Month: May 2026

Wait…is that summer I see?!

Susurro

At last the weather seems to be on the turn and we are seeing blue skies, sunshine, and temperatures in the mid to high twenties. It’s been a long time coming, and this winter has been so wet, cold and long-drawn out that even I am starting to believe all the conspiracy theories about how “someone” is deliberately manipulating the weather for their own ends. The Spanish say that summer doesn’t begin until the 40th May – yes, that’s not a typo! – though this year seems a bit earlier. The chart below shows our current temperatures, which is lovely and warm, but remember that in July and August they rise to at least 44C in the shade….

The great thing about warmer days and nights is that bed changing is so easy – no mre wrestling with a king-size duvet trying to get the blimming thing into the cover. Just use the cover and pack away the duvet – hooray!

The biggest thing that’s happened since the last blog is that I’m still caught up in a round of hospital visits and tests in order to find out what the problem is with my breathing. So far it seems that the right ventricle in my heart is not properly pumping deoxygenated blood to my lungs, so I get very breathless and can’t walk more than 30m or so without having to rest for a minute. It seems now that there’s also a problem with my lungs in that the alveoli aren’t functioning properly, meaning my oxygen intake in seriously reduced. Such fun…not.

Anyhow, the good news is that it should be treatable with medication, which will make a huge difference. The really good news is that the health care here in Murcia is second to none, and everything is done quickly, no waiting around for referrals to consultants, tests etc. I’ve had quite a number of tests so far, with another two to come, which will then give the medics a very good idea of exactly what is going on. I even had a cardiac scan carried out during the national doctors strike – there were only three of us in the waiting area for our appointments so it was relatively quick and easy.

My GP had arranged for an oxygen tank to be delivered to our house, so I can “plug myself in” and get a bit of a boost. It’s a heavy beast, and a bit noisy, but makes a real difference to my breathing when I need to take a break and have a rest. These things cost over €1000 so I’m very privileged to have been given the use of one at home, though I dare to suggest it’s never going to be a fashion accessory! It’s currently my new best friend. Well…not really, as Wendy has always been, and will always be my BF, but I’m growing quite attached to it, and here’s the proof!

My pneumology consultant, Javier, also arranged for delivery of a wee portable oxygen machine,a bit like a shoulder bag, which has arrived. It should now be a lot easier to scamper round the house and actually do some chores without having to leave everything to Peter.

Speaking of the husband, he’s being a total star with all this stuff, doing and getting everything for me and generally running around like a slave. He’s even managed to set up the new monitor for the computer – both of us are more than a bit technophobic and when I tried I just couldn’t make sense of the instructions and ended up gasping for breath while trying not to cry, looking at a load of leads, plugs and other assorted bits and pieces. He even dusted and hoovered everywhere around and under the desk! I’m delighted to report that the whole computer area in my study is now just fabulous, there’s only the rest of the room to clear now!

We’ve been doing a fair bit of maintenance at home – well, Peter has – so bits and pieces have been moved from one room to another as things have progressed. We’re finally, I think, getting there – these old houses take a fair bit of looking after! Oh I need to digress for a moment, as it’s just reminded me of a particularly nasty little woman who used to spend her time insulting me online – well, trying to insult me! She posted on one popular forum that she admired me in that she thought it was great when people bought and did up “old, cheap houses”. It’s just that every time I now hear the words “old” and “cheap” I immediately think of her….the not-so-fragrant one with the poisonous breath that would strip paint at 100m and who told everyone she “had the hots” for my husband as he was “drop dead gorgeous”. Well she’s right about the last bit! But I digress, (happily, because it always makes us laugh!), back to the blog now!

The next big (ish) exciting thing to look forward to is my birthday, and it really IS a big one…70! I can’t believe it, somewhere inside I still feel about 40-ish, in my prime, and now I’m a wreck who can’t catch a breath but am waiting to be fixed. Peter loves to plan big surprises – I don’t like surprises at all, not least because I like to have something to look forward to, and I always worry that I won’t actually like the surprise. Well we were planning on having a bit of a do at home, and inviting all our friends over for food and fun, especially as the weather will be lovely. However, we’re putting all that on hold until I get something sorted with the breathing problem as I really can’t face entertaining on any scale at all. So, maybe do it a bit further into the summer? Then we thought we could get a couple of quiet days away down south in Estepona, so I provisionally reserved a fab place from 2nd to 6th June. The great thing about that is that my best friend Wendy, and her husband Ivan, would be staying at their apartment in Fuenguirola so we’d be able to get together for my birthday! Then two things stopped that one – firstly, I’m really not feeling great with the breathing problems, and secondly I managed to book the place for 2nd to 6th June 2027. Yes, 2027. Sigh. Must have been the lack of oxygen to my brain when I was reserving this one! I gather Peter is planning something anyway, but nothing taxing, so hopefully a nice lunch somewhere new, and maybe a night away in a good hotel as I will have my portable oxygen to help.

