Decision Made

Good morning all – this is a very speedy Ramble following closely on the heels of yesterday!

I am so grateful to you all for the interest you always show in reading my Rambles and commenting on them – and I have always enjoyed sharing things with you.

However, I have decided that I will be taking a break and will not be ‘Rambling’ for a while.  Partly because, with the current situation, there is never anything much to report – no bus journeys, no strange encounters and so on.  Also, I find I am very agitated about all sorts of things at the moment and I am aware that I have become a bit of a moaner and probably a bore.

All things being well, I hope to re-start in the summer if life is restored to something approaching normality – although an odd Ramble may suddenly appear if anything interesting suddenly happens in my life (huh – as if!).

I hope you will understand and stick with me when I reappear later in the year.

In the meantime, do take care of yourselves and stay safe.

xx

Happiness

Good afternoon all – hope everyone is well and that you’ve had a good week – which seems to have whizzed past!

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I was sitting here staring at the blank screen and wondering what one earth I was going to write about!  I could always have a good moan (there is plenty to moan about swimming about in my head!) but I thought, for a change, I’d reuse a Blog from March 2014 – seven years ago – and talk about happy things.

Here we go.

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Strange how serendipity can happen. 

Last Saturday I was talking to my friend H, as we sat in the park and enjoyed a sandwich, and we both agreed on something – we were both happy.  Not just having a moment, not just content, not thankful, not filled with joy at something special – just honest-to-goodness happy!

Yesterday in the paper there was an article about happiness, saying that research has shown that the happiest people are those of us over 65.  We may not have any spare money, or a huge house, or a big car but equally we are not starving and life is good.  Apparently it’s because we were brought up with the ethos of ‘mustn’t grumble’, which has stood us in such good stead.

Today on the radio, the phone in was about happiness!  Are you happy – and what makes you happy or not?  I found it so interesting – people were not happy because they couldn’t afford…….(whatever – there were several to choose from including a new car and a holiday abroad), or they didn’t like their job or they were always rowing with their spouse.  Then came a man who said he was 80 – and he was happy.  As he said – he was still here, still had a working brain and a family so he had everything really!

And so I can share with you the fact that I am HAPPY! I have the essentials – a husband I love, a son and daughter I adore, I love their other halves and I have two clever, beautiful granddaughters who are my joy; I live in a really tiny house but I feel safe and secure; the pension money doesn’t go as far as we’d like but we aren’t starving and if it gets cold we subscribe to the old belief of ‘put a jumper on’ – the heating only goes on for a very short time! The biggest bonus in my life are my truly wonderful friends whom I love and who I know love me – they are always there with the right word at the right time, the comforting hug if needed and the stern words when necessary!  

In the ideal world, I would like us both to be fit again because arthritis is a pain in all senses of the word but we can both manage to get about.  Our car could do with replacing but that isn’t going to happen and so on.  But these things are like ‘added extras’ – and we can manage without them.

How about you?  Do you ever lay in your bed or your bath and think – yes, I am happy?

I do hope you are – and if you’re not, then I hope you can find the way forward to happiness very soon because this lifetime is short and we owe it to ourselves to enjoy the moment, not the what-might-have-beens.

Stay happy.

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Now I know only too well what a toll the pandemic has taken on us all and sometimes we feel so grumpy and miserable that we find it hard to find any joy at all.  We all have days when everything seems to go wrong, or you just have a ‘black dog day’; when you miss people so much it is really painful; when you feel like giving up as life is just too hard. 

These are the days when I have to summon up the grit we older folk were brought up with – quite literally to count our blessings.  Yes, I haven’t seen my son in over a year, but I know where he is and e-mail fills in the gaps.  I’ve not seen my youngest great grandson yet – but I see photos of him; I’ve not seen the other great grandson since he was a new-born but the photos of him and his huge smile gives me such pleasure.  One Grandchild is very close by, and we keep in touch all the time but that isn’t the same as seeing her.  My daughter and I speak every day – but that’s not the same as a huge hug.  I keep in touch with my friends by phone. E-mail and so on – but somehow that’s not the same as a long chat together!

