28/01/23 Done!

We both exchanged contracts and completed yesterday. De-cluttering has already started and now goes into full swing... 

25/01/23 Apologies...

 ...for having missed a week. We've been fully taken up with various issues to do with our downsizing move into Chelmsford. More, probably quite a lot more, about that over the next few days as things have developed very quickly.

Again, nothing new on the myeloma front.

I'll be back a bit sooner this time, if everything goes well.

17/01/23 (2) One chapter ends...

First time I've posted twice in one day for quite a while, the reason being that this evening I attended my last Parish Council meeting after rather more than ten years and with a few things to show for it. We've got ultrafast fibre broadband. We got a VAS speed sign in a sharing scheme with other parishes, lost it, and now we're buying one of our own. We got a defibrillator and even better, it didn't cost us a penny (although it does cost a bit to run). We may at last be finding a solution to the flooding problem in one part of the village. The long-running battle to extend the 40mph limit through the whole village has still to be won but at last we've got "advisory" 30mph signs for the accident black spot bend near the church. And perhaps the highlight was bringing the whole village together for the 2018 Remembrance Day. That was something I won't forget. But we're moving into Chelmsford, so I've resigned as Councillor and Vice-Chairman. Will I find a new role in the new place? Do I want one? Time will tell, I suppose.

17/01/23 Walter

First, not a lot of myeloma news. Nothing yet from the NHS. That "bone pain" in my left thigh has got worse again, sometimes close to its worst a few months ago. I'm convinced there's something nasty behind it, and as soon as I'm in with the NHS I'm going to be badgering them for a scan. Also, that sharp stabbing pain in the back left rib has returned except that it's more "bone pain" these days. It hits me particularly when getting up from chairs.

The big news is that we've signed the first stage of the paperwork for the big move into the retirement apartment. A combination of factors - the state of the market, interest rates, McCarthy & Stone's desire to get the first few people moving in - all led to them offering a very good part-exchange deal, so we took it. No estate agent fees to pay, removal costs all covered, and of course no worries about finding buyers and chains collapsing below us. We're due to complete at the end of the month, and then we get four weeks of access to the new place to move a lot of things in, get new stuff delivered, etc. before the final date of Feb 28th. And a lot of things to organise before then...

10/01/23 On and off...

My bedtime, these days is 01:00 - an hour earlier than it used to be. One thing the CPAP machine's daily reports do is to make me more aware of how much sleep I actually do (or don't) get each night. Last night I shut the computer down around 00:50. More precisely, I tried to. It threw up a Blue Screen of Death and went into a cycle of restarts followed by BSOD followed by restart and BSOD followed by restart and..., interrupted every four or five times around by the "Repair or restart?" screen. I ignored the repair option because I know it can take quite some time and I wanted to get to bed because of an early cataract surgeon appointment this morning. Eventually I managed to catch the "Power" button before it disappeared and got the machine to shut down properly. And then, the masterstroke! Switch everything off and physically disconnect from the wall. And so to bed...

In the morning, plugged up again and powered up. Perfect fast boot, the machine's been stable all day. Amazing how often this simple trick - isolate from all power, wait at least half an hour, re-connect - works with anything electronic.

The cataract surgeon was pleased with my eyes and said I was OK for driving (just as well, since I drove there!) I told him about the slight double vision I still get at distance and he said I should see my optician. I told him I've already done that and have some prism driving glasses to collect on Thursday. He was pleased about that.

09/01/23 Happy Christmas!

 It's the 9th of January, and two Christmas cards arrived in the post today...

05/12/22 Nearly a week...

...into 2023 and about time I thought of something to write about. Been out to lunch somewhere I've forgotten and for breakfast in the newly re-done "restaurant" (not a cafe anymore) at the Ongar garden centre. I had a quite decent Eggs Benedict but failed to scour the menu carefully enough to spot the Potting Shed Benedict which substitutes a slice of black pudding for the ham. Will try that one next time!

No news yet about an NHS myeloma appointment.

Checking my phone for any recent photos in the hope of inspiration. No luck.