A disturbed night. Gill discovered that she was losing a lot of blood in the night and rang the out of hours GP service; they said go to Accident and Emergency. So she got a taxi and went in, but was back by 4am and I'm not sure what they did, if anything.
I got up at 7.30, to be heading off out of the house at 8.30 to go to Dewsbury. Gill had got up at 7am and made sandwiches for me, and plaited my hair which I can't do for myself... I got off in enough time to get the 8.58. The carriage I got on had a party of 9 Geordie women, all related, off to Manchester for their annual Christmas bash... shopping, a night out, good times. They were drinking Champaigne and eating fancy chocolates and biscuits... the party had already started. One of the women, Pink, chatted with me and expressed her desire to be less acquisitive, less materialistic. At one stage of the journey she suggested to the group that they ought to only give each other Christmas presents every 5 years. I enjoyed this 'people-watching' time.
I dragged myself away at Dewsbury and the Market Office was quite close to the station, about 5 minutes walk... I'd memorised the route last night on Googlemaps. The grotto was right next to the office, and the Kirklees Council team had brought the Santa Claus costume, so at 10.30 I got started... sitting in the grotto, with kiddies and their families being ushered in, for £2.50 per child, to have an audience with Santa, and a wrapped present.
It was fairly constant, with not many gaps, and I enjoyed it almost as much as the walkabout next week. The most interesting thing this time was the number of Asian customers, many obviously Muslim. This was curious, and my questions like 'are you all ready for Christmas?' were quite often met with a 'no', as they don't celebrate it. But the children are growing up in a culture with images of Father Christmas, so of course they want to experience it. I love our multicultural society. On a couple of occasions when talking with these people, I said I enjoyed Eid, which seemed to go down well.
There was one incident which was a bit disturbing. A pair of women came in right at the end of the day, with a 3 or 4 year old daughter, and one of the women's Dads. He was either drunk, or unwell in some way, and was very controlling, verging on the aggressive. At one stage he tried to sit or crouch down next to my chair, and fell backwards. He said he hadn't been out for 11 days and mentioned that he had diabetes. He also tried to grab and move the child but the mother wasn't having it and stopped him, told him off. It was by far the most difficult visit.
But this was quite close to 3.30, my finish time. I actually worked til 3.40, as the Harry Potter RoadShow finished at 3.30 and I got a few visitors after that.
But I got changed and away to the station for the 4.07 train, and I switched my phone back on and dozed. I tried to send Gill a text but for some reason it wouldn't send. Then I got a phone call from Ashley, one of our friends from primary school days. She'd taken Gill into hospital at midday and the boys were with her. She suggested that I might go to Ward 22 to see Gill, and then come to collect the boys.
So I cycled to the hospital and found Gill, who was in good humour, on her feet, and helping to look after another admission who kept threatening to get out of her bed. Gill told me the doctors didn't know what to do with her, whether to endoscope her to find the source of the bleeding, or something else. Gill told me to get back to the kids and to put £10 on her phone using a card in the hospital shop.
So I did that, and then cycled all the way along the Route 66 cycle path which was mega slippy along to Melrosegate, up Green Dykes Lane, down into Heslington, picked up a good load of logs, and then up Windmill Lane to Ashley and Paul's. The boys were pleased to see me, and had been impeccably behaved, even helping to break up ice on the path outside the house.
I thanked Ashley for all her help, and walked back with the boys. They went onto the computers and I lit the stoves, heated water for pasta, washed up, cooked squash, onion and tomato with herbs, and then boiled carrot, celery and pasta, and those two dishes were adequate for tea, eating at 8pm.
Before bed, we had 2 games of consequences, one a picture game with the theme of robots (good suggestion from our youngest) and then a story consequences which filled 3 sides of A4... meaning that each of us wrote 3 chunks of fiction making 3 funny stories.
Wheat sacks were warmed, hot water bottles filled, hot drinks downed, and they went to bed with no problems whatsoever. Magic!
I then washed up, put the logs in the front and bike away, watched a programme on body language and went to bed at my normal time.
I look forward to finding out what is happening to Gill tomorrow, and if she's in hospital all day, we might go in and see her...
Showing posts with label hospital visit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hospital visit. Show all posts
Up bright and early as had an appointment at 10.30 at the hospital outpatients to have my lipoma looked at by a plastic surgeon. This lump on my forehead has been growing for several years and is very noticeable; several people each week ask me if I've bumped my head, and I have to explain each time what it is. Also, at several recent committee meetings, another attendee has been looking at my forehead rather than at my face and this is somewhat offputting.
So, I showed it to the Doc and told him about my experiences. He without any hesitation said that he would be happy to remove it... because it was still growing and as it was affecting my life in the way that it is. He said it would be done under local anaesthetic, in Leeds, and the procedure would take about 20 minutes, although with all the preparation and stuff, it would be an afternoon.
I did ask if this was a sensible use of resources and he again assured me that it was a small operation and that in his opinion it was definitely the right thing to do. There is always the chance of infection with any surgical procedure, and there will be a scar which may well be red for 6 months and might take up to 2 years to disappear... and there's a possibility it could become a keloid scar, raised up, but that's only a small possibility. So, sometime in the next 16 weeks, I'm due for a lumpectomy.
Before I went I had my nose swabbed for MRSA... I'll be informed if I carry this bacterium and I'm not sure what they do if I have it.
