Today I shall be Mainly...

[Sue]

Very calm trip but less calm day yesterday.

I have come back with acute conjunctivitis and had to start the day trying to get a Drs appointment. After doing battle with the receptionist I did eventually get an appointment with the surgery pharmacist, despite the fact that I had already seen a pharmacist who had given me antiseptic drops and said if the infection did not clear to see my GP. That was before we went away. So you can imagine , now nearly three weeks later and with a very red sore eye I was not happy. Anyway, wether it was because the pharmacist was based in tbe surgery I don’t know, but he was able to give me antibiotic drops. Then of course I had to queue at the chemist for the prescription

This meant Idid not get to my craft class but still had to go later as I needed to pay for something I had ordered for the session and it was not fair to leave that person out of pocket. We also had to fit in a trip to the bank, for a nice reason, the cheque had arrived for the Timeshare in the Lakes that we have sold, after our June stay this year. Plus I spend some time queue on the phone waiting to buy tickets for Cliff Richard concert for next October. The ticket office opened at 9.00 for Bridgewater Hall, it was sold out by 9.04am. At 4.30 we managed to get, not far off, the last two at Blackpool opera house.

We managed lunch with our friends as usual after a hectic morning, ln the way calling i to Bacup market where our ex french tutor and his wife now have a french patisseries stall. Driving back home in torrential rain we stopped at the garden centre to buy a plant for our new neighbours who had moved in whilst we were in France. We took it round later to introduce ourselves.Back home feet up with a cuppa, we decided it was the first proper sit down we had had since our visitors last Sunday. We didn’t move but watched TV all night.

All this and trying to unpack the car and put things away as we did not arrive home until 1.00 am

[Wendyf]

I'm going for a little lie down after reading that Sue!

[Stanley]

Makes me feel the same Wendy!
Sue, I hope your eye improves rapidly! Nowt worse than sore eyes....
I have started the day constructively, cleaning out the deep fat fryer and recharging it with beef dripping. Old fat properly labelled and disposed of!
Then two articles written for the BET.....I am a happy bunny.

[Sue]

I needed a lie down! A quieter day today. Bob is at an engineers meeting in Derby so I took a pair of leaking boots in for new soles , came home had a brew and pottered. I have cleared the post holiday washing and replanted in pots the outdoor geraniums we brought back from France. After another brew I altered the shoulder on the toile of Bobs shirt. Now lunch and a sit down with yet another brew. This afternoon I am pottering over to Shuttleworth to see Claire and family. Thats it !

Oh no its not. I picked our Bramley apples off our tree. Loads, washed them and dried them ready for storage. We gave a sackful to our patisserie friends before we went to France. They appear in various guises on their stall in Bacup market. Jon gave up a good career as a translater at a large firm in Blackburn. He had always loved cooking and his french partner now wife had an interest in nutrition. So they gave up their respective careers and Jon retrained as chef and set up their business, first at Rawtenstall market and now at Bacup instead. They hope eventually to have a little tea rooms serving French specialities .

[Stanley]

I wish your friends luck. The more people cooking and selling food intelligently the better.
The two articles I wrote yesterday were a rant about nutrition, just in time for Xmas!

[Sue]

They are a very sensible couple and unlike many this day and age they are not interested in making a fortune but in doing what they love and making enough to live.

My eye is red, gungy and itchy and I am not sure it is improving despite antibiotic drops every two hours. I shall give it till tomorrow, that is when I was told it would be lots better.

Bob is out all day and evening, its the Halloween special at the model railway at the park. They spend the afternoon making it spooky and start running as it begins to go dark. We shall go out for an early Sunday lunch then I shall come home and potter, probably sewing. I am going to a relaxation yoga class, 5-6.30. Then its a cuppa and a book or TV till Bob gets back around 9.00 ish

[Stanley]

Feeling much easier in my mind after a good telephone conversation with Susan. Her migraine storm has receded under some new medication and her GP is giving her good concerned service. She only has to ring the surgery and she is given an early appointment straight way with her own doctor, they must have her flagged as a worthy cause! I never have headaches and can't conceive how bad it must be.
Fretting because I have heard nothing about my castings!
Keeping busy and enjoying some dry walks with Jack hopefully!
Halloween... I noticed a full size skeleton hung in a front room window on Co-operative Street yesterday. A very strange 'festival'. Include me out!

[Sue]

Eye still very red and gungy, not the improvement I was promised or expected . I have been diligent with the drops and the hygiene and also bathing with a saline solution in between. Not happy.

No planned activities until art tonight, I do however have an art project to complete before U3A art on Friday, and I am making myself a pair of trousers from a self drafted pattern.

As for Halloween, or all hallows eve, the festival has been taken over by the States again, however I do remember as a child having a turnip lantern and going out ‘haunting’ with my friends. No trick or treat though. I wonder if it stems from when carvings of skulls were put on headstones to keep evil spirits away. This was certainly a medieval thing in France. You see them in old churches and headstones.

