June Catch Up

I had a couple more attempts at the spliced with Steve this month – one with Pete and Muffie and one with Margaret and Peter B both unsuccessful but at least I rang quite well which was good for my confidence as I was beginning to feel I was not up to it.  Finally on 25th I scored a nice peal of it with David M, Chris and Mark – although there were some hairy moments I felt I knew what I was doing throughout and was even able to stay on the lines when others tripped, so at last I feel I can actually claim to be able to do it!

At the beginning of the month I went back down to Devon for a couple of weeks - enjoying mixed weather.  We had some good days but others were torrid with 24 hours of rain and 60 mph winds on one of the days.  Still it saves watering the garden.  The gardeners have planted some plants at the back which look lovely but need watering each day if dry.  Also Jayne had done me some pots for the patio which also need watering.  It all looks very nice at the moment - sort of instant garden - and I am hoping it stays that way at least until the ringers have been in July.  

I had some nice walks as usual and enjoyed some evenings in with Jayne drinking wine and watching films/tv.  We were struggling to find things to watch, and the digibox recorder seems to be on its last legs, so we have invested in a Chromecast which I set up and which now allows us to watch stuff on iPlayer through the tablet.  I was a bit miffed to find the other catch up services like ITV player aren’t available, but iPlayer at least gives us more choice.

I spent a very long hour in the bank on the Monday.  It shouldn't have taken so long - I just wanted to consolidate my accounts and Mary's accounts and get the best rate.  However the computer system they use is very long winded, and the young guy was trying to do things quickly and get round some of the obstacles, and ended up closing Mary's ISA leaving the 20,000 odd in limbo!  Then of course he had to try and get it back into an ISA without losing its status and without using this year's allowance.  In the end I left him to sort everything out as we were both losing the will to live.

I spent the first Saturday morning on my hands and knees up the tower scrubbing paint off the floor with a washing up sponge/scourer!  There were two of us (me and Roy) and we were at it for nearly three hours.  It looked absolutely great when we had finished - but my wrists were very painful afterwards.   However it earned me lots of brownie points with the band.  The whole ringing room has been painted and refurbished with new noticeboards and a beautiful thick wooden marquetry shelf (on which they then placed the hideous old computer monitor complete with dirt and dust - aaggh).  This was all in preparation for the Deanery striking competition the following Saturday. I was supposed to have been attending the North Devon Handbell Rally but the Moretonhampstead ringers had decided not to go in the end because the previous one had been so boring!  So at least I could do something to help as my early departure on the previous visit had meant I had missed the tower clean and painting day.

The Deanery striking competition was a nice afternoon – the weather was good so people were able to sit around in the churchyard.  We put two teams in and were drawn first and twelfth!  I got there early to help set up the teas and then after ringing in the first team went home for a couple of hours before going back for the tea and service.  I then popped back home again before going back for the final ringing.   We came 11th and 12th respectively, out of 13.  Luckily Jayne was there to look after Suki.

LtoR: Ann, Lisa, Rowena, Diane

Tea and cake for those not having tea!

The table still groaning with food AFTER everyone had taken a plateful!

The following day I helped out at a Plain Bob Minor handbell day held at Mischa’s house in Okehampton.  I got there in time for lunch this year, and had the most amazing pastie.  I was able to purchase a couple of them to take home at the end.  The sessions last for about half an hour at a time and then all the groups rearrange.  The schedule looks like something out of Cluedo - the rooms being listed at the top (conservatory, living room, dining room, hall, etc) and the groups below at half hourly intervals.  Last time I found I was expected to be able to call and keep the learner right (somewhat beyond me but it didn't seem to matter) but this time there were few learners and I was always with someone else who could take the lead.

Jayne found a job working at Finlake holiday park doing cleaning - three days a week!  So she has four days off a week.  This meant we were able to spend lots of time together, shopping, eating out and clearing more stuff out.  We didn’t get as far as assembling the garden bench, but we did do lots of useful stuff.  We went to the café at the garden centre twice – and I got some jars of hazelnut coffee which is delicious in hot milk. We had Sunday lunch at Pink’s Place, and on the last Friday we had dinner at the farm café at Parke.  This was quite an experience – everyone had to be there by 7.30 which is when it was served.  It was a three course meal with coffee for £20 a head.  The food was very good – but I felt a bit overstuffed by my lamb pie which had rather a lot of pastry and as a result felt decidedly below par by the end of the evening as it was also rather hot and stuffy in the café.  Once I was out in the fresh air I felt better.

I bought another Dolce Gusto machine for Devon – this time from Amazon.  The first one that arrived was faulty and I had to quickly retrieve all the packing from the recycling boxes and send it back.  The second one was fine and I stocked up on capsules at the same time.  I also splashed out on a couple of latte glasses from Trago.

I went to Moretonhampstead handbells both weeks – the first week I made them up to a full band as Joyce was away (Doreen is now back ringing with them) but the second week we were 13 with me, Doreen and Barbara all available!  Jean had rearranged the tables to accommodate us and I rang some of the top bells while Doreen doubled up on 9-10 with her own bells so we could all ring and it was a really enjoyable evening.

