Walkies!

Beano gets more walks in the summer than in the winter. It's not the weather, we neither of us mind the cold. It's the shortness of the daylight hours.

I'm not prepared to risk life and limb trying to cross a very busy road in the dark. I do have some hi-vis  clothing but to be honest the cars and lorries whizz past at such speed it would be dangerous.

So after dark Beano and I walk around the nearest close, it's a cul de sac so there is very little traffic. There is also a large patch of grass nearby that Beano can sniff around. I'm sure it's the safest way.

It's Mothers day here in the UK today so there have been lots of cars in and out of the car park. I'd already seen two of my children on Friday and my oldest son messaged me to say he is away but will visit soon.

I'm cooking roast chicken with stuffing, roast potatoes, carrots, sprouts and purple sprouting broccoli. Steve won't eat the vegetables but I will enjoy them.

Out for breakfast.

Beano and I went for breakfast today with my oldest daughter and youngest son.

We go for breakfast rather than lunch as my son has just finished a night shift and wants to go home and go to sleep.

I had my first breakfast at 7 a.m. so I was ready for a second one by 11:30. I took Beano with me as we always go to a dog friendly cafe. I shan't eat again today, I'll just drink lots of tea and water.

I wore my dog walking hoodie and put it on the floor for Beano who soon snuggled down and snoozed until the food arrived. I had the small cooked breakfast, it comes with a sausage that I shared with Beano.

The Tesco shop was delivered whilst I was out so Steve put most of it away and left my stuff on the kitchen surface for me to put away.

My daughter gave me a bunch of daffodils which I've put in the same vase as the ones from Waitrose that Betty gave me yesterday.

ITV are showing Endeavour every afternoon, I watch it most days, before this they showed David Jason in  A Touch of Frost and then Morse with John Thaw.

Steve has started going to the summer house most afternoons so I mainly go on Wednesday's for the quiz. My hearing has deteriorated a lot so I find conversation difficult.

Being careful.

We are tenants in common with a 50/50 share. Steve can leave his share to whomever he wishes, as can I but the property cannot be sold until both of us are dead. Neither can anyone move in if Steve dies.

I suppose, in theory that someone could try to bully me into selling up before I wanted to, but these flats are difficult to sell and their price is dropping all the time. I'm not sure it would be worth anyone's effort.

I'm not an easy person to bully, I'm not easily intimidated. Also I could ask my family for help if I really needed to.

As I said, I took legal advice from a solicitor who came highly recommended by a family member.

Highly recommended.

When we purchased this flat I used a highly recommended solicitor. I wasn't well and Steve was in a full on sulk because we'd sold the boat. I had suggested he stay on the boat and I'd move to a flat but this didn't suit. I'm assuming he realised he couldn't manage the boat alone.

The flat is jointly owned, we purchased it as tenants in common, so there can't be any problems. 

I keep putting off talking to Steve about his behaviour, partly because he is never wrong and he gets so hysterical so easily but I  needed to nail him to the floor and find out what's going on. He's definitely a few sandwiches short of a picnic so I have  no idea what the problem is

Ouch, I've got a stiffy

Finger that is, it's my index finger so I look like I'm admonishing someone. It would be worse if it was my middle finger.

Steve's behaviour continues strange, he wants to change his will though I'm not sure in who's favour. I need to find a way to.protect myself. I can afford this flat on my pension as I'm very careful with my money. 

I'm looking forward to Friday when I'm seeing my youngest son and oldest daughter, we're eating out, a Mother's Day treat. I can take Beano with me so Steve will not have a chance to scupper the plans.  Hopefully I'll be contacted by my other son and daughter at around the same time.

Silence.

Today will be a day mainly of silence for me.

Steve will be watching the Grand Prix I will remove my hearing aids and read a book.

I've had a lovely treat this morning, whilst I was washing up I noticed a Jay taking advantage of a bag of peanuts that had fallen from one of the branches.

When I looked out the living room window I spotted a Wren in one of my hanging baskets. I know there are Wrens nearby but this is the first one I've seen close up.

Its not a "me" problem.

It took me a while to realise that's Steve's personality changed dramatically after his stroke.

All the problems he now has, he attributes to me.

Faced with an unending deluge of complaints I tried very hard to make thing easier for him, but nothing worked.

Eventually I realised that nothing I did helped, partly because Steve was enjoying his misery.

I stopped trying to help, unkind, I know but I don't have the temperament to be his whipping boy.

If being unkind and spiteful to me is what gets him through the day, that a "him" problem. It's not a "me" problem.

There is no sun today and it's chilly, not gardening weather, this means Steve is in a sulk.

I've treated myself to a new book and will start to read it.

Cooking for one.

Steve's been hinting that he'd like me to take up the reins and start cooking again every day.

I have started cooking Sunday roast as I lost patience with Steve's attempts. A joint is far too expensive to waste by ignoring the cooking instructions and then sobbing as the meat is still raw at midnight, I like to eat by 6 o'clock at the latest and not at 10:30 at night.

This week I sliced the remains of the beef joint and have frozen it for another Sunday. All the small pieces I turned into a beef stew.

I've ordered a couple of glass dishes with plastic lids, if they are ok I'll order a couple more. Once these arrive the plan is to make cottage pie, my way! When my children were small and money was tight I used to add onion, grated carrots, frozen peas, oats and lentils to stretch a small amount of mince into a large cottage pie. Due to Steve's food issues I stopped adding things to my cottage pie. Hopefully I can now get back to my way of cooking even though I know Steve won't eat it.

Violets.

There are violets growing in profusion in the verges and crevices of the low walls. They are so pretty,  tiny and delicate.

