Isn't this lovely? Its just round the corner from us, so its the post box we use.
I am struggling with my learning Welsh, at the moment. I do 45 mins plus each day practising and doing the exercises. While I'm doing them I remember, but then if I move on I've forgotten some.. Is it so hard or am I just too old to learn? I get confused and unless there is a rule. I guess the words.. I'm good with 'weather' and I can say what I like or what I don't like.
We watch Popol y Cwm, the Welsh every day soap and although we know some of the words, we miss a lot. We've tried watching children's programmes, but when its puppets their lips don't move with the words!
Some one said watch the News, because you already know what its about, so easier?? No its not!
We can get sub titles in Welsh and that makes it so much easier, but that's not conversation.
We have Welsh lessons each Monday morning 9:30 to 12:30 and I always feel absolutely flat after it, so I must be using some 'brain energy.'
I do like the sessions and when we're partnered up, its good to know the younger members of our group are finding it hard too. Once when I was partnered with Will, we had done the required exercise, so decided to try the past tense, so when the Tutor popped into our 'room' we got a 'no no no!!' Will, a young man and I laughed and laughed.
The following week when we were again partnered up.. I said... Peidiwch a'm rhoi mewn trafferth y wythnos hon!! = Don't get me into trouble this week!! So we do have fun and because I did a very small amount of welsh, as a child my pronunciation is good.
What amazes me I can remember French words I learnt in the fifties! But I'm carrying on and still trying... Dw i eisiau i r dysgu cymraig!
Chrisxx
Oh dear I've neglected my blog but we have been very busy in the garden and there are only about 30 plants left to plant out.
We shouldn't, but we buy books all the time, I say shouldn't because we buy because we like to, rather than we don't have anything to read. But isn't that like all people who love to read.
Although I attend a slimming group every Friday morning, it is a social gathering too. A group of us called the Coffi Club meet up now and then for coffee ot meals. Last Friday we decided to go for breakfast after the slimming world meeting. The garden centre has a super restaurant and 12 of us booked to go.
I have been for an afternoon tea with the group and we all ate everything, sandwiches, cakes and scones with jam and cream. It was a special occasion as it was someone's birthday, so no food barred.
Friday was just breakfast, so I thought we'd all be making wise choices, I decided a bacon sandwich with whole meal bread, no butter, as this was more or less a slimming world meal.
Ha ha, it wasn't what the rest of the group were choosing. So I changed my mind and had hog roast sausage roll, coleslaw, lettuce and chips!! It was absolutely delicious, the coleslaw was full fat and creamy, I never have that usually and the chips were crispy. I ate slowly and savoured every bite! I didn't have a coffee at that time late morning, I'd never get to sleep, so I had an Elderflower Presse.
I did enjoy my breakfast! I usually just have a banana and 40g of muesli And the chatting and laughter was super too.. roll on the next Coffi Club meal out!
Chrisxx
If you've never had a urinary infection you won't know the added stress you can have along with pain and the need to wee a lot.. there's the anxiety of going somewhere, that might not have a toilet, or being in a position where you can't get to one easily.
The Welsh trains have decided, that in their new built trains, they won't have toilets, to make room for more seats? So that's me not using them, not that I plan going anywhere. People prone to UTIs don't travel usually.
I did go to buy some 'pads.' Omgosh, there are 100s to choose from, and in bulk buys. I spent ages looking and bought some to go for that bladder scan, where you have to arrive with a full bladder. Criky it was like riding a horse between my legs!
But I have been prescribed with a very powerful anti biotic, prior to this proposed cystoscopy.. magic!! One dose and I did a proper wee, ie I went to the toilet, no hesitancy, and a good strong stream of wee, not just a dribble! And last night I only had to get up 3 times instead of 4 or 5 or more.. what a difference its made. I slept really well in between toilet visits, so feel really well this morning. No frequency, no worry of piddling my pants, no feeling of burning in my bladder region, nor the constant feeling I have to wee, in fact I feel normal! If only this could last for ever?
Too much information? Well I did warn you!
Chrisxx
Although we have loads of gardening to do, mainly planting all the plants I've grown from seed, Dh and I decided to go out Wednesday afternoon. I really didn't want to go far, so we just decided a walk on the front promenade would be good, trusting we'd find a parking space. Living in a holiday seaside town, it can be very difficult to park with a view of the sea.
