Bits and pieces

No. 21    Sunday 20 November 2011

Oh dear, I'm somewhat overdue in letting you have another blog - just over two weeks since the last one. I cannot think of a good excuse (an unusual occurrence) so I shall just have to say sorry!!

I have resumed my daily music CD so I think that the non-playing (mentioned last time) must've been due to a glitch in my system. I have also been checking up on music which is played differently from what one would normally expect. There is a surprising amount, varying from gentle variations to vocals provided to tunes which were normally non-vocal e.g. Flanders and Swann's ‘Ill Wind’ which is based on Mozart’s Horn Concerto. A fairly extreme CD has been produced by Kenny Ball where he musically does traditional jazz variations of 15 traditional British tunes.

On Wednesday, as it was cold, I decided to take a taxi to do my shopping. Because I was taking a taxi I decided to try shopping at another supermarket, and the one which came to mind was ASDA. I had not been there before but with their advertising and regularly full car park I was expecting something special. My expectations were at fault. In some respects they were not as good as Morrison’s although having a clothes shop attached was a definite help because I wanted another large T-shirt. They also had Christmas cards in stock, which settled that problem for this year. I do not think I will bother to go there again unless there is something I specifically need.

The difficulties I was having with the timings of the carers who put my socks and shoes on (see blog 19) seem to have been resolved, at least for now. I have even been getting a copy of my schedule each week so my discussions with the boss were not wasted. I have been having a variety of carers, but I don't mind that, it means someone different to talk to if only for the short time they are here. Next week it looks as if I have settled down to my normal two carers - individually on different days, but at times which are convenient to me. I must contact their supervisor sometime soon to get the OK for them to do a few extra jobs on a couple of Tuesdays in December because the lady who does my cleaning and bed changing is going to be on holiday. I can manage without the cleaning, and the district nurses will change my leg bag, but changing the bed is way beyond my capability.

Looking at the pile of paper on my printer I really will have to do something about sorting it out. Every now and again I have a session of going through accumulated paper and dumping or shredding stuff I don't want to keep. This time, with the size of the pile, I think it is somewhat overdue. Back in the early days of computing it was claimed that computers would reduce the amount of paper used - that seems not to have happened, in fact more seems to be generated. Of course I am as guilty as anybody by printing off things which, I suppose could be filed on the computer and in addition things which I receive could be scanned in for filing. My reason for not doing this is that a computer is not 100% reliable and there is always the remote risk that a breakdown could render important items inaccessible. With constant electronic developments, both in software and hardware, and with human error always a possibility, I can't see any improvement in the situation in the future.

 
Mike

More complaints

No 20    Friday 4 November 2011

Autumn is suddenly here with a vengeance, the temperature’s dropping, it's been raining on and off and the evenings are getting dark early. In fact I don't know if it is autumn or winter and it is at times like these that I wish I was back overseas again!! I still miss the mere hour and a half difference in the onset of evening between summer and winter, also the temperature which was significantly warmer than we have here and the rain which was much more sparse.

I don't know what has happened, but whereas I used to play a CD each morning after getting up (using it as ’wallpaper music’), for the last week I have not played them at all. This is not because I have played them so many times that I know all the tunes because there is far too big a selection for me to remember especially with my memory. I think it is just a combination of a change of routine and a dislike of the time of year.

Time is creeping on and soon I will be due to go Christmas card shopping, which is always a major task for me. I rather hope that Morrison’s has as good a selection as they had last year Apart from getting the cards I also have to stock up on stamps and print off the address labels - and once that is done they have to be signed and put in the envelopes. With the reduced ability in my hands this is a bit of a job but I think, as far as the signing is concerned, I shall do the same as last year and put a signature on labels by printing it off on the computer.

Tomorrow is firework night and completes my first two years in my bungalow. As far as I can think I have completed all the alterations and modifications that I wanted or that occurred to me after first moving in. At least it is easy for me to cope with in the wheelchair, even things like pulling the curtains are power operated. The only problem is that I hope I never get a long power cut because I am so dependent upon electrically operated gadgets. The wheelchairs have their own batteries which are rechargeable at various intervals and run for a few days when charged, also the front door has a battery standby which is kept charged automatically but my bed runs straight off the mains and I make use of its various facilities quite a lot.

Normally I leave my televisions tuned to the BBC News 24 but whenever I turn either of them on these days, the news seems to be depressing so I rapidly switch to something else (most of the time). Fortunately I am able to find out what is on the various programmes by checking an Internet site. This avoids me having to go and buy a paper or magazine, which I would have difficulty holding anyway.

Mike