Run up to Christmas
My diary was very full for the next few weeks right up until Christmas, and I didn't get back to the gym and fitness classes for the rest of the year. I did however renew my membership, and book up for a refresher session in the gym in the new year. I also purchased a leg-master and a v-fit stepper which I had seen advertised on Gumtree. I drove over to Hillingdon to get them on a very cold miserable Saturday morning,and nearly gave up when I couldn't get any answer at the door. However just as I was setting off back home the guy rang me up and I went back for them. I was very pleased as they were in good condition and a bargain at £40 for the two.
24th Nov - UL Dinner which was once again at Brown's, Old Jewry. Always fun and this year the food was good too! I had an excellent steak - I think the better choice as Mike's fish was a bit tasteless. I sloped off for a snooze among the coats while the disco was on and we went home by pre-arranged taxi at 11 pm, so it was not too late by the time we got to bed.
25th Nov - the first of the Christmas handbell rehearsals. Newcomers this year were Jinny (from St Nicks Choir) and John (aged 90 from Cantanti). Sophie couldn't do it this year so I rang 3-4.
26th Nov - Mike picked up his new car. Electric seats (heated) this time - and very whizzy satnav screen. So nice to have everything working on this one, especially the bluetooth connection for my phone, after three years of a cracked touch screen that didn't work! Despite the damage to the old car Mike got a good condition bonus because it had all been caused by the wheelchair and thus was reasonable wear and tear!
27th Nov - coffee with Muffie in the morning. I went over to her house with my knitting machine and we were joined by her friend Cathy who gave me a tutorial to get me started. I produced my first bit of knitting - only about 10 rows of 20 stitches but it was quite thrilling! Handbells with the Southwark band in the evening - failed to ring a peal of Yorkshire. I left my gloves behind!
28th Nov - took my car in for a service and had a long talk with the new car salesman about leasing and personal contract plans, plus a look round some new Fiestas. We even built one online to my specification! Very impressed with the new satnav and screen, through which a phone can be connected via bluetooth and the phone screen shows on the car screen thus enabling the driver to use google maps using the satnav screen. Didn't like the way it stuck up in the middle of the front of the car though. Lots to think about and I'm not going to rush it this time. Handbells in the evening at Bermondsey with Mike where we failed to ring a peal of Rutland major with me on 3-4 but we did ring a QP - Mike's first of Rutland in hand. It was our last chance to ring a peal at that venue as James was giving up his flat the next day.
29th Nov - took Suki to the vets in the morning as she had been limping since the beginning of the month. He suggested x-rays, which required her to be sedated, and lumped in more PRP treatment plus teeth cleaning. Booked her in for the following week. In the evening went for supper with Caroline and Pru - at 5 pm because Pru had double booked and needed to be back in Islington by 7.30! Very nice meal at Tas - including baklava for dessert.
30th Nov - the much sought-after DHL advent calendar arrived! A Lindt chocolate in every box.
I rang in the QP at Barnes in the evening - Sophie's first on 8
1st Dec - Chiswick Choir concert. Haydn Nelson Mass and Faure Requiem. I enjoyed this concert - the choir made a good sound and the music was very much to my taste. We went to Cotes afterwards with Tim and Sarah which was very enjoyable. I had a lovely steak frites. We weren't too late to bed either because the concert had finished at 9.15.
2nd Dec - there was a power cut at Grande Maison so we had to go to Arte Chef and have a croissant. Matthew Higby was at Barnes - having recently installed the first Dumb Bell. Mike felt unwell - only ate a small amount of lunch and then went upstairs for a snooze. Handbell rehearsal at St Denys - and then instead of going to the Advent Carol Service he came home with me and went to bed with a lemsip and slept for 13 hours through until 8 am the following morning (and then felt much better!).
3rd Dec - went walking with Kath and Maryanne. We met at Pulpit Hill Car park in the pouring rain, but it soon dried up and stayed that way for the rest of the walk. I kept an eye on the route with my phone app and a couple of times it proved useful in either bringing us back on route, or in devising a diversion to avoid cows! I felt I struggled a bit with my fitness - possibly because I hadn't been to a class since October - and also expended a lot of nervous energy on the long slippery descents along the way, one of which I could only negotiate by clinging to a fence the whole way down! I also managed to fall over! I was very glad that Maryanne had decided to shorten it by cutting off a steep up and down at the end. We had a nice sandwich lunch at dog friendly The Plough at Cadsden, and, as we had passed right past the front door on the walk, we agreed it would be a good place from which to start when doing it with the Ramblers.