But as luck would have it, there was a space right by our favourite pavement kiosk, Booths, good coffee and seats with a view of the sea. In fact you can see across the Bristol Channel to Cornwell!
1. They move on, they don't waste time feeling sorry for themselves.
2. They embrace change and welcome challenges.
3. They stay happy and don't waste energy on things that they can't control.
4. They are kind, fair and unafraid to speak up.
5. They are willing to take calculated risks.
6. They celebrate the success of others and don't resent that success.
And most of all they have hope!
I've finished the book and I loved it all the way through; it was a long book!
Thank goodness for our garden, its keeping me sane,, yesterday I had a telephone appointment with the Urology Consultant. The appointment was made 10 days ago, and I've been dreading it. It was with a different Dr to the one I saw in March. I was half expecting him to say, as I've been on these low dose anti-biotics a month, they'd see me next week for the cystoscopy! But no, whew! He explained that my lab tested urine sample showed a bug, that was resistant to the anti-biotics I'd been given. So he was writing to my own Dr to give him the results and for a prescription for a different anti-biotic. So see how that would go, with a possible appointment for the procedure in two weeks time. I feel more positive, because this will cover me through and after the cystoscopy.
I didn't sleep well the night before worrying about the phone call..
So I hoped to sleep last night, especially as I'd spent the afternoon in the garden.. we have a lot of seedlings to plant and I mean a lot.
I've planted the cosmos in a pot like last year and we have planted Dh's sweet peas in a pot with a rounded tall cane support and the Verbena Borealis we planted n one of the flower beds, but there are lots more to plant.
My seeds have done me proud, but it means I have a lot as well as veg to plant!
VE Celebrations..
Did you see the interview with Prince Harry.. far for me to say, but he sounded like a young man who has lost his way. He said his father the king didn't want to know him. Did you hear him say he was sorry? I didn't so, although he says he wants to return here, he says to his country. Here to the country he turned his back on, left and then wrote a book criticizing his family.
I think he might have to do some serious groveling and even then he might not get the answers he is now asking for.
His wife Megan is starting all sorts of new ventures, as though there's not enough in her life. While his brother William and Catherine love to show their children, the Sussex's are keeping theirs off camera.
Given a choice I'd chose Will and Kate every time. Mum and daughter, on Charlotte's 10th birthday.
We had a super Saturday starting off with a visit to town. The sun was shining and even at just before 10:00 am, the temperature was 14.5C
M&S, The Coop and now Harrods; the loss of power in Spain and Portugal, all indicators of how reliant we are on technology.
Could we live without it? I don't know, I'm pretty reliant on it myself.. we order our food on line, I buy things I can't get locally on line, my meds are ordered on line and when I want to know something I look it up on line. So I am reliant on technology, more than I thought.
Could I live without it? When I was younger perhaps, although it took me several goes to pass my 2nd Class Guide badge where you had to light a fire with just 2 matches and twigs!! Ha ha.
I've read a lot of Apocalypses books and the main thing is water, so we always have supplies of bottled water. Did you realise you need power, so your water runs out of your tap, I think I did but hadn't given it much thought.
When I was still teaching and computers were first introduced, one Children's program, was setting up a Civilization and the children had to think what they would need. A water supply being the first so their 'dens' had to be near a river etc, a good program and I used to play it myself after school!
There is this book reduced to £99 from £140 but evidently its well worth the money.
Whew tis 'ot! Our weather station is registering 29.5C and the sensor is on the north side of our bungalow, on the patio SW facing, its 35C!! The small screen of the weather station has on it a little man, who is clothed according to the weather; today he's in the teeniest teeny, tiny pants! We've just had cheese and biscuits and a cold drink, not alcohol. that would be awful for my bladder! I've had a Mimms, a mock Pimms. It's sugar free lemonade and a table spoon of Balsamic vinegar, with slices of fruit.. hits the spot for me; a Slimming World drink.
