I haz a bike!

(Well, I will have when I pick it up on Monday...)

OK, an explanation is in order, obviously.

Kai enjoys cycling, but has no one to go with. I used to enjoy riding, though I haven't actually ridden a bike for 42 years. I've idly fancied getting one for a while, but never enough to pay much for it.

Last Wed I had a Carer's Assessment visit from Carla at Carers Support services. These assessments are fairly new, and designed to help carers themselves: if accepted, the carer is eligible to a one-off payment of £300 to treat themselves to something. Themselves: you have to specify what you plan to spend it on (and keep the receipt) so they can see you spent it on yourself rather than on other people/general shopping. I am eligible - so I suggested a bike. Originally I thought electric bike, but the cheapest reasonable one is nearly two grand, far too expensive. So I thought about an ordinary bike instead, and on Wed I met Kai from uni, treated us to paninis at The Refectoire again, then we went over to Cycle Republic in Union Street to get some advice...

Getting the right bike isn't so easy for me any more. With the problems with my hips and back I can't actually raise either leg very high, so I can't cope with a high cross bar. I tried a Pendleton Women's step-through, but even that was a bit high (I find balancing on one leg very difficult since that bout of vertigo I had a couple of years back). So today I went up to Halfords, and there it was...

Easy to step through, comfortable seat, only 6 gears (I've never ridden a bike with gears so that'll be fun!) and high enough handlebars that using it won't put too much pressure on my hands (the carpal tunnel syndrome is getting worse, and my dr has now referred me for a steroid injection into my right hand - oh joy... She did, however, confirm that cycling is an excellent exercise for back pain, as, like swimming, it's weightless exercise. So that's good!) I was amused that the young assistant who served me called it a 'sit up and beg' bike - I thought that term went out of use back when I stopped riding!

Anyway - I found a helmet that matches it, and a couple of fun things at Tesco on the way back:

That is a truly horrendous 'clown' type horn. Too many people ignore bike bells these days - they won't be able to ignore that! And yes, that is a teal-coloured car freshener ('Ocean Paradise' fragrance). The thought of hanging a freshener on a bike came near to making me giggle - I couldn't resist it! And the Bumblebee is a little wind up torch.

Brief bit of clarification: there is a role player on tumblr who plays a Shattered Glass universe Prime Knock Out. Prime Knock Out is a Decepticon, of course - but in the Shattered Glass universe the roles are completely reversed, with the Decepticons being the good guys and the Autobots the bad. The good Knock Out is teal coloured instead of red - so the new bike is going to be called Knock Out (because most of my 'toys' end up with Tf names). And Bumblebee is of course one of the favourite 'Bots (not to me, but most fans like him).

A bit convoluted that, but now you know!

Will report back on how I get on later. First ride we plan is along the river cyclepath - quiet, not too long, and completely flat. Kai will need to service his bike first though.

In other news, Wendy came to visit yesterday. It was fantastic - we just sat and talked and watched the pilot ep of Dead Like Me, which Wendy had never seen, and then, continuing the Mandy Patinkin theme, Alien Nation (the original film). It was wonderfully relaxing! Many thanks, Wendy!

We've now finished watching Charlie Jade. It's slow-paced and tricky to follow, so close attention needs to be paid, and some of it is difficult to understand, but overall it's pretty amazing. The tension develops relentlessly, and there are some extremely unpleasant interludes... I've never seen anything like it and I really wish there'd been another season. Alas, much like other thought-provoking works, it was cancelled...

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was reduced at Sains, so I bought it to watch tonight!

To end - this is my prunus. Its autumn colours are glorious!

Labels: bike, films, friends, fun stuff, medical matters, visits

Erk - been a week again...

Let's see. Monday and Tuesday were much as normal - shopping, domestic stuff, a bit of gardening. Wed afternoon Kai wanted to go for a walk, so we got the no 1 bus to Eastwood Farm and walked the circuit of the plateau there.

Dull day, but a nice walk.

On Sat Ken and I went Yule shopping at Wells and Street, which was fun! And quite successful.

Yesterday Kai had venesection - which was astonishingly fast this time, 450 mls in less than 10 mins!

So - not a lot of any great interest, but it was still manically busy.

Labels: busyness, days out, domesticity, medical matters

Just occasionally I find myself struck by - enamoured of - something extremely unlikely. It happened recently -

It's from Tesco, part of their new bedding range, and I think it's lovely. Not pretty of course - everyone knows I never do pretty - just... whimsical. Charming. Light-hearted, Ken called it.

And it matches my orchid.