I was out of the hospital before 11am and cycled down to the Museum Gardens to go to a public consultation at the Hospitium. This was about the proposed 'Allerton Waste Recovery Park' which will, if built, deal with the problem of landfillable household waste from York and North Yorkshire. Currently York recycles 45% of household waste via kerbside boxes (and some bring banks) but this leaves 55% to deal with. Currently this is landfilled. There are two main problems with landfill.... space is running out and they emit methane whilst being constructed (although when full, they are capped and this is captured and often used to generate electricity). They also need the liquid pumped out and treated. So, what is the alternative?
Well this project aims to sort the rubbish and remove at least another 5% of recyclable materials (glass, metals, plastics, 'WEEE') before the organic fraction is removed and put in an anaerobic digester, where some of the carbon is extracted in the form of methane, which can be used as a fuel... maybe cleaned up, liquefied and used to power the fleet of lorries which will be needed to bring the waste from all over North Yorkshire. The AD process leaves a sort of compost, which can be used to cover landfill or in landscaping. It is not high quality material as it has lots of contaminants. The remaining non-recyclables and non-organics are burnt in a carefully controlled environment, generating heat for electricity. The ash/clinker left is used in building materials. The emissions in modern incinerators are very low, and I talked to an independent air pollution expert, and she described the assorted arrestation technology used to reduce and capture dioxins, furans and the like. I had several long conversations with one of the gents there, and we covered lots of different areas.... including the possibility that they could build a special AD plant for 'source separated' food waste, which would produce methane but also a high quality digestate/compost.
One of the final things I did was to introduce Jonathan Tyler, chair of the Environment Forum, to Andrew, the chap I had been speaking with. The Environment Forum will be given a presentation in August and a chance to discuss the wider picture of waste with him.
I then came home... walked through town, cycled to Country Fresh, picked up 4 boxes of resources, chatted with Felicia, met Peter, walked to Hull Road with Peter and got home at about 1.45 for a late lunch.
Gill had gone to our youngest's leavers assembly. I had a quiet hour on the computer.
Later I had some very good work in the garden; I moved the SunMar 400 and completely filled it with the materials I'd picked up today and a day or three ago, plus the shredded stuff... it will get very hot!
Gill made a quiche and I had the last chunk of nutloaf.
Not sure where the evening went... but I chatted with facebook contacts, played Scrabble and, via Laura, found a fantastic animator called Cyriak and if you want a giggle, and like cows, do watch this video. I'm an instant fan.
So, I showed it to the Doc and told him about my experiences. He without any hesitation said that he would be happy to remove it... because it was still growing and as it was affecting my life in the way that it is. He said it would be done under local anaesthetic, in Leeds, and the procedure would take about 20 minutes, although with all the preparation and stuff, it would be an afternoon.
I did ask if this was a sensible use of resources and he again assured me that it was a small operation and that in his opinion it was definitely the right thing to do. There is always the chance of infection with any surgical procedure, and there will be a scar which may well be red for 6 months and might take up to 2 years to disappear... and there's a possibility it could become a keloid scar, raised up, but that's only a small possibility. So, sometime in the next 16 weeks, I'm due for a lumpectomy.
Before I went I had my nose swabbed for MRSA... I'll be informed if I carry this bacterium and I'm not sure what they do if I have it.
I was out of the hospital before 11am and cycled down to the Museum Gardens to go to a public consultation at the Hospitium. This was about the proposed 'Allerton Waste Recovery Park' which will, if built, deal with the problem of landfillable household waste from York and North Yorkshire. Currently York recycles 45% of household waste via kerbside boxes (and some bring banks) but this leaves 55% to deal with. Currently this is landfilled. There are two main problems with landfill.... space is running out and they emit methane whilst being constructed (although when full, they are capped and this is captured and often used to generate electricity). They also need the liquid pumped out and treated. So, what is the alternative?
Well this project aims to sort the rubbish and remove at least another 5% of recyclable materials (glass, metals, plastics, 'WEEE') before the organic fraction is removed and put in an anaerobic digester, where some of the carbon is extracted in the form of methane, which can be used as a fuel... maybe cleaned up, liquefied and used to power the fleet of lorries which will be needed to bring the waste from all over North Yorkshire. The AD process leaves a sort of compost, which can be used to cover landfill or in landscaping. It is not high quality material as it has lots of contaminants. The remaining non-recyclables and non-organics are burnt in a carefully controlled environment, generating heat for electricity. The ash/clinker left is used in building materials. The emissions in modern incinerators are very low, and I talked to an independent air pollution expert, and she described the assorted arrestation technology used to reduce and capture dioxins, furans and the like. I had several long conversations with one of the gents there, and we covered lots of different areas.... including the possibility that they could build a special AD plant for 'source separated' food waste, which would produce methane but also a high quality digestate/compost.
One of the final things I did was to introduce Jonathan Tyler, chair of the Environment Forum, to Andrew, the chap I had been speaking with. The Environment Forum will be given a presentation in August and a chance to discuss the wider picture of waste with him.
I then came home... walked through town, cycled to Country Fresh, picked up 4 boxes of resources, chatted with Felicia, met Peter, walked to Hull Road with Peter and got home at about 1.45 for a late lunch.
Gill had gone to our youngest's leavers assembly. I had a quiet hour on the computer.
Later I had some very good work in the garden; I moved the SunMar 400 and completely filled it with the materials I'd picked up today and a day or three ago, plus the shredded stuff... it will get very hot!
Gill made a quiche and I had the last chunk of nutloaf.
Not sure where the evening went... but I chatted with facebook contacts, played Scrabble and, via Laura, found a fantastic animator called Cyriak and if you want a giggle, and like cows, do watch this video. I'm an instant fan.