I have the fan cooling me down. I'm a bit itchy, not just because its hot, but because we had baked salmon and green salad for lunch and I have an allergy to prawns and fish, but I can cope with a bit of head itching so aren't giving it up. I've dressed for the weather, a cotton tee shirt fabric dress and no waist slip! We're having to water the garden, but we always do, we're not going to let our trees and shrubs dry up. Although we have a meter we're happy to pay, we don't spend our money on anything else, plants and care of our garden. May be books as well!
I'm reading 'Homecoming,' by Kate Morton and I'm loving it. I may have read 'The Lake House.' but so long ago I can't remember.
And I'm really excited because she's written loads, more for me to read! I can't believe I've not read her books before.. this was a kindle offer. Although I like real physical books, I love my kindle. So easy to read, you can enlarge the font, and mines back lit so no need for a light at night and easy to carry around and light weight to hold in bed.
What would we do without books? Me? Perhaps some more house work. When I was a young mum I used to dust and vac every day!! I must have been mad, and must have worn the carpet thin! Thank goodness I came to my senses! These days I say to Dh, this carpet cost over £1,000 we're not wearing it and us out!! So once a week is enough and the carpet never looks as though it needs a vac!
We've had some rumbling, thunder? But the sky's still blue and the sun's shining.
Hope you've had a pleasant afternoon too!
Chrisxx
Not what you would expect, but our coast land is rich in nature. Locks Common is a wild and beautiful place with wild flowers in between the rocky out crops.
These are suggested to be the twelve most beautiful sentences ever written.. Do you agree, do you have one you think is more beautiful?
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"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are
looking at the stars." - Oscar Wilde
A few weeks ago, someone I know with members of their family, all arranged a weekend here in Porthcawl, to celebrate a birthday. They all had booked caravans at Trecco to enjoy the facilities there and hopefully some sunshine. Horribly their long weekend ended abruptly, when they received a message from home, to say a fifteen year old in the family had ended her life. Why? Its suggested it was to do with social media.
A group of parents, whose children had also taken their lives have grouped together and visited America to meet with other parents, who are also grieving the death of their young children. To support each other and lobby for better controls of certain sites.
They all want changes in social media to make an age limit on certain sites. We watch on line films and stream programmes, where they ask are you under or over 18 and we just click 'over,' without even thinking. So the argument for stronger checks on certain sites seem very necessary to me and most other people too. I don't even know of these sites, I've never seen them. In fact where sometimes I have had a pop up of something I don't like, I quickly cancel it it, because I believe once you have seen something you can't 'unsee' it.
Twenty years ago a close friend of mine daughter killed herself, because her boy friend had done the same a few weeks earlier.. (nothing to do with social media) And I remember talking about the awful way it had happened with my own daughter, and she saying 'what did she think her mum would do that weekend without her' It was such an awful happening, we couldn't understand it wasn't just that weekend, but for ever. My friend moved away, because she couldn't cope with the way people avoided her, crossing the road to avoid her. I tried to explain it was because they didn't know what to say to say. What do you say? I used to say, 'I don't know what to say, but I can listen.'
There seems to be a generation of the young, who are being influenced by un truths.. you can't convince me that all those entries and posts on social media of them having a 'wonderful' time is all true. And it seems, there are sites telling you how to end your life?? And sites with challenges to do certain things that could end your life.
What a sad way our so called educated society has evolved, what has happened? Parents, schools, lack of faith, life what is wrong? What is the answer, what do you think?
Chrisxx
We had a real back in time yesterday morning. Somebody on FB was asking if anyone knew where they could get seed potatoes, as all the garden centres had sold out. As it happened we had some left over and we'd asked our gardener friends and no one wanted them. So I got in touch with them and..... it was someone who lived in number 1 in the street where I was brought up in number 6! It was her sister who I was friends with, as we were the same age. But I knew Gill as well.
So it was such a delight to meet with Gill and her partner, and chatting about people we both knew. In fact I knew more about the people, who used to live there than she did, and she has lived in Porthcawl all her life, while I had moved away!
It was a real lovely time. I used to go to her house to watch the tele as we didn't have one till much later in the fifties. She reminded me that it was to our house her Dad came to use the phone, when her mum was in work, because he felt really ill. The Dr was phoned and he came and in fact her dad was having a heart attack. He recovered that time and died much later. I had her in awe because I remembered our phone number was 3168! How did I do that? It was a real pleasant morning, we chatted about gardening and they said they loved our garden. .
