could blob getting the lift to the hospital. Oh, dear!

I got up, had a wee-wee, emptied and cleaned the overnight bucket, and pressed on with getting the sorted. A couple of nicks shaving, but nothing serious. The teggies, shaving and washing etc., went rather well, actually. 
With the Porcelain Throne session, though. Unexpectedly, Trotsky Terence took over the bowels this time. What a mess!

I dressed and got the computer on, and did the health checks for today.

Well, what a nice surprise! Still in the Amber.
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arrived while I was making a brew and looking at what I’d got to eat for dinner in the fridge and cupboards.

Richard got the medications sorted and went and fetched the Flash speed mop and assembled it was a little quick for me to follow, but he kindly went through it again a little later for me. Who’s getting thick in his Dementia Doreen affected days? Hehe! You’re right!

Not only that, he used it… Fancy using someone’s new mop for the first time! It’s taken the edge off of my enthusiasm now, for the first time to use it. Hehehe! Only joking!

I must say he did it in no time. He didn’t move everything out of the way for this demonstration, and it seemed like three minutes before it was done!
Not confident about setting the new pads, but when I’ve done it a few times I should be alright. As long as the shakes don’t come on while I’m trying to fit them. What are the odds you’re offering for that a fit, shake, involuntary leg dance and or that the neurotransmitters don’t go offline when I try to fit the pads the first time? Hahaha!

Richard put the attachments on the old Carers table for me, telling me to leave them there, so you don’t lose them, keep them in sight! Richard knows what’s what. Bless him! We had a little natter, and he had to go; understandably, his bed awaited his attention.

I slipped him some treats, I insisted, said my farewells and thanked him for his help. But something was not right the moment he departed, and I shut the door; EQ told me not to panic… I wasn’t panicking. at least, I didn’t think I was. I thought I was in a good mood after just having Richard helping me. Annoyingly, EQ did not to me speak again? Somethings coming up that do me no good, but what and when? I forgot all about it and went to make a brew of, not Glengettie – for I have run out of their teabags. I could have sworn I had a box of them in the spare room, too! I also believed I had another box of the Co-op 99 teabags, but neither was seeable? Such are the mysteries of Woodthorpe Court, with the ghosts, wraiths, spectres, cacodemons, apparitions, and other grotesqueries that haunt the hallways and lobbies, searching for Inchcock; to curse with bad luck, create ambiguities, abstrucities, perplexities, misfortunes and botherations, to scare. worry and confuse me! They hide things as well!

I took photographs of the morning view from the kitchenette window! When I got around to loading these, I found the top one from yesterday.
I’m pretty certain I did not put it in the Sunday blog.
The morning rain was just bringing down another mini mudslide at the end car park.

I took a shot of the much-missed tree copse. I really loved walking through that up the hill to the Woodthorpe Grange Park every day… sadly I miss the smells and the odd wildlife when walking through the trees… and if anyone was about, I’d talk to the trees and any animals showing themselves to me.
I noticed how full the bottom car parking spaces were, and this made me realise how late I’d got up, and it brought about the worries of me not getting ready in time if the hospital transport came early. In fact, I dreaded missing them.

It cheered me up so, to see it was Nurse Hristina from the Phlebotomy DVT Warfarin Clinic to take a blood sample for the INR reading. She patiently read the Cataract letter for me to see if there were any signs of whether or not they were going to perform the operation on Wednesday – or if it would be another two Pre-assessments. I’ve had six already? When Deana rang the Queen’s Medical Centre Hospital about it, whoever she spoke to said she didn’t know either! Getting fed up comes easier for me! Hristina was very patient with me. ♥

Very belatedly, I got on the computer to update the Sunday blog, going on the WordPress comments section first. After an hour or two, a message came up from Microsoft warning about heavy rain in your area today?

Herbert in the flat above started his banging about again.
I did not retaliate. Although I’m not saying I wasn’t tempted to.
Eventually, very late on, I got the updating done and posted.

l wandered into the kitchen and added some items to the planned meal.&- Roasted veg sauce and some soya imitation bacon bits.