Slept well and then in the morning had to decide what to do about my ankle. I rang NHS Direct and they assessed my situation and suggested that it was just a sprain and did not advise me to go to Accident and Emergency. But, a facebook friend Graeme advised me that it wouldn't do any harm to get a second opinion... as he'd been diagnosed with a sprain but later, following an X-ray, it was re-diagnosed as a break. Gill also was keen for me to get an expert opinion.
So, I had an early lunch and then got bus times, and walked slowly round to the No.6 bus on Tang Hall Lane, which goes into town and then back out, past the Hospital on Wigginton Road. I got in there before 1pm and was 'triaged' by 1.15. Then there was a two hour wait and I was prodded and told that I need to see a more highly qualified practitioner, and a nurse called Simon called me back in 10 minutes later. He asked questions whilst prodding and said I needed an X-ray.
I hobbled down to the X-ray department and had two taken; a new system with the image recorded electronically and sent wirelessly to the computer system, where the image can be brought up on any screen. Ten minutes later I saw one of these images, and it was plainly obvious that I had broken a bone. Simon told me that it was the ankle-end of the fibula, a fracture called an avulsion fracture, which is when the ligaments and tendons pull off a bit of bone. This would explain the audible noise I heard.
So, he offered me a cast, although it wasn't strictly necessary, the ankle heals more quickly with a plaster cast, so he took me to the plaster casting room and put one on me. This was interesting and we chatted about stoves (he has one too!) and funerals. He reckoned that the way to deal with the problem of using up space in graveyards was to replace horizontal burials with a vertical auger hole grave. The pot he put on is a temporary cast; just a week, to be replaced in 8 days time with a weight-bearing one, in a colour of my choice! In the meantime, I had to use crutches.... a first for me, and remarkably difficult, especially in the sweltering heat.
I managed to get to the bus stop without falling over but not without plenty of grunting and puffing.
When the bus came 15 minutes later, I asked the driver if I might change from the number 6 to the number 10 at Rougier Street, and he gave me a ticket to enable me to do this. I got off at Rougier St and went up to the No.10 stand... the next one was 50 minutes away, so I went back to the No.6, which would get me fairly near to home sooner, but with a longer walk than the No.10. It was a tough walk, but I saw one of my neighbours, a gentleman who has had his leg amputated, who was washing his car, and I stopped and chatted to him and sat on his wall for a few minutes.
So, home to put my leg up and to try to reduce the swelling. A sedentary evening.
So, I had an early lunch and then got bus times, and walked slowly round to the No.6 bus on Tang Hall Lane, which goes into town and then back out, past the Hospital on Wigginton Road. I got in there before 1pm and was 'triaged' by 1.15. Then there was a two hour wait and I was prodded and told that I need to see a more highly qualified practitioner, and a nurse called Simon called me back in 10 minutes later. He asked questions whilst prodding and said I needed an X-ray.
I hobbled down to the X-ray department and had two taken; a new system with the image recorded electronically and sent wirelessly to the computer system, where the image can be brought up on any screen. Ten minutes later I saw one of these images, and it was plainly obvious that I had broken a bone. Simon told me that it was the ankle-end of the fibula, a fracture called an avulsion fracture, which is when the ligaments and tendons pull off a bit of bone. This would explain the audible noise I heard.
So, he offered me a cast, although it wasn't strictly necessary, the ankle heals more quickly with a plaster cast, so he took me to the plaster casting room and put one on me. This was interesting and we chatted about stoves (he has one too!) and funerals. He reckoned that the way to deal with the problem of using up space in graveyards was to replace horizontal burials with a vertical auger hole grave. The pot he put on is a temporary cast; just a week, to be replaced in 8 days time with a weight-bearing one, in a colour of my choice! In the meantime, I had to use crutches.... a first for me, and remarkably difficult, especially in the sweltering heat.
I managed to get to the bus stop without falling over but not without plenty of grunting and puffing.
When the bus came 15 minutes later, I asked the driver if I might change from the number 6 to the number 10 at Rougier Street, and he gave me a ticket to enable me to do this. I got off at Rougier St and went up to the No.10 stand... the next one was 50 minutes away, so I went back to the No.6, which would get me fairly near to home sooner, but with a longer walk than the No.10. It was a tough walk, but I saw one of my neighbours, a gentleman who has had his leg amputated, who was washing his car, and I stopped and chatted to him and sat on his wall for a few minutes.
So, home to put my leg up and to try to reduce the swelling. A sedentary evening.
The day started well and got better, despite Gill being not very well. Once I was washed and dressed, I went to the bread shop and got some 'Yesterbake' bread plus a couple of pasties which will make tea easy to do.
Mid afternoon I went to Country Fresh to pick up tickets for tomorrow's gig... I'm the Compere so I don't need a ticket, but I've been asked to get two tickets for a couple of friends. Richard, who works there and is the drummer of The Falling Spikes, who are playing at Sound Mind at The Duchess to raise money for York Mind. He told me that the venue, who are going to make loads of money on the bar, and had originally said that the venue would be free, have just announced that they'll be charging £250 for the venue. So that's £250 less for York Mind. I am unhappy about this as all the performers are appearing for free, and the idea is to raise money for a worthwhile charity, not to make extra profits for a venue. Maybe they'll change their mind... I'll certainly be asking the management tomorrow.
I collected a sack and a half of recyclables from Richard, plus some veg and fruit, and a bag of apples and pears for Debbie who I'd popped into on the way down there.