Spanish wildlife again, and now that the big leggy spiders that I wrote about last time have all but disappeared, they’ve been replaced by little black millipedes.

These wee things are about an inch long and seem to like climbing up the outside walls of the house. They don’t bother me too much as they’re very slow moving. If they get into the house, as soon as you start to brush them into a dustpan to take back outside they curl up into a wee spiral,giving you a chance to get them outside again. The main thing is never to squash them because firstly it isn’t a nice thing to do to them and secondly if you do, by accident, the smell is appalling!

However, it will soon be scolopendra season again, so we are being very, very particular abut ensuring that all mosquito window blinds are securely fastened, and the front door is never left open!

I’ve written about these wee skitters before, they are utterly vicious, with a bite that can even land you in hospital in unimaginable pain, and….they are quite speedy. I have wee tongs in most rooms, ready to catch them if we see them, and dispose of them away from the house. That one in the photo looks enormous, they range from about 2cm to 18cm and I absolutely HATE THEM! Happily we don’t come across them very often at all, as we take good precautions against them getting into the house. Using appropriate insecticide sprays round window and doors also helps.

With the unusual amount of rain we’ve had this winter, and also the heat kicking in, the garden is starting to explode properly. Our almonds are growing very well, they look as if they’re going to be huge. My wee lemon tree has taken its time in growing, but that’s not unusual for the first couple of years after planting. It’s now having what looks like a typical adolescent growth spurt at last, and is beginnning to flower, so the fruit won’t be far behind it.

I have bought some strawberry seeds to see if I can get a result from planting them – it might have been a better idea to buy the wee plants themsleves but hey, I’m ever the optimist! Failing that, I’ll just be continuing to buy the strawberries in the supermarkets!

Now here’s a thing – that photo is of a wee pomegranate bush round the back of the house and up a small hill so it’s actually level with the north facing window in our bedroom. It’s a bit difficult to explain but there’s a bit of a hill immediately behind the house before the main big mountain, which means part of the building is at a higher ground level. Anyhow, this wee pomegranate bush has been utterly neglected as we keep forgetting about it. Peter ran the outflow tube from the aircon unit in our bedroom to the base of the thing, so it can soak up all the condensation from the aircon. It seems to be doing the trick as, for once, we have little red flowers appearing! That’s the first sign that fruit might be on the way, so we shall see what happens.

It’s all very well having olive trees but really it’s far easier to go to the supermarket and buy the oil or, in our case, and because we have fabulous neighbours, we are always presented with at least 5 litres of first press, extra-virgin oil, all the time.

The almonds are different,we can pick them. roast them, do whaever we like with them before eating them. It’s a bit of a pain to shell the things by hand, but the actual shells make very good kindling when saved for the winter. They are getting very big this year with the rain and the heat, almost the size of golf balls!

My PC doesn’t have built in speakers etc as I couldn’t afford anything too snazzy years ago when I replaced the even older one with this current one. I’ve had to order new mini speakers and a microphone from amazon.es and hope that when they arrive we’ll be able to figure out how to attach them to the computer! I’ve just bought a new monitor and oh my word I was ready to throw the blinking thing out the window – and me behind it – as I found it impossible to work out where all the leads went to from the hard drive, the printer and the monitor itself. Usually this isn’t much of a problem for me, I hooked up the previous new monitor with no bother at all, but have to admit this one had beaten me! Then the husband said he’d have a go, which sort of made us both laugh, as he is even more technophobic than I am. However, what he has in shed loads that I DON’T have, especially at the minute with the lower oxygen levels I’m getting, is patience. He’s a very patient man, and he took his time and worked it all out, so I’m typing away here merrily on the computer, able to see everything on the monitor. Now that the new microphone and speakers have arrived it’s easier to have video calls with family and friends, as well as play music while I’m using the computer.

