I'm Still Standing

And I never thought I would be...

I'm in London teaching this week; it's the first time I have taught for a year and a quarter. The hiatus was caused by my hip replacement operations and I have to admit that coming back was a bit nerve-racking. Apart from anything else, I pander to my body clock with the hours that I work at home, often rising later than most but working much later too. Six in the morning is not an hour I'm familiar with these days, but it's necessary when I'm teaching. After a full and gruelling day yesterday, I limped back to the hotel, feeling footsore but pleased I'd been on my feet all day without pain or mishap. Within minutes of eating, I was overcome with huge yawns and leaden eyes; it made revision hard work.

I woke this morning before the alarm- a first for as long as I can remember. Though my eyes were rather puffy, I felt sprightly and ached so much less than I normally do when I get up - so perhaps a hard day in the classroom was just what I needed. Best of all, I have a really delightful bunch of students, so the "work" doesn't feel like work at all! Where else would I get a captive audience where I can prattle on about my favourite subject... and get paid for it?

This is such a milestone for me. Not only being able to stand and walk about all day, but that I'm back 'in harness' doing something I love. My life is so good and I'm grateful for it.

Happiness

It's Friday, it's 5 p.m. and I'm warm indoors with my beasties, what more could I want?


Bertie has been keeping me company on the desk all day...


While Boots has been sleeping in Kim's study, until he was transported into mine, with no effort on his part!


Where he proceeded to have a pre-prandial wash.

I had noticed how glossy their fur had become since they moved in with us, but seeing the reflections and gloss in the pictures reassures me that we must be doing something right. They don't seem to be making any effort to escape!

Wishing everyone as cheerful and peaceful a weekend as I'm having.

Cold Spell Coming?

During the last cold spell we had a number of fieldfares in our tiny garden. They are birds I have not encountered before and we were rather thrilled to have these Scandinavian visitors amongst the usual local birds. As soon as the cold abated and the temperatures rose above freezing during the day, the fieldfares disappeared.

We felt privileged to have seen these lovely birds, even though they duffed up the local blackbirds in the food queue! Today, I noticed a fieldfare sitting on the back wall, beak pointing upwards at 45 degrees, as usual and my first thought was, "Oh, more snow on the way!" I don't know if it's true, as I have managed to not see a weather report for days on end, but I'll bet the birds are as accurate as the Meteorological Office! We shall see - I'm off to the BBC weather site now...

Wet Friday

We had our oil for the heating system delivered today - I had been getting quite concerned as the levels had been dropping lower and lower, while the delivery seemed to take forever. Phew! The new heating system isn't up to much - we paid a hefty sum and I can't say that I've felt particularly warm since it was turned on; I never thought I would miss my filthy old rayburn.

It's so wet and gloomy. I rained all night and it's still wet, soggy and misting as I type - the light is on and still the room feels drab and grey. I far prefer the very crisp cold days that we had during the very cold weather. The Blues Brothers are feeling the weather too, they are both curled up, one on the desk and another on the chair beside me, with their heads tucked into their tails, snoring quietly.

I'm supposed to be driving to Lincolnshire tomorrow to visit my son, but I can't say that I'm feeling very keen to go; I'd love to see him, but a five hour drive in this weather is about as tempting as root canal dentistry - I may delay the trip to another weekend.

The worst bit is that I'm not feeling very lively and so haven't managed to get a single job finished today - I must apply myself as I hate going to bed without feeling that I've achieved something during the day.

Still Standing

I suddenly realised, after looking at NetNewsWire, that I hadn't written anything here for ages - so long that my blog had faded out to a 'derelict' colour. And what a lot has happened in the interim.

After disovering that I could walk without sticks, I'm now walking well, swinging my hips for the first time in years and though I can't go great distances, as I'm anaemic and get puffed out very quickly, it's wonderful to be back in the land of the two-legged.

I'm due to teach in London at the beginning of February; the first time in well over a year. I'm a bit nervous and currently bunking off my revision to write this - still, it will be nice to get back into the classroom and into harness.

What else? The furry Blues Brothers are up to all sorts of tricks. I'm sure that Bert thinks he's a dog; We discovered that you can throw a cat treat and Bert will scamper after it like a little retriever, often flipping his rear over his head in the scrabble to get at the treat. Boots retains some dignity, though not at night time - his other name is Smooshy Cat and it's because he crawls into bed and smooshes up to ones shoulder, resting his head on the pillow and his chin on my shoulder with a paw draped across my chest to keep me in place. I wouldn't mind, but the purring often turns into loud snoring and that's a bit disconcerting!

The house is still in horrible disarray with the dining room still serving as the garden shed and general dumping ground - not great for entertaining, I can tell you. The scullery is coming on and just needs worktops to finish it off. The removal of the old ceiling in the scullery has opened it up to be a lovely bright room and the beams give it a bit of character. The new downstairs lavatory is just a few tiles away from being finished. I got the grout yesterday and will stick the tiles up this week and make a blind for the window - it looks rather nice - all new and bright and shiny. The decorator restored our Victorian door, which originally had an ugly lump of hardboard in the place of the centre pane - it is now glazed, rubbed down and looking rather smart.

There's still lots to do. I have to tile the floor of what is now the new back hallway, formerly the passage in front of the coal-hole and the old coal-hole is now a nice, bright boiler and tool room. There's plastering of the hallway and new doors to hang, but there's an end in sight. Best of all, I'm increasingly capable of doing things for myself, like the tiling, so it doesn't feel like such a hopelessly long drawn out affair.

Ah well, I should get back to my revision - there's a new bunch of students to ask "Do you know why you're not supposed to split infinitives?"

I Am A Biped

I haven't been able to walk properly for nearly three years. Today, for the first time I went out without walking sticks and managed to walk properly (I'm having to learn how all over again) without rolling like a drunken sailor or limping or propping myself upon sticks.

It's quite impossible to describe the feeling I had today - part was delight, part sheer exhilaration at being a biped, part pride that I had managed to learn and do as much as I had done and part disbelief at how strange it felt to walk upright again. I am brimming over with happiness.

November Storms

Goodness, it's filthy weather outside. The wind is howling and the rain lashing against the windows. It's so wild that the rain has driven under some of the roof tiles, which only ever happens in really vile weather.

I wouldn't mind this in the slightest on any ordinary day, but Kim is flying home from Oslo tonight and I'm worried. He should get into Heathrow at about 10.30 p.m. and he then has to drive all the way home. It's normally a three hour trip in good weather but the way things are tonight, I'm concerned. He will have been up since some sort of silly hour in the morning, especially as the time in Norway is an hour earlier than the UK and he thinks he'll be lucky to get home by 2 a.m. (and that was without the bad weather).

Meanwhile, the cats are curled up, one on my desk and the other in a squishy beside the desk. Occasionally an ear flicks or a sleepy eye opens and looks disapprovingly at the weather, but these two don't seem overly bothered by the storm; oh, to be a cat. I think I shall rouse the little dreamers by heading down to the kitchen - it's time for their dinner so I don't doubt I shall be popular.

After feeding the furries, I think I shall light a candle and send out a wish for Kim's safe homecoming. Have a good weekend and keep safe and dry.