Gill was feeling very poorly... her leg was aching and had swelled up so she rang NHS Direct, but they were too busy and cut her off. She rang the emergency doctor and a GP rang back. His advice was to go to Accident and Emergency, so when I got back from the greengrocers she rang a taxi and went to the Hospital. But she rang me from there saying the place was absolutely full of coughing and sneezing and spluttering people, some of whom had been there since 1pm (over 3 hours) so she got a bus back home.
Whilst Gill was out, we finished the game of Scrabble which was started with the boys last night. I won, but both of them got some awesome words and good scores.
I cooked some potatoes and Gill did the cauliflower, and we had a simple tea.
More fruit drying during the evening... yet another three thown-away pineapple sliced and placed carefully on the racks on the woodstove. They only take about 24 hours to dry, and are greatly improved by the more concentrated flavour. I'll be taking a jar of mixed dried fruit to the Sound Mind gig tomorrow as a raffle prize.
Enjoyed a programme on More 4 about Antony Gormley. I like sculpture... he's not my favourite sculptor, but he's pretty good!
Mid afternoon I went to Country Fresh to pick up tickets for tomorrow's gig... I'm the Compere so I don't need a ticket, but I've been asked to get two tickets for a couple of friends. Richard, who works there and is the drummer of The Falling Spikes, who are playing at Sound Mind at The Duchess to raise money for York Mind. He told me that the venue, who are going to make loads of money on the bar, and had originally said that the venue would be free, have just announced that they'll be charging £250 for the venue. So that's £250 less for York Mind. I am unhappy about this as all the performers are appearing for free, and the idea is to raise money for a worthwhile charity, not to make extra profits for a venue. Maybe they'll change their mind... I'll certainly be asking the management tomorrow.
I collected a sack and a half of recyclables from Richard, plus some veg and fruit, and a bag of apples and pears for Debbie who I'd popped into on the way down there.
Gill was feeling very poorly... her leg was aching and had swelled up so she rang NHS Direct, but they were too busy and cut her off. She rang the emergency doctor and a GP rang back. His advice was to go to Accident and Emergency, so when I got back from the greengrocers she rang a taxi and went to the Hospital. But she rang me from there saying the place was absolutely full of coughing and sneezing and spluttering people, some of whom had been there since 1pm (over 3 hours) so she got a bus back home.
Whilst Gill was out, we finished the game of Scrabble which was started with the boys last night. I won, but both of them got some awesome words and good scores.
I cooked some potatoes and Gill did the cauliflower, and we had a simple tea.
More fruit drying during the evening... yet another three thown-away pineapple sliced and placed carefully on the racks on the woodstove. They only take about 24 hours to dry, and are greatly improved by the more concentrated flavour. I'll be taking a jar of mixed dried fruit to the Sound Mind gig tomorrow as a raffle prize.
Enjoyed a programme on More 4 about Antony Gormley. I like sculpture... he's not my favourite sculptor, but he's pretty good!
Up early as had an appointment in a hospital to help a friend cope with a difficult procedure.
A trip to a hospital to find out what is causing embarrassing and personal symptoms is never pleasant, especially when it means a rather invasive and uncomfortable colonoscopy. Basically, this is an endoscope, a long flexible tube which has lights and a camera, an irrigation tube, a suction tube and a port to feed down a biopsy grabber or a snare, to remove polyps etc.
My friend was not looking forward to this, in fact, was pretty terrified, and asked me to go with them to help reassure them. So I did. When the medic came into the room, he recognised me immediately as I'd performed at a charity do he'd volunteered at, which broke the ice somewhat. That also meant that I was allowed into the theatre and could watch what was happening on the screen, which was fascinating.
It was a much longer procedure than I had expected and as I was tired by the end of the day, I decided not to attend the LETS meeting; I popped in as I was cycling past and offered my apologies.
The good news is that there was nothing majorly wrong with my friend's bowel, except a bit of inflammation which will be better understood once the biopsies are investigated.
A quiet evening, highlights included doing the washing up and putting dried fruit into jars.
A trip to a hospital to find out what is causing embarrassing and personal symptoms is never pleasant, especially when it means a rather invasive and uncomfortable colonoscopy. Basically, this is an endoscope, a long flexible tube which has lights and a camera, an irrigation tube, a suction tube and a port to feed down a biopsy grabber or a snare, to remove polyps etc.
My friend was not looking forward to this, in fact, was pretty terrified, and asked me to go with them to help reassure them. So I did. When the medic came into the room, he recognised me immediately as I'd performed at a charity do he'd volunteered at, which broke the ice somewhat. That also meant that I was allowed into the theatre and could watch what was happening on the screen, which was fascinating.
It was a much longer procedure than I had expected and as I was tired by the end of the day, I decided not to attend the LETS meeting; I popped in as I was cycling past and offered my apologies.
The good news is that there was nothing majorly wrong with my friend's bowel, except a bit of inflammation which will be better understood once the biopsies are investigated.
A quiet evening, highlights included doing the washing up and putting dried fruit into jars.
Like her sister Gill, Linda is an early riser so last night we agreed that she'd supervise our eldest getting up, as he needs a long time to get going in the morning. Our youngest gets going more quickly and has a longer time in bed... I'm even quicker and therefore don't have to get up until 8, and I'm ready by 8.30. However, this morning, Linda didn't wake me up til 8.15... so I got washed and dressed and took the boyo to school before I had my cereal and coffee.