Labels: domesticity, orchids

And on Wednesday Kai arrived back early, so we picked up crickets for Rosa at Pets@Home then headed off on the long-promised walk through Stockwood Open Space...

It's beautiful there.

Quite a walk though - tired by the time we got back.

Much of the rest of the week has been spent getting more done in the garden. The higher raised bed is now up:

Not full of soil yet, that's going to take a little while.

Everything should settle down a bit now.I have some client stuff to get done tomorrow, but then I plan to turn to next!Poppy.

Labels: garden, walks

*sigh* So, despite the flu jab, I went down with flu. A weekend wiped out, high temperature, unable to eat, oh joy. Feeling a bit better today (going to assume that's the effect of the flu jab, as it usually lasts longer than a few days) and should be better again tomorrow. Luckily no-one else caught it (though Kai is currently fending off every bug that's going...)

However, the good news is that the problem with my back isn't spinal stenosis. There's some wear and tear, and a narrowing of one of the channels that a nerve goes through (I haven't actually seen the MRI results yet, my dr told me on the phone last night and I forget the correct medical term) that is most likely causing the pain. I've been referred to the physio clinic (again. I swear I'm going to end up with exercises taking up half my days from now on...) But basically, nothing major to worry about!

Pears!

Pears in a row! (Or should that be a column?) They've been absolutely delicious this year. It's lovely having so much home-grown fruit!

Labels: garden, medical matters

Let's try again...

Mon 26th Fiona and I took all the old greenhouse glass and the tatty old white garden table to the tip in her SUV, then came back via Hurrans and picked up the photinia. Many thanks Fiona!

Kai has Tuesdays off this term, so we did a little garden work. And I probably shopped: now I can't carry so much I need to shop more often than before. In the evening Kai and I went over to Tesco pharmacy for our flu jabs.

Wed 28th: met Kai in town, treated us to lunch at the Café Réfectoire just outside the bus station (wonderful paninis!) then checked out St Nick's Market and the Antics model shop (I still haven't assembled my Vulcan from last Yule. Now I have the paint I might find the time...) before Kai's haematology appointment at 3.30. Medically, all is absolutely fine, but Dr Lowry has suggested counselling, which I think is a good idea.

Thurs 29th I saw Kai off to Uni then bussed into town, walked from the centre to the Riverside Garden Centre along the New Cut, bought the big pittosporum Silver Sheen, a few other hedging plants - and a sad cotoneaster that was on special, sitting in a tiny pot all forlorn. I couldn't leave her behind...

She's much happier now.

Caught the ferry from the SS Great Britain back to the centre, caught a bus up to the top of Blackboy Hill to get the things I forgot last time I visited Wild Oats and Better Food, walked back down to the Clifton Mall's Sains for the wee bit of shopping I needed, then bussed home.

Fri 30th Riverside delivered everything I'd bought the day before. (It was quite fun to have two grown men drooling over my garden! One of them started planning out how we could be self-sufficient, but been there, done that, too much work these days. My raised beds - which still aren't in place yet - will be quite enough work...) And we watched City of Lost Children which is... odd. And surreal. (I was somewhat thrown by the physical similarity between Dominique Pinon and Brian Downey...)

Sat we settled the cotoneaster, griselinia and laurel after moving the last of the spiraeas over to the old meadow, and planted a bit more behind the greenhouse.

Sun was the usual Sains and Tesco shops. K&K went for a walk to Nightingale Valley.

Ken was on leave Mon - Wed, so we got the area cleared, the root barrier in and the pittosporum planted.

There's more space behind it than I really wanted, to allow room for the wall's foundations. (Yes, we will have a wall built eventually, but not until after him next door has died: I will not have him derive any benefit from anything we do. He's a lifetime smoker and more than 20 years older than we are, we can wait...) In the meantime I'll put in some temporary shrubs to fill the space. Privet perhaps...

The view from the patio doors...

The photinia isn't planted yet: we need to move the fruit trees at the top first and they aren't quite asleep yet.

Mon evening we watched Inception again. Still a real favourite, and this time it made more sense! Wonderful film.

In other news... We've started watching Charlie Jade (again. Ep 1 failed to grip and sent me to sleep the first time.) It's more interesting this time around: will stick with it and see how we go. Kai and I both have colds - I also have a raging sore throat today, oh joy.

And it's suddenly gone cold. Three days ago I was in a tee-shirt, today it's a long sleeved top with a cardigan over it, and I'm still cold. Though that might be because I don't feel well... Eh, it's autumn, it's supposed to be cold!

Labels: busyness, films, gardening, medical matters