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