On Friday things were relatively quiet - well, the hammering from next door continued (sounded like a sledgehammer, not too loud but the vibrations from the thud thud thud can be felt right through the house), and the Super Mario Brothers DVD arrived and was duly watched after dinner. I'd forgotten quite how funny it is, and we all ended up chuckling. Great fun, and Kai enjoyed it too. Rather a pity a follow-up was never made, it could have been good!

On Saturday Ken and I left Kai to get homework and revision done and went to Street/Glastonbury/Wells. Got a nice haul from the charity shops, and the herb stall was back at Wells market: bought oregano and they had ramsons, so picked up three of those too. Got back to find the crew had gone, most of the work finished (just a little tidying up to do) and everything quiet.

Sunday as usual, major Sains shop then Kai's third venesection session at the BHOC in the afternoon. Nice peaceful day. Then, coming in from closing up the greenhouse in the evening, I heard disgruntled mutterings from next door - and his wife's thoroughly pissed-off sounding reply - and knew exactly what was going to happen.

Sure enough, 7.30 yesterday morning the team were back. I had to get into town to try to find a birthday present for DiL so went in with Kai at 9, then met Ken for lunch. We tried this place, which a friend had recommended: they do a lunchtime special - £4.99, we both had the spicy version, which was extremely spicy but delicious, and the best falafel I've ever tasted! - and got home around 2 p.m. to find all the bricks that had been carefully arranged into a pattern on his patio in piles on his lawn, and the flower bed at the front being dug up again...

They were still using an angle-grinder at the front at 9 (turning it off at 12 minutes past) last night.

This morning everything started at 7.45, with the impactor on at 9 - fortunately at the back, where it's less likely to disturb Kai, who's resting/working at home today. I have to say, the crew are not looking at all happy, and there's none of the friendly (Polish, I think) banter and laughter there was last week. I wish 'em luck: it took the security camera crew 9(? 10? I'd have to check back) visits before he was happy.

Labels: AAARRGGHH, days out, old films

10.30 on Tuesday a digger arrived next door, closely followed by at least one pneumatic drill. By 5.30 the hardstanding, driveway and patio were (noisily) reduced to rubble. Kai and I turned the TV volume up to 40% and watched Mad Max: Fury Rd during the worst of the noise (no way I could work through that).

Yesterday part of the front wall was removed to enlarge the entrance (surprisingly quietly. Credit where it's due, the team are fast and efficient and not making any unnecessary noise).

This morning I was woken at 8.10 by drilling. At 9 the impactor started up...

Kai was hoping for a sleep in: he's still exhausted and doesn't have to be in until 2. Ken has a day off and is out to deliver copies of The holy well and the Chapel of St Anne in the Wood, Brislington, Bristol to the local schools. I'm trying to get some work started, but the noise is pretty dreadful...

Labels: AAARRGGHH

Brief catch-up...

It's been manically busy, but the shed is finally done, and most of the junk has gone to the tip. There's just one more trip needed, hopefully this week. I have my room back, which is great!

Kai has exams now coming up - first one this morning - then on the 13th of June the summer holiday starts. He's back to uni on 23rd September. That's a good long holiday for him, and we're planning all sorts of trips and days out in the hopes that the rest and distraction will help his recovery, which is still dragging on. The fatigue he's coping with reasonably well: it's the endless constant aching that's getting him down.

We've taken advantage of the Sky films freebie and watched Fast and Furious 7 (OK I guess. Nothing much new), Apollo 13 (brilliant), The Black Hole (hmm... well, it's a classic we can now say we've seen), Exodus: Gods and Kings (don't bother), The Lion King (Kai had never seen it), and The Nut Job. Yesterday it was Pixels (great fun! Peter Dinklage is very funny!), and that reminded me of the old Super Mario Brothers, which I had on tape way back. I remembered enjoying it, so I've ordered it from amazon (all of £2.26!). It'll be fun to see it again, and Kai never has. The freebie ends this Fri: Kai wants to watch Mad Max: Fury Rd again before it ends, so will have to factor that in somewhere.