So, well done and a big hand for the best husband!

Because I’m more or less confined to quarters most of the time due to the breathing restrictions (I know, boring,isn’t it?!) I’ve decided to try to improve my baking skills. That’s not really too difficult, as there are only a handful of things I can bake really well – chocolate chip cookies, shortbread, and wheaten bread. I have been determined to master the art of scones, as they’re not exactly available here. You can’t beat a big fluffy scone with some Norn Iron butter and/or raspberry jam or home-made lemon curd!

Well just take a look at these babies – they came out really well! I shrunk the recipe as I didn’t want to be left with a big load of things as hard as bricks, so we got 6 out of it and, err, by the time I went to take the photo we’d already demolished 2 of them…

Very, VERY easy recipe…for the full load you only need 450g SR flour, 240mls of white lemonade, and 240mls of cream.

I’ve said “white lemonade” as everyone in Norn Iron will understand what I mean, but if you live elsewhere then let me explain – white lemonade is the clear one, not the yellow or cloudy stuff – called gaseosa here in Spain

Mix the whole lot in a big bowl, use a little extra flour if you need to bring it together as it’s very sticky. Plop it onto a well-floured board and knead very gently to smooth it. Roll or press it out to a depth of about 3cm, then cut out whatever size of scones you want. Put into a baking tin, with them just touching each other, and bake at 200C for 15 to 20 minutes. Mine in the photo took 18 minutes so keep an eye on them! Just delicious, and totally idiot proof. If this idiot can make them then anyone can!

Oh, back to the health stuff again…since I started writing this I’ve had 2 more tests carried out. One was to extract arterial blood – never had that before and I think I’m never having it again without a general anaesthetic! The phlebotomist lassie said “This will be very painful”…well good grief that’s not what you want to hear before being poked with a needle! She was right, it was absolutely awful and had me shrieking and crying like a baby. Peter had to leave the room…I nearly did as well. Anyway, after much poking and prodding she got enough for the analysis. Horrible experience, truly horrible.

Next delight has been the gamma scan where I was supposed to be injected with radioactive material to show up any anomalies on a specific scan. Well as I’ve already mentioned, above, my body prefers to hang onto its blood supply and is reluctant to surrender even a drop, making the extraction process quite difficult. It proved impossible to inject the fluid into a vein so I had to inhale it in gas form instead. Photo shows the aftermath of just one needle puncture attempting to slide into a vein…After that little episode I was put into a metal tube not unlike an MRI scanner but less comfortable, and watched as a thing went whirling round over my head, it was a bit like being in a Large Hadron Collider…beam me up Scotty.

I wondered if I was going to look like a Ready Brek kid and glow in the dark, but disappointingly it didn’t happen!

So, just one blood extraction at our health centre then one more main test in hospital, and that’s walking while using oxygen. After that all tests should be complete and I’ll know the outcome at the appointment with Javier, the pneumology consultant, on 18th June. I’m hoping the cardiologist’s prediction is true as she felt it was likely the condition could be alleviated and manged via medication. Fingers crossed!

Right, enough of the health stuff, it’s all a bit “poor me” at the minute, but suffice to say that I’m very glad and relieved to live in Murcia where they don’t hang around when giving out appointments and wanting to help you.

I’m currently reading a number of books at once on the kindle, mainly because I’m not able to be as active as I want to, so it’s time to relax and read. Re-reading a brilliant Stephen King novel called “Desperation”. His books are always so insidiously terrifying because they just might be possible….

Also enjoying a lot of great music. As usual I frequently play Anthony Toner, Brigid O’Neill, Staggered Junction, Ronnie Greer and Eilidh Patterson. Loving it all.

Back to the other main event at the minute, the big birthday! Still have no idea what we’re going to be doing other than putting off a party until later in the summer when hopefully I’ll be more able.

However, for those of you old enough to remember Frankie Laine singing the theme song to “Rawhide”, this just popped into my mind when I was trying to complete a form, part of which was asking for birthdate details….I bet you sing this one….

Keep scrollin’, scrollin’, scrollin’

Though your finger’s swollen

Keep those year dates rollin’

On down

Through rain and wind and weather

Your finger feels like leather

Wishing it wasn’t so far down

All those years behind us, good times such a big plus

What’s that on your face is it a frown?!

Not so fast! Missed the year?

Try again, never fear

Further down!  Further down it’s there,

Find it quick, that’s the trick

Further down, further down, further down, further down don’t care!