The sight of them cheers me up when I'm out with Beano.

Steve mood is very variable, he got up early for him, 9:30 two days running and seemed quite cheerful. Then he was back to staying in bed until 11:30 and being bad-tempered all day. Has something or someone be upset him or is it just his usual temperament? I shall just plod on, ignoring him as much as possible. 

Economy drive.

Yesterday Steve decided to turn the storage heater in the living room off, it's the only heater in the flat!

He also turned off two of the the hot water cylinders, I had a shower first thing this morning, our shower runs off yet another water heater.

We had a heated but brief discussion when Steve got up this morning and the water cylinders and storage heater were turned back on!

A over T.

Bugger, walking Beano this morning and I managed to trip. I ended up sprawled on the grass. I had great difficulty getting up.

Beano had spotted our neighbour with her dogs on the other side of the road. Beano and I walked across the road so the dogs could say hello. Unfortunately I misjudged the height of the grass verge and ended up sprawled across it.

I had great difficulty getting up. I wasn't hurt but all three dogs seemed to think I was stretched out on the grass as I wanted to play! They were bouncing around me with great enthusiasm.

I eventually regained my balance and stood up, then we had to untangle the three leads, all three dogs were on extending leads.

We eventually managed to untangle the dogs and their leads and  I returned home. All seemed well, I've enough fat covering me plus I was wearing my padded winter coat. I've had a fairly busy day, I went for lunch with Betty at her bowls club, came home, then took Beano out for a walk and then went to the summer house.

When I got home I sat on the sofa and dropped off to sleep, something I do fairly regularly. Unfortunately I fell asleep with my legs curled under me, not a good idea. Oh boy were my knees stiff and painful when I woke up. A quick stretch and wriggle and they have eased. I went to the bedroom to find some painkillers but realised once I'd found them that my knees had stopped hurting.

I really need to be less of a klutz, at 73 you'd think I should have mastered the art of walking!

Filling the freezer.

It's been a difficult week for Steve, he's had to get up by 9:30 every day, instead of 11 o'clock. He's taking his blood pressure repeatedly throughout the day and getting wound up as it keeps getting higher. Today he's gone into town to meet up with his friend in a pub.

I'm making the most of the new fridge freezer, it's so much bigger than the one before.

I got used to managing with a very small inefficient fridge on the boat and when we moved here there was a very old fridge freezer in the kitchen. It was old and also not very efficient. I'm making the most of the new one, I've made a big bowl of salad, enough to last a couple of days and I've just had some of it with a hard boiled egg.

I've checked my cupboards and found a tin each of tuna and one of salmon. I always have eggs and cheese in the fridge and mayo in so salad every day it is.

The supermarket delivery will be here tomorrow so I've ordered some white fish fillets and some chicken for me. Steve will order more of his food I'm sure so the freezer will soon be full.

It's arrived.

Flis, the new fridge freezer has arrived, it's been sat in the kitchen waiting for the gas to settle. It's three hours now so I've turned it on, now I need to wait for it to get cold before I fill it. It's a lot bigger than the old one, which was here when we moved in.

Mudgekin, lovely to see you, sorry you are going through it with your husband's health. It's a hard road to travel as I know only too well.

I was supposed to be meeting my daughter for lunch today but one of her children is unwell so she has had to cancel. I've not seen her for a while, she broke a bone in her foot so couldn't drive.

I went to the summer house to join in with the quiz, I do love a quiz. I know all sorts of useless information but fail dismally on questions about TV programmes as I so rarely watch them.

I am going for lunch on Friday with Betty which will be nice, we are having fish and chips.

Raining this morning.

So although I've taken Beano out for his morning walk it was very brief, he has rushed out, had a few widdles and rushed home.

The rain also means Steve will be in a strop all day, nemmind.

My first job every morning, whilst the waiting for the kettle to boil, is to mop the floor in  front of the fridge. I've known for a while that the fridge/freezer is on its last legs, it was in the flat when we moved here.

I kept meaning to mention it to Steve but often didn't bother as I assumed it would result in him having a strop. However when I did tell Steve he immediately measured the fridge and started the process of ordering one.

The first problem is size, our kitchen is tiny and we can't find a fridge/freezer that will fit in the space the current one takes. If we order one slightly taller, the cupboard above it will be too high for me to reach. I will also have to lose a few inches of the shelf that currently butts up against the side of the fridge.

We finally chose a fridge/freezer and placed the order, it will be here on Wednesday. I need to get the old one emptied, defrosted and wiped over before then.

Oh well, first world problems and all that. Not to worry, I'll manage!

Plodding on.

We've had a few very cold days but warmer weather is due soon, it's been bright and sunny which is nice.

One of the residents was admitted to hospital, she's had a stroke and won't be returning here.

Her flat is on the market for £120,000, Steve is having conniptions as the prices here are dropping. He didn't want to move here, he wanted to stay in the Airbnb that was costing us an arm and a leg!

I'm not sure what he expects, he's one of these people who thinks everything he owns is worth double the market value and then gets aggrieved when his things don't sell.

Morning dog walk.

This morning's walk was very sociable, the sunshine seems to have brought lot's of people out.

I pass some very pretty gardens on this walk, one has little elephants, temples and coloured stones to form a river. I always stop to admire it and this morning the house owner was by their car ready to go shopping. I told him how much I liked his garden, he seemed pleased.

There is someone I see who walks a Bernese Mountain dog, I crossed the road as I could see he was getting close. He called out to me, he thought I was afraid, telling me that his dog was friendly. I explained that I was not afraid but that Beano was not a fan of big dogs and would no doubt start to growl.

I met two other dog walkers with their small dogs, Beano was quite happy to socialise with them.