When I got back from school, Linda was washing up. Grrrrrrr! I much prefer to do the washing up as I'm so pernickety about how it's done... I have higher standards than many people, and won't let Gill do it as her eyesight means she misses bits and I am much more thorough, although not perfect! Gill takes great delight at pointing out when she finds dirt on something I've washed up... but as I haven't experienced Linda's washing-up I cannot comment. I expect it's fine. However, it's times like these when my Aspergery traits become obvious to me, as I really like my routines and like things to stay the same, ie I do the dishes in this house.
I did thank her, though, and gave her a hug, and she kind of understands my mental situation, at least as much as any non-aspie would. Not that I'm a total aspie myself... just on the same spectrum....
I had a meeting at St Nicks at 10, and just before I left, Gilly's other sister Jane arrived, as they are both going to visit Gill today. Jane had come over from West Yorkshire by train and then got the bus here.
The York Rotters meeting was good and I have some actions I need to get on with to see if we can do another round of publicity. More on this later.
Home for lunch to find that the two sisters were still out, either visiting Gill or perhaps in town together. I got a phone call from Gill saying they were all together and enjoying each others company.
I went to get our youngest. Gill and Linda came back just as I was putting tea out for the boys... leek and tomato soup, quiche, salad. They didn't like the soup as it was too strongly flavoured. Linda's pot washing wasn't brilliant, found three items with old food on... but we had a laugh about it and I told her that I was completely anal about clean crockery and cutlery... she admitted being equally so about untidy worktops... which means in theory, we'd make a brilliant couple (except I'm married to her sister!!!)
Gill was on good form and ate a little bit, and everybody was happy to see her.
We had a relatively quiet evening and I enjoyed chatting to Linda who talks a lot of sense!
I spent some time doing Facebook Pages for the forthcoming George Marshall's Carbon Detox Show which York in Transition is putting on at the Theatre Royal on 3rd March.
When I got back from school, Linda was washing up. Grrrrrrr! I much prefer to do the washing up as I'm so pernickety about how it's done... I have higher standards than many people, and won't let Gill do it as her eyesight means she misses bits and I am much more thorough, although not perfect! Gill takes great delight at pointing out when she finds dirt on something I've washed up... but as I haven't experienced Linda's washing-up I cannot comment. I expect it's fine. However, it's times like these when my Aspergery traits become obvious to me, as I really like my routines and like things to stay the same, ie I do the dishes in this house.
I did thank her, though, and gave her a hug, and she kind of understands my mental situation, at least as much as any non-aspie would. Not that I'm a total aspie myself... just on the same spectrum....
I had a meeting at St Nicks at 10, and just before I left, Gilly's other sister Jane arrived, as they are both going to visit Gill today. Jane had come over from West Yorkshire by train and then got the bus here.
The York Rotters meeting was good and I have some actions I need to get on with to see if we can do another round of publicity. More on this later.
Home for lunch to find that the two sisters were still out, either visiting Gill or perhaps in town together. I got a phone call from Gill saying they were all together and enjoying each others company.
I went to get our youngest. Gill and Linda came back just as I was putting tea out for the boys... leek and tomato soup, quiche, salad. They didn't like the soup as it was too strongly flavoured. Linda's pot washing wasn't brilliant, found three items with old food on... but we had a laugh about it and I told her that I was completely anal about clean crockery and cutlery... she admitted being equally so about untidy worktops... which means in theory, we'd make a brilliant couple (except I'm married to her sister!!!)
Gill was on good form and ate a little bit, and everybody was happy to see her.
We had a relatively quiet evening and I enjoyed chatting to Linda who talks a lot of sense!
I spent some time doing Facebook Pages for the forthcoming George Marshall's Carbon Detox Show which York in Transition is putting on at the Theatre Royal on 3rd March.
For the boys it was a normal morning... I took our youngest to school... he's a brilliant cyclist, very confident on the road, great signaling etc, albeit a bit slow... and our eldest got himself out of the house in good time to walk to school with his friend.
I got back and Gill was getting the house ready for her to leave and go into hospital, and her sister coming to stay. She's only in overnight but still wanted a tidy house and food for the children ready! I did some cooking too, including making a veggie fruit jelly using some frozen loganberries, dried mango strips (which absorbed some moisture, re hydrating) and fresh apple. This proved to be a big success later on in the day, when we had it with dairy-free 'Swedish Glace' ice cream.
Anyway, we got everything ready for Gill to go away overnight, and just before midday, she got a taxi over to the hospital. I did a little bit more tidying up and went to get our little un at 3. When we got home, Gill's sister Linda was already here... it was lovely to see her, having come all the way from Norwich. We three lads were all glad to see her!
I went to the Co-op to get marmalade and bran flakes, and came back to heat up the stew with dumplings and cook some baking potatoes and peas. This eventually went down well!
I had a phone call from some media students who are coming to film next week about my attempts to live a low carbon life. Their results will end up on YouTube as well as help them get their degree.
At 8 I hopped om my bike again and shot off down the cycle track all the way to Haxby Road where Gill was lucky enough to have a room of her own at the Nuffield, although her gall bladder removal was on the NHS. She'd had the op and was very groggy but happy to see me. She'd done a lovely sketch of the Minster out of her window before the operation whilst she was waiting, and kept on making jokes about 'losing her gorm' and such like! What a darling! She had a coffee and a tomato sandwich, and I stayed with her for about an hour.
I picked up some logs on the way home and when in, had a really good chat with Linda who had had a lovely time with the boys.
Later, I did some work on the York in Transition website, uploading info about a meeting next week. I'm slowly getting better at this kind of thing, and am learning a few tricks, shortcuts and codes. Useful stuff, and fun too. Late to bed though...