To look on the bright side – all the people I love and miss are still going strong and time is passing – it won’t be for ever although some days it seems as if it might.

Hang on in there, be grateful for what and who you have in your life and know that one day, not too far away, hugs will be exchanged, cups of tea will be shared and life will slowly return to what it was.

Find the happiness in your life and just summon up a smile!

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Happy Mothering Sunday

Good morning all, and a very happy Mothering Sunday to all the mums, soon-to-be mums, acting-as mums, step-mums, foster mums – in fact anyone who steps up to the plate and undertakes this difficult, exhausting, and most loving of roles.  You are all very special people.

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The good news is that my bank balance is £80 lighter but I can now hear perfectly in both ears!  It was not remotely painful and the lady who did the work was very pleasant – she has a tiny camera linked to a laptop so you can look inside your ear and see the ear drum!  That was a first.  Hopefully, it won’t be necessary to go back but who can tell.  She was telling me that she has been astonished at the extraordinary rise in the number of people of all ages who have needed this treatment – far more than she has ever known.  Now obviously it can’t be a Covid problem, but I wonder if it could be caused by spending so much more time indoors than we are used to!

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There has been so much on the news and so on over the past couple of weeks about Mental Health that I have had to stop and think about my response.  Now we all have mental health in the same way we all have physical health and they both vary from time to time.  Sometimes I am feeling really up, fit and well, other times I feel 100 and can’t be bothered with anything – but I assumed that was part of living.

I understand the difference between mental health and mental illness and the crises that can bring, and my sympathy goes out to all those who suffer from the latter.  However, I thought it was perfectly normal to lay awake at night, scared and worried about something, or to want to pull the covers over your head and not get up because you can’t face a day.  I’ve laid there planning how to kill myself because my life seems so dreadful, but lacking the courage to do it.  I have also known what it is to not be able to sleep because I am excited, to not be able to switch off my brain because I am so happy.  Swings and roundabouts; good days; bad days; happy, sad; up and down.  However, I had not realised that this is an issue and had assumed it was just normal.

Things are worse in the current climate but I don’t actually need or want diagnosing or medication – what I want and need is a hug.  I want a long cuddle with people I love, and to actually sit and talk to people without breaking the rules.

I think one of the most dangerous things to affect people’s mental health is social media simply because it is so easy for people you don’t know to be so awful to you.  Of course, the answer lies in your own hands – it is not law that you have to be on there!  This is one of the reasons I do not go onto Twitter – and if anyone is objectionable on Facebook I simply block them.  It is mine to control and I refuse to allow a stranger to upset me.  I only accept friends who I actually know – not people who are just names!

I am sure this is one of the problems with young people – parents do not forbid phones, tablets, laptops etc. in the bedroom at night.  Consequently, they are in use and accessible at any time – no wonder the children find sleep difficult and of poor quality.  Insist they are left downstairs and see if, after a couple of weeks, there is a difference.  Does it matter if the children are upset – you are the parent and make the decisions!

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I thought, being Mothering Sunday, there might be a good film or something to watch on the television this afternoon, while scoffing my chocolates and drinking my wine (!).  Of course not – why would a treat for women even be considered?  Obviously football and rugby are far more important.

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I hope you are all feeling upbeat today, especially as the sun appears to be shining!

Have a lovely rest of the day – and I hope you can have a good week too.  Take care of yourselves and please Stay Safe.

x

Well, Would You Believe It?

Here we go again!  I’m sorry there was no sign of me last weekend, but I was computerless!  However, the situation has now been sorted and I am safely back on line with my beautiful new all-in-one computer.  I hope you are all well and enjoying the sunshine!