And also at our U3a gardening group meeting on Tuesday afternoon, there was a demo of planting a hanging basket, which was then raffled, no charge tickets and I won!! I might not have it as a hanging basket, because we haven't a suitable wall on which to hang it, we're thinking about it.
So some very pleasant gardening days without the actual gardening!
Chrisxx
J K Rowlings was shouted down when she stuck her head above the parapet a few years ago and said ..'A woman is a person with a uterus.' Several of the cast of her Harry Potter films strongly disagreed with her and the ties of their friendship were severed.
Now a high court has ruled that the definition of a woman is decided by biological sex at birth. Trans people have taken to the streets to protest. They want to be treated as women. To use female toilets, female changing rooms and to be treated as women. Do I think that's ok? I'm not sure. While I was in the London Orthopedic hospital for my last op on my arm, I was in a mixed sex ward, I didn't even notice there were men there. I was too busy trying to get better!
I can see the problem in sports, trans women seem to have an advantage, being more muscular and so stronger. There were rows in the last Olympics with a trans boxer and the women didn't want to fight him/her/?
But woman are not in favour of trans people being in women's prisons because there have been attacks and rapes. Its not an easy subject and being of an older generation, I'll admit it is beyond my comprehension.
When I was doing my nursing training, I did three months in the Maternity unit. I'd only just started as new junior nurse, when I was asked to be with a young mum, who had just given birth. I was to watch her and just be with her because her baby had been born with a deformity. The genital area was out side the body, the skin had not closed over it, so the sex was not able to be truly determined, until blood tests had been done. The midwives were afraid the mother would deliberately drop her baby. So sad and I stayed there with her till her husband had arrived and a Nurse and Dr.. this was 1962.
I feel sad for these people who insist they are in the wrong bodies, as a Christian and a Bible believer, I believe a woman is a woman and a man is a man.. so does this mean I'm prejudicial, non woke or just old fashioned?
Chrisxx
This wasn't my planned blog post, but the breaking news of the Pope's death, made anything I planned seem redundant.
Head of the Catholic Church who people revere as God's voice on Earth.. not something I believe. Looking at him on Easter Sunday being driven around in his popemobile he appeared content, playing the role of the Head of the Catholic church.
Its said that he was very 'for' the poor people, as all church leaders of any religion say they are. None look like they've ever had to budget for a meal, or clothes or where they live to me. A friend remarked to me 'I wonder if he had to wait for a Dr's appointment or a hospital bed?' It all seems supercilious to me, smiling and waving to the common people from his custom made Pope-mobile. But if it is true, it's said that he did modernise certain aspects of the catholic church to modern day thinking.
And our UK news is Prince Andrew accompanying the King and Queen Camila to their Easter Church service.. what were some people objecting to? That he'd been involved with a pedophile, and why did he pay millions of pounds to someone, when there was the suggestion of a court case against him? So a reason for him to not accompany his own family to church? No, people were objecting to him expecting to be treated as a Royal.
Harry is wanting police protection and thinks he should have it, as he is a Royal. Never mind he informed everyone, he was stepping down from his role as a working royal. Yet more news to fill our newspapers. And does anyone know of an MP living from week to week trying to stretch their money to pay their energy bills and food.
It all seems a bit cockeyed to me; news of the rich to inform the rest of us of their circumstances. We, Dh and I, are the section of society with pensions from our work. I get fed up of people, I've met thinking I have it easy. My teaching job wasn't easy, I taught in some rough areas with not just 'difficult' children, their parents weren't easy either. But I turned up every day and rarely took time off.
So what am I saying, life isn't easy or fair, but you just have to get on with it. Only the rich get preferential treatment, the rest of us take our turn and wait. If I were younger I'd happily stand on a road side with the crowds protesting to Trump's visit here in UK and I certainly wouldn't agree to him speaking in the Houses of Commons.
I have paid for private health care in the past, when I was in awful pain with my foot. I used the money I had earned and saved, nobody gave me it and I didn't take the place of a NHS patient, it was all in a private hospital. And blow down me if my name didn't came up 8 months later on the NHS list and I saw the same Consultant and had the same treatment!
Somedays it just gets to me, the whole unfairness of it all.
What do you think?
Chrisxx