4th Dec - took Suki to the vets for 8.45 am admission. She was there all day. At 3.15 they phoned to say she was still sedated but they were going to do an extra procedure to remove the growth from her face. There was silence thereafter until they phoned at 6.30 to ask if I was on my way! I picked her up in the car because she was too groggy to walk. The bill was £2080! She had to wear a head cone - to stop her scratching the stitches on her face - but this one was much better than the previous white plastic one. It was much softer and slipped easily over her head to put it on. She didn't think much to it though, and it took a lot of heart hardening not to take it off.
6th Dec - finished the 2-page version of my Christmas Newsletter ready to send off to the printers once Mike had seen it. Finally scored the peal of Rutland at Guys with me on 5-6 - even though Caroline had been feeling under par and I was feeling guilty for leaving Suki alone wearing the head cone, and we hadn't thought we had much of a chance. We had one false start so it was quite late by the time I got home. Suki was fine though.
7th Dec - handbells at Steve's in the morning. We failed to ring a peal of Lincolnshire Royal, but did ring a long length QP based on the last part of the peal, which went encouragingly well. We rang handbells in the high street in Barnes in the evening with teenage girls from the youth group (who were irritatingly silly - but probably just being teenage girls) organised by the youth worker (a young guy - which probably enhanced the silliness of the girls). It was very cold, but they weren't wearing gloves and refused to do up their coats because it wasn't "fashionable"! They held the bells in the wrong hands, and relied heavily on pointing, but the tunes were mainly recognisable. They played Jingle Bells incredibly slowly and wouldn't ring O Little Town at all because it was too hard. So we circled through a small number of carols many times which was mind-numbingly boring - and there were great gaps between each carol. I rang the accidentals (loudly and on time whatever else was happening!) - Mike rang 7-8 and Judy rang 9-10 so there was at least some stability in the band.
8th Dec -got up early to go to Macken's and buy some meat for the Cantanti lunch the next day. Drove to Carolyn's to exchange Christmas presents with John, who was there for the weekend, and also Leanne, who had come over with the boys for the day. It was good to see everyone again - first time since Butlins. I gave Leanne the baby afghan for Aidan - she was really pleased with it. We had pizza for lunch, and watched the Butlin's DVD in the afternoon. Long tedious drive back! Watched the DVD again in the evening with Mike!9th Dec - Cantanti Christmas lunch. Everything went well - the meal was cooked nicely - the lamb was really tender - and it was all keeping warm in the oven with the greasy stuff washed up and put away when they stopped ringing. Even the crumble I had made turned out ok (I had a shop-bought cheesecake ready as a back up). We had our own handbell rehearsal in the evening.
11th Dec -Kettering Christmas lunch. Drove to Beryl's in the morning. Took 30 minutes to get past Hanger Lane. Traffic problems all over the place - ended up going up the M40 and then across to Northampton. Over 20 miles longer and took two and a half hours but at least I was moving the whole time. Lunch was at the Thornhill Arms in Rushton. It was good value at £15 for two courses or £18 for 3, but nothing very special (especially considering the reputation it used to have for excellent food). I had prawn cocktail followed by turkey dinner - both of which were edible but average. The salted caramel tart afterwards was excellent, but I had the last one so even there they disappointed. They failed to take the £40 deposit off and I had to query the bill and they went off to investigate. She returned without a word to me and started tapping away at the till - and produced a reduced bill. Very uncommunicative. Had a nice long chat with Beryl and Chris back at her place afterwards - until 11 pm. I took my fleece and duvet with me so that I could sleep on top of the bed and not dirty the sheets. Left early the next morning, 8.30 am, to get back to Suki as Mike was going to work.
13th Dec - Suki had her stitches out - didn't even flinch!
14th Dec - handbell rehearsal for concert in aid of the Shooting Star charity, involving ex members of Cantanti. Luckily I wasn't needed.
15th Dec - Mike was out at Barnes in the morning and the concert rehearsal, performance, and post concert pizza for the rest of the day. It was such awful weather in the afternoon that I didn't take Suki out for a walk. I finally finished the Christmas Cards! Posted the ones that needed posting and sent out all the emails - I had also put together an embellished version of the two-page newsletter and could include a link to it in the emails.