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The last time I wrote I was complaining that I was deaf in one ear – you will be interested to know that I am now deaf in both ears!  As suggested, I visited Specsavers Hearing, having had to wait for an appointment.  The chap had a look and informed me that both my ears were blocked with wax (which I had already told him!) and needed clearing – £55 and a wait of two and a half weeks before he had a free appointment for me.  I said I had already waited two weeks to see him and just wanted it sorted as quickly as possible.  He sent me off to see a lady who is attached to a local chemist, although she works privately.  She could do my ears £49 for one or £80 for both – so, needs must, I have an appointment for Tuesday!

Because I was cross, I had a look on line – and I can only think I must have slept through the debate on all this about the NHS not treating this sort of problem.  There must have been an outcry mustn’t there?

There are 37 problems no longer treated by the NHS unless there are serious complications (from England.nhs.uk) in their guidelines sent to all CCGs.  The conditions are considered to be self-limiting (will heal or be cured of its own accord) or which lends itself to self-care – can be managed by purchasing suitable treatments over the counter. These are some of them:

Acute Sore Throat

Conjunctivitis

Cradle Cap in infants

Haemorrhoids

Cystitis

Diarrhoea in adults

Earwax

Migraine

Period pain

Back Pain

Oral Thrush

Ringworm

This was entirely driven by the NHS as a way to cut down on the abuses of visits to GPs or A&E and to free up the money to improve serious treatments – all very laudable and I know that people do go to A&E for silly reasons but …. how are the financially disadvantaged expected to pay for these things?  This is going to cost me over half of my weekly pension and I am lucky that the Main Man also has a pension so we won’t starve, but some people will have to choose – not just heat or eat but heat, eat or medical issues.  Also there are a lot of people who are incapable of treating themselves because they suffer from anxiety and always assume a pain anywhere is the body’s way of telling them they are ill and they need professional reassurance.

I am really concerned about this situation and would welcome your comments.

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I find I am losing my grasp on the passage of time.  If you are on Facebook you will know that every day you get a list of memories of things that happened over the years back to the year you joined.  How often I find myself saying things like ‘that was more than two years ago’ or ‘was that really eight years ago’ – because some things seem so long ago and other things are so imprinted on my memory that I can actually recall them.  Is this an ‘old age’ thing?  Or do you feel the same?

It’s like seeing an interview with an adult who appears quite sensible and to have a grasp of his subject until he says he was born in 1985.  1985? But that’s only a few years ago!  Why isn’t he still at school?  Is this a joke?  Then I find I have to do Maths – and discover he is actually 35 but I have missed what he was saying because I was so busy working it all out!

Please tell me it’s not just me ~ is it?

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On my I pad I have a collection of different sites all bringing me the news and each morning I like to have a look, click on what interests me and read about it – sometimes from more than one source, which helps give me a balanced view, unlike the British national press.

However, this morning the first eight articles were all about people whose names didn’t even ring a bell – I have never heard of them at all and didn’t recognise them from their pictures.  I ploughed through quite a bit of twaddle to discover who they were – one was having an affair with someone I’d also never heard of, two of them had met on an Australian TV programme called ‘Love Island’ and were now living together, one was an Influencer, a couple were sports people of different stripes – see, no-one I would know or in whom I am remotely interested!

Why?  Why is this considered of such interest to all and sundry – does no-one have a private life now?  And why are all the women so blinking thin?  I don’t mean slim, I mean downright skinny and they look so unwell?

Obviously I am totally out of touch with modern life!

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You might remember me mentioning that one of my Christmas presents was a subscription to a company that sends me a box of four books every two months.  My second box arrived today – I am so excited.  Four books – all of which look as if they are right up my street but I cannot start them until I finish the book I am already reading – Tinker, Tailor etc by John Le Carre.  I have them in thickness order beside my chair ready for me to fall upon them very soon!

I always have a chat with the Post Lady when I see her but she misled me this time – she assured me it was a box full of chocolate!  However, chocolate lover that I am, books are the present I would rather have so all is good!

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That’s quite enough drivel for this week – and I seem to be having a good moan – perhaps I need to spend some time with real live people and share some laughter!

Take care of yourselves and those whom you love.

Stay Safe x