Yes, I'm still here !!

No 13    Thursday 25 August 2011

When I started these blogs I mentioned that I hoped to post them roughly weekly.  For some reason (probably laziness) this comes two weeks after its predecessor.  Oh well, at least I've got around to it at last and you can rest assured that all is (reasonably) well.

I heard recently that I'm going to become a great-grandfather in February - that is when my eldest grandson and his wife are expecting their first child.  Funny how 'eldest' goes - I was the eldest of four, my daughter is the eldest of three and this grandson is the eldest of five.  I suppose this is a logical progression but not certain - my mother was third out of four, the others being childless.

Sayings are funny things - not necessarily funny ha-ha but usually funny slightly peculiar.  They seem to run in families at times, and others are picked up along the way.  Two which I have gained from outside sources are "Dogs have owners, cats have staff" and "Keep smiling, it makes them wonder what you've been up to".  My father and his brother, in their young days, used to attend a high church where the vicar used to conclude future plans, either spoken or in the parish mag., with the term "D.V."  (which is the abbreviation for the Latin "God willing").  As a result they used to conclude comments about future plans with the comment "D.V. and weather permitting".  I was, for a long time, under the impression that this was only our family's viewpoint, but, while playing a Johnny Cash CD a little while ago he sang a song entitled "If the Good Lord is willing and the creeks don't rise" which strikes me as being very similar to ours.  Obviously there could not have been any possible connection between the sources of the sayings.

In my last blog (No. 12) I mentioned that I found it difficult to write cheques, as required by a bank into which I had planned to invest some money.  I eventually decided to cancel my request to invest with them and wrote to tell them so.  Thus far there has been no reaction from them.  Also in a previous blog (No. 11) I explained about my need for a weight reduction.  I put a few ideas into action and they seem to be having the desired effect - a very gradual loss of weight.  I only weigh myself on a Monday morning but feel that gives a reasonable pattern rather than a daily system.  The things I have adjusted are cutting my banana intake from two to one per day, severely redicing my consumption of chocolate and sweets, cutting out cakes and (as far as practicable) eating lower calorie ready meals.  There are so many different physiques and weight problems that I hesitate to recommend any particular plan - but any system needs a certain amount of will-power to have any chance of success.

Mike