I got back and Gill was getting the house ready for her to leave and go into hospital, and her sister coming to stay. She's only in overnight but still wanted a tidy house and food for the children ready! I did some cooking too, including making a veggie fruit jelly using some frozen loganberries, dried mango strips (which absorbed some moisture, re hydrating) and fresh apple. This proved to be a big success later on in the day, when we had it with dairy-free 'Swedish Glace' ice cream.
Anyway, we got everything ready for Gill to go away overnight, and just before midday, she got a taxi over to the hospital. I did a little bit more tidying up and went to get our little un at 3. When we got home, Gill's sister Linda was already here... it was lovely to see her, having come all the way from Norwich. We three lads were all glad to see her!
I went to the Co-op to get marmalade and bran flakes, and came back to heat up the stew with dumplings and cook some baking potatoes and peas. This eventually went down well!
I had a phone call from some media students who are coming to film next week about my attempts to live a low carbon life. Their results will end up on YouTube as well as help them get their degree.
At 8 I hopped om my bike again and shot off down the cycle track all the way to Haxby Road where Gill was lucky enough to have a room of her own at the Nuffield, although her gall bladder removal was on the NHS. She'd had the op and was very groggy but happy to see me. She'd done a lovely sketch of the Minster out of her window before the operation whilst she was waiting, and kept on making jokes about 'losing her gorm' and such like! What a darling! She had a coffee and a tomato sandwich, and I stayed with her for about an hour.
I picked up some logs on the way home and when in, had a really good chat with Linda who had had a lovely time with the boys.
Later, I did some work on the York in Transition website, uploading info about a meeting next week. I'm slowly getting better at this kind of thing, and am learning a few tricks, shortcuts and codes. Useful stuff, and fun too. Late to bed though...
I took our youngest to school, with him making the decisions when to turn right (there are two right turns on the way into school, one off the Hull Road at the traffic-lighted junction with Windmill Lane and the other at the far end of Windmill Lane) and I'm impressed with his road sense and his hand signals.
Pottered around at home and then whipped off my Community Care blog about non-diagnosis and walking, and just before 11 cycled round to see Anita to share my news with her and give her the SUMA book, as she's an occasional contributor to the Food Coop. Stayed there for a couple of hours, also enjoyed the company of her current au pair, a 21 year-old chap from Brixton, hoping to make it 'large' in the music biz. Back for lunch, used up the last of the bread and went to get some more. Gill was having a rest-day but got up before I went to collect our little-un again.
Gill made a pie for tea, using yesterday's meal leftovers, a few extra tomatoes and a pastry lid... with broccoli and some little salad potatoes I'd rescued from a sack of allegedly compostables and prepared earlier.
After tea I went out to the LETS meeting which was only 3 of us, and I chaired and took minutes. David and I stayed behind for a while and chatted which was nice. Then, as agreed with Gill (who used to be a nurse) I took myself along to the Hospital as I gave myself a small burn on the stove door last night, by accident, and this evening Gill spotted a 'track' leading from it towards my armpit which indicates the first stage of septicemia or blood poisoning. However, the medics who eventually saw me said that it wasn't serious enough yet to give me antibiotics, and if it got worse I could go in again and see them, or it might get better by itself. Got back (with a log in the trailer found on the cycle track!) at 1am, having read another NewScientist... I think I'm back in sync with the right week again, for the first time in a year or so!
Pottered around at home and then whipped off my Community Care blog about non-diagnosis and walking, and just before 11 cycled round to see Anita to share my news with her and give her the SUMA book, as she's an occasional contributor to the Food Coop. Stayed there for a couple of hours, also enjoyed the company of her current au pair, a 21 year-old chap from Brixton, hoping to make it 'large' in the music biz. Back for lunch, used up the last of the bread and went to get some more. Gill was having a rest-day but got up before I went to collect our little-un again.
Gill made a pie for tea, using yesterday's meal leftovers, a few extra tomatoes and a pastry lid... with broccoli and some little salad potatoes I'd rescued from a sack of allegedly compostables and prepared earlier.
After tea I went out to the LETS meeting which was only 3 of us, and I chaired and took minutes. David and I stayed behind for a while and chatted which was nice. Then, as agreed with Gill (who used to be a nurse) I took myself along to the Hospital as I gave myself a small burn on the stove door last night, by accident, and this evening Gill spotted a 'track' leading from it towards my armpit which indicates the first stage of septicemia or blood poisoning. However, the medics who eventually saw me said that it wasn't serious enough yet to give me antibiotics, and if it got worse I could go in again and see them, or it might get better by itself. Got back (with a log in the trailer found on the cycle track!) at 1am, having read another NewScientist... I think I'm back in sync with the right week again, for the first time in a year or so!
Another busy Summer Saturday.... had been booked to start work at Tockwith Show at 10am, so I loaded up what I needed on my trailer and packed my panniers and set off at about 8.40, as I expected to take just over an hour to cycle the 12 miles to Tockwith. As usual when I take this route, I took a brief break at the Battle of Marston Moor memorial, and then continued, getting to the Secretary's Marquee on the dot of 10, where Les the event organiser found someone to take me to the spot he wanted me to occupy.
I did over 2 hours of workshops and then had a break to go and get a meal ticket which entitled me to a veg pie with Yorkshire Feta, green salad with balsamic vinegar dressing, local new potatoes and 3 other salads... with orange juice, followed by a pear crumble 'sweet' and coffee. Delicious... and kept me going til well after 5 when I was supposed to stop... but I still had crowds wanting to try out my various pieces of equipment and get a balloon animal...