While making a brew, I think whatever EQ was on about affected me.
Not going into detail; just saying that my concentration was abysmal. I struggled to get making a brew of Thompson’s Punjana tea made properly. I decided to sit down for a while to drink the tea. (It went cold)
I nodded off, and I was flabbergasted when about three hours later. rudely woke me up. I thought it might be the evening carer, but no one came in. So I went to the door, and it was Josie bringing back the pots from her Sunday lunch. I was awake enough to ask her if she enjoyed it, and she answered, ‘Yes, very nice!’ That was good!

I went back to the computer, and I started doing this blog. But soon found it unbelievably hard work. Something was wrong; I just couldn’t spell words, understand them, or understand what I was doing minutes earlier… genuinely worrying.

Then the fretting over not getting up in time for the j074:00 > 09:00hr pick-up on Wednesday. Anything was likely to get me worrying at that moment. What’s going on?

Then, Herbert kicked off again. This time I matched each clatter and bang with one of my own, hitting the top[ of the tall bookcase. At least he stopped.
Around 18:20 hours, I got the chilli mixture cooking. Hope the Carer doesn’t come while I’m eating it –  didn’t think of that before.

As I typed that, in walked Carer Jodie. Hehehe! Early tonight, but she sounded a little Jaded. I soon got her laughing with my natterings after she did the medications. Treats in thanks, and off she went on her mission. Hehe!

Got the bean chilli and veg nosh served up. Had the last two brown cobs with it, and a lemon soya yoghourt

Very nice; the seasonings seemed to work alright. The smoked 7- Mediterranean Vegetable sauce suited this chilli.

As you can see, I didn’t leave a lot in the dish. Hahaha!

A flavour rating of 8.2/10 seemed to be a fair judgement. I just hope that the innards don’t start erupting later…
Sweet Morpheus was again reluctant to let me nod off. He relented in the early hours of the morning, and I think I got four-hours-uninterrupted shut-eye!  Then sprang awake, nodded, woke, slept, woke, fell asleep, woke…
Humph!

Inchcock: Friday 23rd September 2022

/ Inchie / 12 Comments

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03:25hrs: I so reluctantly stirred. I battled the willpower telling me to get up and get the ablutions sorted out. But I still rose delicately onto my feet and hobbled into the kitchenette and got the kettle on.
I recalled taking a decent photo yesterday of the morning view – whether or not I did is in question. Anyway, crossing my fingers that the Lumix will still be working, I selected an option for the SCN choices for a nighttime starry scene. Unbeknownst to me, it then told me to wait for 30 seconds after taking the photo and not to move the camera. Haha! Me, hold anything still for 30 seconds with Peripheral Neuropathy? Not a cat in hell’s chance! But I did my best and had hopes of it coming out alright. As you can see above, it didn’t! So I shot the next effort in Auto-setting.
Not so bad, but should have been better. a smidge disappointing.

I got the teeth, shaving and showering done. All went well, with no problems.
The body temperature was high again, a new highest ever, I think. 36.2°f. Mmm?
SYS at 144, DIA 71 and Pulse at 85 bpm. It looked like this was going to be another low; I put the figures into the NHS assessment site.
In the res, I didn’t expect that. I thought it was a certainty to go in the High-Normal Amber zone.

But, No! It was in Hypertension – 1. But only just, so it’s still better than recently. So, things, apart from the temperature, were looking good for once. In fact, looking at the graph, an improvement.
I got the waste bags made up.
Then sorted the waste out of the three-wheeled-walker trolley. On the computer, and found I’d received a comment on a blog. Replied to it, stopped computering, and got some suitable clothing on ready for the trip to Bulwell.
  ♫ Oh, Susana rang forth from the door chime, and in walked Carer Jodie ♫. She looked at the Blood Pressure Health Check chart. And gave me another Temperature check, which was higher than the earlier one, at 36.70°f! So, she gave me a Covid Test. Nope, I’m Covid-free. A little concerned about these high temperatures of the last couple of days? Particularly with it being low every time for the last two years and four months! Gave Jodie some

I thought I’d check everything to take again… not that I’m over-forgetful, a ditherer, waverer, vacillator, or dimwit. I was so pleased; over-the-moon with the Lumix working. Now I can take snaps of the riverside, the birds, the Market Place today. I was almost getting gregarious. I took a photo from the window, but nothing showed on the screen. My heart sank, so tried again, several times to take pictures, each one to no avail!
The day just went down to level three in the pissed-off stakes! I put the camera b battery on charge and had to leave it at home. Time to rush out for the Link minibus. Not in a good mood now!