And on that note I think I should end this here! If you get any amusement or useful information from these wandering blogs please consider subscribing? It doesn’t cost you anything and it makes me feel great! (Well a lot better than having arterial blood extracted!)

Home and away, and home again…

Susurro

Since the last blog, which seems to have been ages ago, I’ve been to Northern Ireland to stay with my daughter and grandchildren…and I owe many of you a big apology! It was a flying visit of only a few days, and I really saw only a couple of people while I was there. Apart from the time constrictions, and wanting to spend as much time with Laurie and the children as possible, I have been restricted in my breathing which makes any exertion very, very difficult as I just can’t get a breath, really more than a bit frightening. It’s why I ended up in hospital some weeks ago, as my blood sats were dangerously low, requiring immediate medical attention. I made a good decision to request special assistance at the airport on the way home, absolutley brilliant, I got wheeled the whole way and didn’t have to life a finger. I should have done it when going outbound from Alicante, it’s a long walk to the gate and I struggled very, very much. However, all is being dealt with health-wise now I’m home. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the health service here is very, very good and I’m grateful for it! I have had appointments arranged within 6 weeks of my doctor referring me, I think this might be considerably better than in Norn Iron!

Now in the line-up is a cardiac scan next week, then an appointment with the orthopaedic surgeon about my knee, then three more pneumology appointments, all within a couple of weeks…then I’ve decided after all that lot I’ll be back to normal again! Oh, update coming up later…

Nearly everyone we know has been afflicted in some way this winter, roll on the better weather, at last it’s starting to warm up.

I just loved spending time with Laurie and the children, they are the light in my life and now I can’t wait to see them again!

It was one of my great joys when in Norn Iron to catch up with my two best friends, Wendy and Sandra. Between us we have 210 years!!!! We’ve also known each other for around 60 to70 years, real friendships are meant to be cherished and nurtured, and are so special. We had lunch at Harry’s Shack, and weren’t exactly the quietest of customers, though we were tolerated very well! Sandra lives in England, Wendy is in Portstewart, and I’m in Spain, and it isn’t very often we all manage to be in the same country at the same time, so this lunch was very, very special. I just love those women so much!

To add to this, I recently found, in my Facebook memories bit, a photo of the three of us just before I moved to Spain…18 years between the two photos and if I may say so, we’re all wearing very well!

Here I must give the BIGGEST thank you to Barry and Siobhan who went out of their way to collect me at the airport and take me to get the hire car at Edwin May in Coleraine. We then all headed to The Quays in Portrush for a lovely lunch, and made firm plans for Barry and Siobhan to come to Spain to stay with us! My Peter had sent them over a present of cheeses and meats, as well as some alcohol, which seemed to be well received! I hope they’re still keeping an eye on flights to Alicante as we are really looking forward to having them here…take note, Barry and Siobhan, keep watching the skies!

With the weather picking up everything in the garden and beyond seems to have just taken off. Our lavender has put in an appearance, and my little lilac tree at the side of the house is looking – and smelling – wonderful.

Also showing off are the fig tree and the vines, we have weenie grapes now on the vines so they’ll be ready to eat in a few months, assuming the birds don’t get to them first.

This is one of our weenie lemon trees, which is starting to come on quite well, and you can see our big fig tree just over the wall in the lower part of the garden.

Those tiny grapes are a joy to behold! I have to say, though, that the wildflowers seem to beat the pants off everything – the hills around us are currently filled with millions of magenta-coloured little blooms, a fantastic sight!

We haven’t been anywhere very exciting, mainly as my breathing is so poor and I have zero energy. However, we did go into the city recently, to see a production of the Ballet of Lights, which we’d booked months ago, I was really looking forward to it. Getting there was a struggle, into the city on the tram, so no parking problems. The venue was right by the cathedral, and usually it would be a 10 minute walk to get there, but this time we took a taxi as I just couldn’t walk that far and breathe at the sane time!

The performance was fantastic, just a cast of 6 showing a short version of Sleeping Beauty. All the costumes were lit by tiny little lights. It was something really different and definitely had the wow factor!

We sat at a little bar after the performance, right by the back entrance to the cathedral, in a lovely little square, just to have cold drinks and tapas before heading home, and we were lucky enough to see a wedding taking place.