I didn’t do as much walking as I would have liked as Suki hurt her paw at the end of the first week.  She jumped out of the car at Bovey Valley Woods and then started limping so badly I took her straight back home.  Moorgate vets didn’t seem keen to see her but advised bathing in salt water and getting a bootee to wear when she goes out.  I got one from the pet shop and did as they advised.  She did not like wearing the bootee and put on a pained expression whenever I put it on her and kept trying to flip it off as she was walking (often successfully!).  She also kept licking and biting at it so in the end I went home on Monday rather than Tuesday as I was able to get a vet’s appointment in London for the Tuesday morning.  I used the cone at home to stop her licking it – which resulted in more pathetic looks and resigned expressions.

The vet said she had a nasty infection and put her on antibiotics and gave me some shampoo to wash her foot in every day.  It seemed to get a little better over the next few days and I was in two minds as to whether to take her walking with Maryanne and Mary on 15th, but in the end I took her along as I couldn’t bear to leave her behind.  The bootee stayed on the whole time – even when she paddled around in muddy puddles – and after an initial reluctance she seemed to forget about it and was actually walking better at the end than at the beginning.  The weather was excellent and we had a lovely morning doing the Piddington walk – finishing with lunch at the Dashwood Arms.  Lovely food but we had rather a long wait as they had to go out and buy some salad!

However when the vet found out about the 6-mile walk he told me off and said I should be treating Suki like an invalid and only going for “toilet walks”. He changed the antibiotics and told me to wash the foot twice a day.  Suki took a violent dislike to the new pills and would not touch any food where she could detect them – I even tried grinding them one day.  So I had to resort to putting them down the back of her throat – more torture for her.

I invested some time into tweaking the Middx Ringers Membership Database to streamline the process of checking through old reports and identifying the members listed.  This gives each member a personal Report history, and hopefully at the end of the exercise the database will list all the members who have been elected since the war.  I was very pleased with the improvements I made – cutting down on the checking process and the keystrokes, and then I did a couple of years’ worth of reports to test the system.  I was able to do one year’s report in three hours from start to finish – whereas before it was taking me three days! I am now back to 1986/87 - which is the report with Mike's first peal in it (and his second, third, fourth …….)!

Suki and I were both suffering from cabin fever after several days of short walks, but luckily the foot began to be lots better by the end of the month. Southfields park has an area which has been sewn with wild flowers - they must have sown it as last year it was just thistles and weeds.  It looks lovely at the moment - but of course now they have had to put up notices pleading with people not to pick the flowers as they are there for the enjoyment of all.  People!!!!

Scored a reasonably decent handbell peal of 4xspliced on 3-4 at last – with David M (C), Mark H and Chris O’Mahony.  There were a few hairy moments but I was generally ok and felt happy with my ringing.  So at least that gremlin has been overcome.

Had supper with Pru and Caroline at Café Rouge – and used a Clubcard voucher to get a £40 discount.

Went to Andrew HS 70th birthday party at a rowing club near Hammersmith Bridge.  Mike and I went after ringing at Barnes – whereas everyone else simply missed the ringing. It was a good do and I did my best to enjoy the jazz and have F U N – not complaining too much at Mike having a third pint which kept us there until nearly midnight. 

Went to a Summer Sings event at Goldsmiths – Haydn The Creation.  It was a
good sing through – including some of the solos – although there wasn’t much interest for the altos.  There was wine and cake on sale, and coffee was included in the ticket price.

Continued to visit Keith about once a week and help with errands, washing etc.

June 27th – Farewell Concert Day.  Cooked the Waitrose canapés in the morning – knocking the first tray over as I put them in the oven.  Luckily they landed on the oven door and I could reshape them and cook them anyway.  Suki went off with Lee and Emma for the night. My Freedom Pass arrived – rather appropriate for my last performance with Chiswick Choir (at least for the foreseeable future).  Rehearsal and concert went well.  I had a good seat and a good sing. Alistair had arranged for everyone to have a floral corsage – and we had an official photo taken before the concert with us wearing them.   Stuck to hot water with honey and lemon throughout – but hit the red wine afterwards.  There was lots of food and plenty of wine and it was a really nice evening.  We finished off at Caroline’s for some cheese and bread and another glass of wine.  Got to bed at 1 am.

28th – met up with John and Gill in Asda and went to the crem with flowers.  Quite a few changes including long rose avenue.  We were all struck by the number of blank spaces on the memorial boards in the Room of Remembrance.  Afterwards we went for lunch at the Green Man at the top of Putney Hill. Excellent roast beef dinner.  I then went to pick up Lorraine from Heathrow Airport – she had been away for the weekend doing the three peaks challenge. They did Ben Nevis ok, but she was suffering with painful knees and had to turn round on Scafell Pike.  The weather was so bad on Snowdon the whole group had to turn round when they were half way up.  It was hot, sunny and humid in London – although there was one short rain shower.

Loraine (far right) on Snowdon