The driver was looking rather annoyed as I stumbled out from the foyer on the ground floor. But he did not moan at me; bless him. We were pulling up at the Riverside Complex car park; it seemed to me in no time. Of course, I spent the journey nattering, and he couldn’t hear a word I was saying. A shame that!

Of how I wished that I had the camera with me. As I walked into Bulwell, the birds around the river Leen bank were bounteous and beautiful. I’d have loved to have taken some photos.
Over the next hour and a half, I visited three stores, and I got a carrier bag of this and that from each one. B&M, Heron, and Iceland.
Spent a bit!

Had I got the camera, I could have photographed the shop that I worked in back in 1962, a travel agent now.
The butcher’s van with tons of meat on show. Most likely horses, judging by the cheap prices he was asking. Hehehe!
The river Leen, not so many people around, and the fancy ducks and birds had abandoned the place to the many pigeons. Which is to who I fed the seeds.
A fist fight near the no longer open toilets on the other side of the road between two blokes, the shorter man had a good upper-cut. It was broken up before any police arrived… mind you, that’s not surprising in Nottingham. Three women sorted them out, and the bloke wandered off and into the pub together, laughing it looked like?

On my hobble to the Centre to catch the bus, there were an awful lot of escooters flying about and some damned dangerous disability scooter riders!

The good news? Was that was as good as gold to me. And  I did a fair bit of hobbling around with three heavy food-filled bags hanging on the trolley, too.
At the centre, I sat down near the end door to and from the car park… When I say sat down, I mean clumped down! I really didn’t see how low they were, and I think , burst a few papules… well, I know he did. Tsk!

The minibus came dead on time; it was Beryl who lifted me last Friday. Bless her. Likes a natter, my sort of gal. I don’t know her real name. Enjoyed the lift home. Bade farewell and off inside the foyer of the flats. Where neighbour Josie launched into Sherlock Holmesian mode. Where have you been? Did you meet anyone? You’ve bought more food? Do you need it? Hold on, I’ll come up with you… Did you get yourself some bananas?

I was slightly dazed when I got into the flat. Hahaha!
A drop of rain fell, but it only lasted for a few seconds.
I got the things put away and ended up with a mightily cramped-up load of fridge contents.
I think you must have noticed that the Lumix was working again? !
Definitely, I won’t need any substituted and short-dated food delivery for a few days or longer! I will have to ask Carer Richard to check the dates on the stuff in the fridge on Monday. Since I can no longer read many of the smaller-printed dates on such a lot of the things in there.

I’ll be spoilt for choice for a few days now.
I did manage to get some of the drinks from B&M.
I got a few non-alcoholic drinks of different types for the Carers and Nurses. A can of Mango Juice, one of Grape Juice. A couple of bottles of Coke signature drinks, which are Smoke flavoured? Cans of Rhubarb & Gin with Ginger Ale and a Passion Fruit Martini!

① Then things got back to normal. Huh! The Link Service called me to tell me that they are picking me up tomorrow, at 07:55hrs. To go to the doctor. Needless to say, I’d forgotten all about this. I’m not sure if it is the Memory Test, Severe Frailty Check or the Flu Jab?
② I thanked her kindly and checked the date on the calendar. Hmm! I’ve also got the Chiropodist at 11:15hrs. Oh, dear…
③ Then WordPress played up. And half of the screen was taken up with telling me the LinkedIn link needed updating. But it wouldn’t let me!
④  Kicked off with his noises again Concentration was hard enough without that uncommunicative, unamicable, unneighbourly, superior-natured, snotty, gits banging about!
⑤  Then I realised I did not have enough cash to pay for the bus in the morning!
⑥ Huh! I only dropped the spring water bottle, and it landed right on big toe!
⑦ Suddenly I realised it was a Saturday tomorrow. (I can be sharp sometimes) The problem is, most Saturdays… well, all of them, Carers come much later in the day. So I’ve now got to talk t.o whichever Carer comes tonight (Not always an easy task). And explaining that I needed them earlier tomorrow.
Life is not easy when one gets older and is on their own! Problems that cannot be solved. I bet you they let me down in the morning, and I have to go to the doctor without taking my medications? That is, if I can solve the shortage of money to pay for the minibus with – if I can’t, the whole day is going to be a further problem-bringing nightmare!
I’ve gone from almost contented to depression in ten minutes!