I couldn’t get near enough through the crowds to take photos once the happy couple appeared, but I got a good shot of the flowers decorating the cathedral door, and the chaps prepping the red carpet for the bride and groom.

I do love doors, of all shapes and sizes. Now I’ll grant you that our front door doesn’t exactly compare to Murcia cathedral but…the husband has been painting it, changing it from plain white to a soft blue, and it looks fabulous so far! One more coat, then paint the metalwork white, and it will look even better…coming up next time.

One thing I’m NOT wildly happy about at the minute is the local wildlife – when it comes into the house! We seem to be finding weird spiders every day, I believe it’s because the weather has been fairly awful, but I’m hoping that now it’s getting warmer the spiders won’t feel the need to come inside! They’re not venomous, so we’re in no danger, but I just hate them with a passion, and wish they’d stay outside.

They’re the odd little things with teeny weenie bodies like full stops, and big long legs. If they’re lucky Peter spots them before I do, and he catches them in a glass and puts them outside. If they’re really unlucky I get there first, catch them in some tissue and chuck them in the bin. I was reading in bed the other night and felt a tickle on my arm…one of them had decided to land on me! Good grief I almost had a heart attack!

Now for some truly shocking news…hold onto your hats…

I know Easter has come and gone,as usual I had bought us each a wee Easter bunny, like the Lindt ones, except from Aldi, as I think their chocolate is much nicer. Peter’s disappeared fairly quickly, while mine hung around in the fridge a while longer as I haven’t had much of an appetite, even for chocolate. A few days later I thought I might have a wee nibble, opened the fridge door, looked towards the back where I’d put the bunny and….SOMEBODY HAD BITTEN ITS HEAD OFF!

Given that there are only two of us living in this house (apart from the spiders!) and I hadn’t been anywhere near it, there’s no prizes for guessing who the criminal has turrned out to be. Indeed, it was Mr “I’m-not-that-keen-on-chocolate-I prefer beetroot” himself! Crime of the century, I’d say, even if it was a calorie-saving move!

So, here’s a wee quickie about how I have noticed life in Spain changing in one area in the 18 years I have been here. One of the biggest changes has come with the arrival, en masse, of the fast food chains. I don’t suppose a KFC or Burger King or wherever will do you much harm if you’re only indulging once every few months. but it seems to me that with the advent of fast food the shape of young people is changing rapidly – they are getting much, much fatter than before. I have no photos to illustrate this as it would not be appropriate to snap someone without their knowledge and put their photo up for the public to see, and nor should we be in the game of body-shaming anyone, especially women. I think we should definitely be in the game of shaming the fast food outlets, they’re just too convenient, and far too tasty!

Still on the subject of food, and you know that we usually eat very little in the way of processed food, as well as preferring everything made from scratch when we’re out…we found a new pizza restaurant recently, and what a joy it is! There are a few pizza places local to us, but almost without exception they use pre-made, miserable wee skinny. limp things with next to no taste.

Forrmento, on the other hand, is an authentic Italian restaurant where all food is freshly prepared to order – what a difference!

Bianca is one of the staff and she couldn’t be more helpful – I can’t eat cooked cheese and often, when I ask for a pizza with no cheese some restaurant staff look at me as if I have just arrived from the planet Eejit. Worse, they can’t provide what I want as the pizzas are ready-made with cheese and tomato already on them. In Formento it’s no problem at all, they make the pizza how you like it. So, no cheese, but plenty of ham and chicken is my choice and my word I think they’re the best pizzas I’ve ever eaten.

Take a look at that feast, wee salad to start and a whopper pizza to follow! Nobody’s leaving here hungry, fabulous food! We got there really early, it was just as well as it filled up very quickly with not an available table left either inside or out. If you want to check out the restaurant, here’s their website: https://formentopizzorante.com/

Drivers in Spain are bad enough, but parking is something that often either makes us laugh like drains – when it’s other people’s parking – or drives us to despair, when someone parks too close or awkwardly to us.

Spotted this one in the city the other day, the car had parked right up against a bin, so couldn’t move forward, then I think rather unexpectedly, someone squeezed right tightly in behind, so they couldn’t move back either.

This is on the same street as the hospital, and we quite often sit in a rather nice little cafe across the road and watch how the locals park….touching another car on the way out of a space is known as a “Spanish kiss”. I think it might pay to drive a bit of a wreck with bull bars and just shove some of them out of the way. No such thing as parking, really, more like abandonment issues, they really don’t seem to care too much!