Then eventually packed up and went to get paid, and cycled swiftly with the wind behind me back to the memorial, where I had a half-hour sit down and ate my sandwiches for tea. Got back home at 7pm... a very long day and 24 miles cycling.
The day passed completely without incident until I was cycling along Bishopthorpe Road, heading for home, and I suddenly heard a loud hissing behind me just like a lorry with air-brakes or something. However, there wasn't a vehicle behind me, just my trailer with the two unicycles on it. My trailer tyres seemed to be ok, so I guessed it might have been a unicycle tyre. So when it was safe, I pulled in and checked... and yes, my big uni had got a flat tyre. How weird! I wasn't riding it and nothing seemed to have caused the rapid deflation, but it was completely flat. Very odd!
Gill gave me blackberry pie when I got in after I had unloaded the stuff and taken a fruit-fly-ridden box of grot down to a waiting heap. Enjoyed watching a programme on the London Underground, with the lovely voice of Sir John Betjeman narrating, infact presenting... I've never seen him before, just heard him...
And did my 'Carbon Account' gas meter and electricity meter readings.
Gill was not well this evening, with extreme pain in her right kidney area. The previous day she'd had a painful toe and during today, an achey leg. She mused about whether she was having a bit of gout... and the kidney pain could have been a kidney stone. Gill used to be a nurse but I cannot comment about the likelihood of something moving from her toe to kidney.. but every time she moved she yelled out in pain. At 10pm she rang NHS Direct and a bit later, the out of hours doctor, and by 3am the pain was so acute, she asked me to ring her a taxi so she could go to A+E. She was back within the hour bearing antibiotics, incase the pain was simply an infection. Poor ol' Gilly.
I did over 2 hours of workshops and then had a break to go and get a meal ticket which entitled me to a veg pie with Yorkshire Feta, green salad with balsamic vinegar dressing, local new potatoes and 3 other salads... with orange juice, followed by a pear crumble 'sweet' and coffee. Delicious... and kept me going til well after 5 when I was supposed to stop... but I still had crowds wanting to try out my various pieces of equipment and get a balloon animal...
Then eventually packed up and went to get paid, and cycled swiftly with the wind behind me back to the memorial, where I had a half-hour sit down and ate my sandwiches for tea. Got back home at 7pm... a very long day and 24 miles cycling.
The day passed completely without incident until I was cycling along Bishopthorpe Road, heading for home, and I suddenly heard a loud hissing behind me just like a lorry with air-brakes or something. However, there wasn't a vehicle behind me, just my trailer with the two unicycles on it. My trailer tyres seemed to be ok, so I guessed it might have been a unicycle tyre. So when it was safe, I pulled in and checked... and yes, my big uni had got a flat tyre. How weird! I wasn't riding it and nothing seemed to have caused the rapid deflation, but it was completely flat. Very odd!
Gill gave me blackberry pie when I got in after I had unloaded the stuff and taken a fruit-fly-ridden box of grot down to a waiting heap. Enjoyed watching a programme on the London Underground, with the lovely voice of Sir John Betjeman narrating, infact presenting... I've never seen him before, just heard him...
And did my 'Carbon Account' gas meter and electricity meter readings.
Gill was not well this evening, with extreme pain in her right kidney area. The previous day she'd had a painful toe and during today, an achey leg. She mused about whether she was having a bit of gout... and the kidney pain could have been a kidney stone. Gill used to be a nurse but I cannot comment about the likelihood of something moving from her toe to kidney.. but every time she moved she yelled out in pain. At 10pm she rang NHS Direct and a bit later, the out of hours doctor, and by 3am the pain was so acute, she asked me to ring her a taxi so she could go to A+E. She was back within the hour bearing antibiotics, incase the pain was simply an infection. Poor ol' Gilly.
Another day working... the second day at the CTC rally on the Racecourse. It was very windy and I didn't get to the Minster for the big cycle ride from there to the Knavesmire, but I got to the Knavesmire at the same time as the cyclists, at 10am, and I 'set up shop' and got going with the unicycle workshops. I had a visit from a girl who spent lots of time with me last year, now 10 and still unicycling and turning heads, as it's quite unusual to see such a small person unicycling around! She spent most of the day with me, using both of my kids unicycles (not at the same time!) and helping other children too, which was nice.
I was also joined by a tall 19 year-old chap, who had a few goes on a couple of activities (devilstick, juggling, unicycle, balloon modelling) but did a lot of just standing around watching, so I got several chances to chat to him. College dropout, jobless but hoping to work in a bar, but he was pleasant. Before lunch, my unicycle pedal broke off (the second of the pair, one of which broke last Tuesday!) he either offered or I asked him to go and get a replacement. I gave him a £20 note plus the unicycle and said 'hope to see you soon, or if I don't, you've got yourself a free top-of-the-range unicycle plus £20'. He assured me he'd come back, and soon he did, with a new pedal fixed on and the other of the pair in his hand, plus £16 change.
I took 10 mins off for lunch (sandwiches) and then continued full-on til 3.30, with the wind getting stronger and stronger. My hat kept on blowing off, and then I remembered that I'd found a large elastic band a while ago on the ground, picked it up and put it on my tri-bars... so I put this on my hat and it held it firmly on my head for the rest of the day. However the wind did more damage than blowing my hat off... the event was sponsored by Nokia and they had a large marquee with two large screens in it... the marquee blew down, smashing both screens (I was told) and causing thousands of pounds-worth of damage....
I got packed up for 4pm and went to get paid, was given a coffee at this time too, most welcome.