Blimey! The Carer is due anytime now.
Just started to eat the meal, and ♫ Oh Susana ♫ rang out. had arrived, and I had to explain the cock-up with the doctor’s appointment timing. He rang into his Meridian Care HQ and told them. The man said: “You are getting an outside Carer tomorrow, so they should be early. It would have been better to have informed us earlier…” If he thought about who he was dealing with for a moment, someone with Vascular Dementia who has had all the appointments changed on him by the surgery twice, he may have found it unnecessary for sarcasm.

I ate the three-quarters of the now cold meal left, washed the pots and took these evening shots from the kitchenette window 

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I used two different modes to see which was best. Naturally, I forgot to write them down so I’m none the wiser
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Inchcocks Tuesday 31st May 2022 – With Ode

/ Inchie / 13 Comments

ODE to MEMORIES

♫ Memories are made of this… ♫

Memories I have of sweets costing a farthing!
Getting skin cancer through over-sunbathing,…
I had sex once when I was thirtysomething…
Being six, Mam ran away, and I learnt snogging,
Christine, her name, I was her plaything!

Skidmarks on my unwashed underclothing.
Trying my hand as a pugilist, boxing…
I never won a bout; I was constantly losing…
So tried the sports club amateur wrestling,
Just one fight, it left me frothing and bleeding,

Years later, I tried my hand at WordPressing,
Got dementia. It is very depressing…
Worked in security, tried a spot of sleuthing,
Caught a crook once; he was very scathing,
He was found not guilty; I was seething!

I went undercover pretending to be birdwatching…
Dressed in camouflage, green and brown clothing…
Binoculars to hand, RT and truncheon packing…
Fell out of the tree as I suspect, watching…
Lost my job; it was gutwrenching!

Realising how bad I was at odes & blogging,
When I was getting on a bit, seventysomething,
I had a period of deep thoughts and soulsearching,
Seeking whatever, a reason to carry on trying…
Now I’m approaching the time for dying…
Oddly enough, there’s no crying, just a bit of sighing!

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TUESDAY 31st MAY 2022

05:10hrs: After yet another horrendous night of shooting awake, nodding off and bursting back into ersatz life, I gave up; I needed a wee-wee, anyway. But that in itself was a nightmare… well, morning mare!

The regular of late, trickling, waiting and whistling, was followed by an even more extended period of dribbling! At least by taking my time and making sure that things had stopped, I avoided any splashing of the furniture, carpet or my body parts.

I started the sphygmomanometerisationing. BP first, with satisfactory results, as you can see here on the left. A smidge high, but nothing compared to many of last week’s figures for the SYS, at 149, DIA 74, and Pulse 78bpm. Very good! The Chinese (Hong Kong) was built by Shenzhen Relee Electronic & Technology Co. Ltd™, contactless thermometer, was still showing low. Compared to the target set by the hospital, of 35°c, at 33.7°c. But no worries!

I made up a waste bag and then went to the wet room to check out the feet and ankles that I found affecting my balance and hurting me a smidgeon.

I dug out yesterday’s photo of the pins to compare it with today’s (top).

Quite a change? The DVT and old ankle blotch had gone all artistic and more pronounced. Which is what the pains did as the day developed. They have not been this bad for months? Then I got the kettle on but didn’t get to make a brew as the innards summoned me back to the wet room.

Once again, the motion was reluctant to start moving. So, I had a go at the crossword book, a different one, as the previous one had got me struggling. Got a couple of answers in, and the sludge started coming! I can’t recall ever having a more gooey sticky, pongy evacuation than this was! Half a new toilet roll later, I started the mammoth task of cleaning up. Had a wash, got dressed, and went back to the kitchenette.

Made a brew of Thompson’s Punjana, and got some photos uploaded to CorelDraw, then the computer. Got the Monday blog updated; it took me a long time. During which the feet started stinging even when I was sat down. What’s going off down there?

Carer Richard arrived. The lad didn’t look too good. So I launched some humour at him, to which he responded well. As he got the medications to me, the poor chap started sneezing and coughing, and he was sweating so much! Not that that stopped him for long, he even showed me how to get the Grammarly extension, not to give corrections for sentence building. Unfortunately, it stopped Grammarly from working at all! Hehehe! I laughed because we got it back on and laughed about it. (Phew!) Richard didn’t look any better when he departed, but I think he was a little happier. I hope he is not coming down with any illness. Fingers crossed that he’ll be back tomorrow and feeling better. I got the Monday blog post done last, and the Morrison delivery arrived.