Time to get back to IMDb summaries. Time Trumpet next, I think...

Labels: busyness, films, garden, old films

Quick update before I make dinner...

Kai was thinking about going out last Sat - lovely weather again - but woke up feeling too rough (he has a particularly nasty cold at the moment, on its way out now but the weekend was ropey...) so Ken and I went to Pets@Home for crickets for Rosa (they were out), then to Hurrans for a couple of bird feeders (I had a money off voucher) and coffee and cakes (well, luxury hot choc for me, skooshy cream, marshmallows and a dusting of cocoa, wonderful!), then came back via Benson's for Beds - I'm absolutely sick and tired of being woken up by the pain in my back, neck and shoulders and wanted to ask for advice.

We spoke to Spencer (hat tip as he was extremely helpful, and very funny!) I tried several options before he brought out one of these...

I tried it. And was immediately - I'm having one of these!!

Right away it felt like everything was aligned along my spine. It's deep enough that my lower shoulder isn't scrunched up, and despite being solidly firm (it's really heavy!) it felt like my head was resting on a cloud. No IDEA how it works, but it's absolutely fantastic. They call it Bliss, and it is. I can't remember the last time I slept so well.

I winced at the price, but thinking about it, I usually have to buy new pillows every three months or so, and I don't buy cheap ones any more, so in the long term (it has a two year guarantee) I'll be saving money.

And waking up happy each morning! Gotta be a big plus.

To match it, and see if I can sort out the niggling pain in my lower back, I also ordered one of these, as using normal pillows, as ordered by my physio, isn't working. It arrived this morning, will try it tonight and see how we go.

In other news... More tidying. More recycling. Another bookcase in Ken's room emptied, which means we can much more easily get to the cupboard where our overflow clothes are stored. Seedlings potted on, and new ones started - and I've finally got the bonsai attempts into their proper little pots. The garden is full of birds - we have jays, our magpies are back, and a couple of days ago we had a crow catch a frog in Roeg's Pool... was rather unnerving to watch. It let the frog go twice and re-caught it as it hopped off, then flew away with it.

Lutra and I are currently editing Dystopia: going to see if we can place it with a publisher.

Right - sea bream, creamed spuds, broccoli and peas for dinner. Off to fry!

Labels: books, domesticity, garden, medical matters, sheeeeeep

Can't remember what happened on Monday (am I subconsciously blocking Mondays out of my memory? I wonder why?) but on Tuesday Wendy came up for a visit. We had a good look around St. Nick's Market, something I usually don't have time to do, and I couldn't resist this...

It's a planetary Rover fridge magnet.

Wind it up and it roves up and down the fridge!!

I'm still on the lookout for a Saboo hat - you can see the feathers a little better here - but I don't want to pay a lot for it as it's quite possible I'll only wear it once at most. The market, alas, didn't have what I was looking for...

But it was a wonderful day, with much catching up and chatting. [Glomps Wendy] Great to see you!

Wed was Kai's appt with the haematology unit. All fine, no sign of any nasties virus wise, but he does have another cold, which prevented us going any further than the Callington Rd Nature Reserve on Thurs. Good news is he only needs to see BMT and haematology, alternating, every three months now, which is great! His ferritin level is lower after the venesection, which is also good. Still a bit of a way to go before it reaches anything like normal though.

Today I have reams of client site stuff to get done, and later we'll watch the last ep of Chidlhood's End - would have watched it yesterday but K&K went to a BCHS meeting - "The Coal Mines Of Brislington: Talk by David Hardwick of South Gloucestershire Mines Research Group and Bristol Industrial Archaeological Society on the history of coal mining in Brislington which flourished from the 16th to 18th centuries". They both enjoyed it, and Kai now has some archaeological sites he wants to visit!

Better get moving on the client stuff if I want some time for my own work this weekend!

Labels: days out, friends, medical matters