Lots of branches down on the way home, and something blew into my eye and when i got home it began to really hurt. I tried to wash it out by putting my eye in an egg-cup (bathing it, not taking it out and washing it! lol) but that didn't seem to work. Gill put a patch on it and after tea I cycled cyclops-like along the cycle path to the A+E Department of the York Hospital and presented myself as walking wounded. I waited for an hour and a half, resting my eye but wrote my journal and wrote most of the Community Care column which is due in tomorrow. Then my name was called and after I chatted with the tired young Doc, took my patch off and my eye felt completely normal... how odd! I might have washed it out with the egg-cup trick, but the eye remained hurt and needed to recover. We had a laugh about it and I cycled home, picking up several huge fallen branches on the way so I can shred the twiggy bits and use the sticks as fuel.
I was also joined by a tall 19 year-old chap, who had a few goes on a couple of activities (devilstick, juggling, unicycle, balloon modelling) but did a lot of just standing around watching, so I got several chances to chat to him. College dropout, jobless but hoping to work in a bar, but he was pleasant. Before lunch, my unicycle pedal broke off (the second of the pair, one of which broke last Tuesday!) he either offered or I asked him to go and get a replacement. I gave him a £20 note plus the unicycle and said 'hope to see you soon, or if I don't, you've got yourself a free top-of-the-range unicycle plus £20'. He assured me he'd come back, and soon he did, with a new pedal fixed on and the other of the pair in his hand, plus £16 change.
I took 10 mins off for lunch (sandwiches) and then continued full-on til 3.30, with the wind getting stronger and stronger. My hat kept on blowing off, and then I remembered that I'd found a large elastic band a while ago on the ground, picked it up and put it on my tri-bars... so I put this on my hat and it held it firmly on my head for the rest of the day. However the wind did more damage than blowing my hat off... the event was sponsored by Nokia and they had a large marquee with two large screens in it... the marquee blew down, smashing both screens (I was told) and causing thousands of pounds-worth of damage....
I got packed up for 4pm and went to get paid, was given a coffee at this time too, most welcome.
Lots of branches down on the way home, and something blew into my eye and when i got home it began to really hurt. I tried to wash it out by putting my eye in an egg-cup (bathing it, not taking it out and washing it! lol) but that didn't seem to work. Gill put a patch on it and after tea I cycled cyclops-like along the cycle path to the A+E Department of the York Hospital and presented myself as walking wounded. I waited for an hour and a half, resting my eye but wrote my journal and wrote most of the Community Care column which is due in tomorrow. Then my name was called and after I chatted with the tired young Doc, took my patch off and my eye felt completely normal... how odd! I might have washed it out with the egg-cup trick, but the eye remained hurt and needed to recover. We had a laugh about it and I cycled home, picking up several huge fallen branches on the way so I can shred the twiggy bits and use the sticks as fuel.
Awoke and could feel the thing in my eye... not painful or intrusive, but a feeling of something there when I screwed my face up, or closed my eyes tight shut. I took the boys to school, three of them including a boy who often cycles to school with his Dad, on the pavement. I told him that cycling on the pavement was illegal and that with me, all three of them would be on the road, with me cycling behind them and slightly further out into the road, to sort of protect them. They all did brilliantly, including turning right off Hull Road into Windmill Lane, and I congratulated them all when we got to school.
On the way back I went via the turf skip and took another load home, and then went back to get a further load. When I got back to my nice neat stack at home, it had collapsed, but it was still a pretty good pile and will rot down to make a good loam in a year or two...
Then I told Gill about my eye and last night's glass incident. She told me to go to casualty. I said that I didn't think it was that serious, so she told me to ring NHS Direct.... and they told me to go to casualty. So I cycled over to the hospital for a second time in two days, and didn't have to wait long to be seen. The friendly male nurse had a good look, used yellow dye, looked with a blue light, turned my eyelid inside out, but couldn't see anything, not even a scratch. He gave me some antibiotic cream as a precaution and said if it was still feeling odd in 4 or 5 days, to get in touch again and I'd be given an appointment with a specialist.
I then cycled back to the parenting course, I'd only missed 45 minutes of it, and was in time for lunch! Quite a good session today.
Afterwards went to Martin's veg and bought Heslington Potatoes, local carrots and Yorkshire broccoli, as well as being given two sachs of compostables.
Gill went to pick up the boys and to take them to self-defence/martial arts class. I did emails, blog and headed to the garden, as it was a lovely day.
On the way back I went via the turf skip and took another load home, and then went back to get a further load. When I got back to my nice neat stack at home, it had collapsed, but it was still a pretty good pile and will rot down to make a good loam in a year or two...
Then I told Gill about my eye and last night's glass incident. She told me to go to casualty. I said that I didn't think it was that serious, so she told me to ring NHS Direct.... and they told me to go to casualty. So I cycled over to the hospital for a second time in two days, and didn't have to wait long to be seen. The friendly male nurse had a good look, used yellow dye, looked with a blue light, turned my eyelid inside out, but couldn't see anything, not even a scratch. He gave me some antibiotic cream as a precaution and said if it was still feeling odd in 4 or 5 days, to get in touch again and I'd be given an appointment with a specialist.
I then cycled back to the parenting course, I'd only missed 45 minutes of it, and was in time for lunch! Quite a good session today.
Afterwards went to Martin's veg and bought Heslington Potatoes, local carrots and Yorkshire broccoli, as well as being given two sachs of compostables.
Gill went to pick up the boys and to take them to self-defence/martial arts class. I did emails, blog and headed to the garden, as it was a lovely day.