The delivery person brought up the flowers first, so he didn’t damage them, and he went down to the other bags; that was kind of him. These are for the Wardens. He fetched the different parcels, and I got them into the kitchen.

Got the things stored away. There is no frozen today; the freezer would struggle to get a biro or single fruit gum in. At least I got some of the battered chips, not the ones I wanted, but the last ones tasted nice enough. They substituted for battered onions with a tray of mashed turnips? Still, they’ll do for me. The bananas almost made me feel guilty! They looked like a set of parents with their children. Alright, so I’m a little weird at times! It has to be admitted, I fear. My travel into loony-land is taking on a little speed lately. Hehehe!

Cleaner Esther arrived. Talking all the time, picking fault with me not getting out for some exercise… then she took the laundry down to get done. I missed most of what she said. But, I did pick up on my ordering too much food. I’ve long stopped bothering to explain things to her. Hehehe!

I took Morrison’s Amazon food delivery wrappers to the waste chute. The fire door was wedged open into and from the flat’s lobby area. Some work of some sort was taking place. The lighting of some sort, I believe.

I limped (the flipping feet are getting even more painful now?) down through the lift lobby and to the waste room door at the end to the left.

I partly trapped my knuckle in the cast iron lid as I shoved the bags into the chute. Nothing new; I’m becoming something of an expert in doing this!

Back to the flat lobby and through into 72 Woodthorpe Court single apartment. Well, I would; I live there. Hahaha! I may be losing it again here?

I got some Facebooking done and the WordPress reading. Later, got the oven warming up for the nosh, specifically the battered chips.

Esther returned with the washing, all done. Oh, the tongue lashing I suffered. I’ve no idea what they were about, mind you. But they flowed at me without relenting or relaxing for a good few minutes. Deafness can have its advantages. Hehe!

I’ll get the meal started, and then, if I don’t fall asleep, try to get the top Ode-making started. Got the beer-battered chips in the oven and got some WordPress comments answered, then went to check the ovens in the chips… or even the chips in the oven.

Enjoyed this plateful immensely. Especially the beer-battered chips. And soft bloomer sliced bread.

A Taste-rating of 8/10 was given. Then, as I had failed to get any desserts with the food order (my fault, Doreen Dementia’s), I guiltily had one of the baby bananas. You can see how small they were here. Tasty lovely. I’m not sure, but I might have heard it crying as I bit into it! Hahaha!

Washed the pots up. And then proceeded to drop the washing-up liquid bottle to the floor via my right toes. What a mess! Got it sorted out and just finished it.

♫ Oh, Susana ♫ rang out, and in came the Evening Carer. Well, Carers, mob-handed. Hehehe! They got the medications sorted, and we had a three-way natter for a couple of minutes, and off they went. Bless ’em.

I got the TV turned on, and there was no reception at all? Mayhaps the electricians, needed to turn off some connection to get done whatever they were doing? So, I put in a Heartbeat DVD to watch. The message came up No DVD inserted! Oh!

I reset the Freeview system. But only a third at most of the channels were loaded, and all West Midlands? So, reset again, picking the ‘All’ option. This time it came up and seemed to be working. But the DVD wasn’t having it! Humph!

I could see the sky’s colour changing through the paper-thin curtains. And nipped out to take a photo of the unique cloud and sky colouring. Not the brightest I’ve seen by a long shot, but I thought it was an awe-inspiring bit of nature.

Fifteen minutes later, the glow of the sun’s setting permeated the room, and I hobbled into the kitchenette. To take this picture. Another masterpiece of nature. I’m so glad I didn’t fall asleep now. But soo regretted thinking this.

The sixth night on the trot of being unable to get to sleep. Couldn’t read a book, thanks to cataracts, glaucoma and saccades. Put the TV on but could not hear it or read the subtitles easily. But kept springing awake again, seemingly every five minutes or so. After perhaps twenty jump-awakes on the 21st, I gave up and rose onto my feet for a wee-wee. It was hard work and well gone midnight before I drifted off…

Morning all!