We were in Ikea the other day, and when we got back to the car we found this eejit who has obviously got severe difficulty with spatial awareness…

Mine is the car on the right, it doesn’t look too bad until you realise that the car to MY right had also slid in very close to me, and there wasn’t much room behind to wiggle out of the space without the need for about a 100 point turn! I wouldn’t mind, but there were at least 500 empty parking spaces in there, so why the need to snuggle up to me is a complete mystery.

Okay, time for something more pleasant now. I’m no drinker, I have about a glass of wine every couple of months or so, but I’ve found something really deliciously refreshing with a low alcohol content I think is just right for hot summer days and nights…so I’m stocking up!

I got these in the famous Mercadona supermarket , lovely crisp white wine with a delicious melon flavour, and if memory serves me well they’re around the €2 mark, so very easy on the bank balance too.

Due to me not having been too well lately we really haven’t been out and about as I get exhausted at the drop of a hat. However, as well as going to see the Ballet of Lights, we had booked to go to a candlelight concert in the city, where there was a pianist playing a selection of Ed Sheeran and Coldplay music. Like the Ballet of Lights, the performances only last an hour, and are fantastic value. We had taken the tram into the city followed by a taxi to the door of the building for the ballet, but for the Candlelight Concert we discovered it was very easy to find by car, on our side of the city, and parking was available on the street outside so once again I didn’t have to walk.

It might be a bit difficult to see but the stage is on a raised platform, with seating all round, on all four sides, so everyone has a great view. The piano was in the middle of the stage, and the whole hall was lit by hundreds of little flickering candles – not real, due to the fire risk, but extremely effective!

Well there you are,in the last couple of weeks we’ve treated ourselves to a bit of culture int he city, between the ballet and classical music, and the best bit is that the tickets are all around €17 so I think we’ll be up for many more experiences!

Okay so back to the medical stuff and the health service here in Murcia. I have had the consultation with the orthopedic chief, and she is willing to do the knee joint transplant, but also willing to wait to see the outcome of the breathing stuff, as I’m more than a bit worried about coping with a general anaesthetic.

I’ve also now had the cardiac scan. All doctors were on strike across Spain from 27th to 30th April,but there was a very small number of staff still available, (skeleton staff?!) so my appointment didn’t need to be cancelled. Having said that, I was the only person waiting in the cardiology area…I wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing but it drove up my anxiety levels somewhat! Anyhow, the scan was carried out very thoroughly, and it seems I have a problem with my right ventricle, in that it’s not properly pumping the deoxygenated blood through to the lungs to get the oxygen needed to function properly, and this is probably the cause of my breathlessness. It’s difficult to explain – it’s not like when you’ve been running and get a bit of a stitch and have to bend over to catch your breath. Think of it more like having a blown up balloon, putting your open mouth on it forming a seal, then hold your nose closed and try to work out how to pull in some air. It’s actually very frightening, and takes a while to recover. Now realise that this happens if I walk 30m without stopping, or climb the stairs at home…you get the picture.

The cardiac consultant said she’s happy to wait until the outcome of my appointment with the pneumology consultant on 14 May, and they will then work out a treatment plan. I’m happy with that as it would indicate there’s no immediate emergency, though she did recommend I get some oxygen at the health centre to use at home, which I wil do as soon as they open on Monday. She feels the problem is likely to respond well to medical treatment, which is very encouraging! Maybe the next time we get over to Norn Iron things will be a lot more normal and I’ll be able to walk everywhere like I used to. Fingers crossed.

Oh, and just to give you a laugh, this is the spiral staircase that goes down from our bedroom to the bodega below. Our room was used as a sitting room by the previous owners, but it’s big, and had a wee room off it that we were able to convert to a bathroom, so it made sense for us to have it as our bedroom.

The husband reckons if I get any worse we could take out the spiral staircase and replace it with a lift. I’m trying to work out if he’s joking or not but, on reflection, it could be very useful for taking things – as well as me – up and downstairs! Let’s just say I’m hoping that after all the medical intervention takes place there will be no need for a lift and I’ll be skipping about like a young thing again!

I think I’d better end this here or it will never be finished! If you like reading my wanderings, please feel free to subscribe, it will mean you’ll automatically get sent each new blog that comes out, and it will make me feel really good!

So, till the next time, keep safe and look after each other.

xxx