16th Dec - went back to St Nicks at 11.45 for the choir practice only to find it was up two flights of stairs so Mike couldn't get to it. There was a Christmas Fair going on in the church until 2 pm so he waited for me there. We sang "And the Glory" twice! which was something of a bonus. We had a jacket potato for lunch in church afterwards and bought some bread and scotch eggs for later. Mike went to a concert in the evening - Christmas Oratorio conducted by Stephen Gregson (ex conductor of Cantanti) but I stayed in the warm.
17th Dec - seemed to have run out of things to do, so feeling that I must have forgotten something. Booked NEFF engineer to fix microwave in Devon - and incensed to find out they deemed it to be out of warranty because I purchased it on 1 November. I told Sparkworld - who were very helpful and tried to resolve the issue through their NEFF rep.
18th Dec - catalogued contents of both freezers, which are jammed full at the moment. Still feeling I must have forgotten something. Mike rang a peal for Dennis's birthday - a rerun of the one they failed to get at the time - which was Mike's 100th as conductor. Made a start on updating WinRk for the year.
19th Dec - cleared all the admin and paperwork and resulting shredding. Walked to Charing Cross Hospital for routine appointment which was good for the steps total - but made me somewhat sweaty for the breast scanning machine! Finished updating WinRk. Bell and Crown dinner in the evening. Very convivial - and very expensive! Mike and I shared main course fish and chips and a sweet (brulee) - there were sharing platters for starters but as usual these were pretty scanty, and we had a couple of drinks each, and the cost was £45 each! But it was a nice evening and nice to see the Chiswick Choir crowd again. The singing was good this year, and we sang things that people would know! (ie not Past 6-oclock!)
20th Dec - I was supposed to be walking with Maryanne today and then going up to Guy's for handbells, but both were cancelled due to people having colds. Maryanne was full of cold when I talked to her on the phone and we both agreed she should stay in the warm and try and shake it off before her trip to Dorset (and that I didn't want to catch it!). So I had a great day all to myself.
21st Dec - had health check followed by doctor's appointment re sore heel (at last). Health check had me as inactive again because the questions are only about what activity was undertaken in the last week (one of which was "gardening" which is unlikely in the middle of December!). When I told her what my usual level of activity was she decided to take it into account. Slightly high cholesterol so likely to be a follow up appointment for "advice" etc. Probably won't happen anyway. Doctor was about 25 and drop dead gorgeous. He confirmed heel problem was not plantar faciitis, which is a relief, and diagnosed probably an inflamation being aggravated. He prescribed some gel and lots of rest! (Fat chance). Gel turned out to be made by Voltarol. It certainly seemed to work and I noticed an improvement over Christmas. Got sandwiches from Munchies for lunch - and he plied me with free chocolate bars and beer to take away to thank me for my support.
22nd Dec - Lorraine came over to see me in the morning, and she helped me collect two bedside cabinets from the shop at the top of the road. I used the money from the BT reward cards, plus my Bovey wedding money, so technically they didn't cost me anything! They are destined for my bedroom in Devon. Went to Cantanti Christmas concert in the evening with Monica - which took a while to get going but very enjoyable. Mike and co rang a QP of Cooktown Orchid Delight Major before the concert - which is apparently the method of the moment. I had a glass of white wine in the interval to be sociable - my first drink since having deliberately gone on the wagon for a week to see
if it made any difference to my sleep/weight/muggy headedness (I'm pleased to say it didn't so no need to give up alcohol in the near future!). I went home with Monica but Mike went to the party and got in about 1 am.
23rd Dec - the usual manic day. Mike was playing the organ in the morning while I did the usual rounds of church and ringing. I walked Suki up to Linda's when I got in and walked back which was good for the steps. There was a handbell rehearsal at 2 pm, which we did in the church - it didn't go particularly well but we just had to hope. John had dropped out after dislocating a shoulder in a fall, so at least there was only Jinny who was new. Choir practice was at 3 pm followed by the Nine Lessons and Carols service at 6 pm. I missed a whole line out in one of the carols and actually managed to throw Roy, but otherwise it went really well and I had a jolly good sing. We had to forgo the mulled wine and mince pies afterwards to dash straight round to the convent to perform carols on handbells for the residents. Jinny got lost a lot, but always seemed to end with a flourish at the right time. No-one seemed to notice or mind. We had a quick mulled wine and mince pie there before going off to pick up Suki at 8.50. It was pouring with rain and not very nice at all.