[Stanley]

I was always struck by the fact that skulls and bones appear so often on Scottish grave stones...
I hope your eye starts to improve Sue. Not sure what else you can do to help it.

[Big Kev]

Eye still very red and gungy, not the improvement I was promised or expected . I have been diligent with the drops and the hygiene and also bathing with a saline solution in between.

Have you tried some 'live' yoghurt on your eye?

[plaques]

I was always struck by the fact that skulls and bones appear so often on Scottish grave stones...
Scull and crossbones was a common symbol for the old Freemasons. It was to remind people that they could be 'called' at any time and they should always be true and faithful to their cause and religion. Otherwise a transgression at the wrong time and it would be ZAP and find yourself in the wrong place for eternity.

[Wendyf]

We used to carve lanterns from swedes but they were for bonfire night not Halloween, which passed by unnoticed in the build up to mischief night. It was only on early holidays in Scotland that we found Halloween being celebrated rather than Plot Night.

[Sue]

We used to carve lanterns from swedes but they were for bonfire night not Halloween, which passed by unnoticed in the build up to mischief night. It was only on early holidays in Scotland that we found Halloween being celebrated rather than Plot Night.

I was living in the NE when I made turnip lanterns, we celebrated bonfire night as well.

I managed to see my GP today. He gave my eye a thorough examination in fact both eyes . I even had yellow dye in the eye to look for ulcers or abrasions etc. I should have had all of this on Friday but they were insistant I only needed to see a pharmacist even though I told them I already had. Anyway the Drs reaction was a gem’ well first we need to get rid of all that inflammation its been there too long’ I now have steroid with antibiotic drops with a promise it should be ok by Wednesday and if not I must see him on Thursday . He says I suffer from dry eye as well so he has given me some other drops to use as needed and put them on repeat prescription.

My eye is now weeping yellow tears all down my face as the dye disappears.

[Sue]

Eye still very red and gungy, not the improvement I was promised or expected . I have been diligent with the drops and the hygiene and also bathing with a saline solution in between.

Have you tried some 'live' yoghurt on your eye?

Thats an interesting one Kev, never come across that before. Live yoghurt is not easy to get these days. I get it in France to make my own yoghurt. To do the same here is not easy. Iceland has it.

[Big Kev]

Someone I used to work with swore by it for eye infections, they even used to use it on their dog

[Sue]

Interesting Kev

[Stanley]

I'm afraid I have no confidence whatsoever in amateur doctors even if they call them 'pharmacists'. For years I've watched as chemists and dentists fought to advance their trades as 'professions' (actually to get their pay and conditions improved). They got a golden opportunity when the government were looking for some way of plugging the gap caused by neglecting the training of doctors and the long queues at A&E. Some wonk came up with the Cunning Plan of making pharmacists into a form of triage and of course the chemists became pharmacists and grabbed the opportunity. Sues doctor let the cat out of the bag when he said the infection had gone on too long.
I hope the stronger medication works Sue and you recover quickly.
Still fretting about my castings....
Otherwise enjoying the dry weather!

[Sue]

I agree Stanley. I wouldn’t mind but I had already done the pharmacist thing by, as requesting, visiting my local Boots chemist some weeks previously, in fact twice because I had also bought an eye wash in the first place. But of course I had not seen THEIR Pharmacist! We have a nurse practitioner who is very good and has received extra training for this position but the receptionist still sends everyone to him rather than just the conditions on the list. Last time I saw him for a skin lesion he was trying to find an image on the computer to try and reassure me. I had done that myself . It did not reassure me so sometime later I insisted on a GP appointment to have it looked at. Then I was given a comprehensive explanation and future symptoms to look out for. As usual I really blame the receptionists, who fail to understand when someone really needs the GP than some other specialist.

The eye is much the same this morning but not as much overnight gunge. Early days I suppose.

This afternoon I shall be helping at the local hospice shop followed by pilates and yoga early evening. This morning I shall be attempting a fly zip on the trousers I am making for myself. You Tube is so instructive, a video for everything. I have done my self tutorial and now for the practice

[Sue]

I look like the wicked witch from the west. My good eye is now also red but with a burst capillary and it hurts!

[Wendyf]

Oh no Sue! I hope they improve soon.

[Marilyn]

Poor Lasss. One positive thing - you are all sorted for Halloween!

[Stanley]

Eyes... I know from experience that you can't be too careful Sue. My route to salvation when I went blind was my optician who is good. He put me in referral immediately he saw me. I have little doubt his quick action saved my sight in that eye. I hope you improve quickly!
Still fretting about my castings, I think a wake up email is indicated!

[Sue]

Poor Lasss. One positive thing - you are all sorted for Halloween!

Thank you Maz, so thoughtful of you to think about my halloween character
Still pink eyes today.

We shall go for a walk this morning, then This afternoon I have a sewing lesson with Maxine to review my trousers and the fit of the toile of Bobs shirt

[Stanley]

Watch out for chilly winds on your eyes Sue. Goggles, sunglasses?

[Sue]

I will Stanley, I wear glasses all the time and they react to light to double as sunglasses.