Wishing everyone a Happy New Year

Reply to Chinadogs

 Chinadogs. Steve has no concept of how upsetting his behaviour is. He is very unkind and hurtful but if I try to explain, he cannot grasp why I am upset.

The article I shared previously was also about a stroke survivor, it's not that rare unfortunately but mainly seems to affect men!

When I find his behaviour completely unacceptable I tell him, calmly. There is no point getting upset as he just gets defensive and angry.

I have to admit that I mostly step back and ignore him, he has had friends comment on his behaviour, his friends, not mine. But he always has an excuse.

I assume this is his basic personality and maybe he tempered his 'honesty' to appear more acceptable, who knows? According to some Drs this isn't a known side effect of having a stroke but to the staff at the stroke club we used to attend, it's actually very common.

That's it for another year

DS1 and his GF have just left, it was lovely to see them both, it's easier for people to visit now we are on dry land.

We showed them round our new home, which took about 5 minutes. Then we had lunch, I'd bought some nibbles which were all eaten. I can't do a cooked meal easily as we don't yet have a table. They bought me a bunch of roses which are currently sat in my spare kettle as I don't seem to have a vase. I must buy one next time I'm out.

Steve seems to be sulking yet again I have no idea why and zero interest in discovering the reason.

• Merry Christmas everyone. 

Beano

Beano's foot is much improved, getting medication into him is, as usual, a riot. 

He is very suspicious when he is given a treat.

If he does take the treat he is likely to eject the tablet once he discovers it!

I've tried cheese, cheese spread, yoghurt, meat paste, a sweetie and with all these he ate the treat and spat the tablet back out. 

Eventually he took it with a small slice of ham, not packet sliced ham, real ham cut from a joint. Fortunately he only has to take them for five days so our budget should survive!

Beano goes to the vet

Beano visited the vet yesterday as he has a sore on his foot. We saw a lovely vet with blue and green hair. Beano, of course made a huge fuss, especially when the vet trimmed the fur on his foot. Fortunately Jennie came with me as I was struggling to hold Beano still.

The vet cleaned his foot, gave him two injections and two packets of pills. Getting him to take them will be fun!

I shall make Beano wear a shoe when I take him out for walks today. The problem with his foot started because our car park was gritted and the salt got into his foot. Living on a boat meant he'd not encountered gritted pavements before, I shall be more careful in future.

I'm back

I've updated my kindle and I lost my login for blogger and Facebook. I've finally got around to sorting it all out.

Also Beano has got a very sore pad as our car park was covered in salt. As we've spent years living in a boat I didn't realise that Beano has real problems with the grit/salt that is spread around to stop people falling. I will be more careful from now on. Beano has shoes on order and I'm washing his feet regularly. You can imagine how happy he is about  the washing and I don't think he will like the shoes either! It's currently raining so Beano has no interest in going out until it stops.

Steve is as usual extremely grumpy, he hates the rain, winter, the neighbours, the weather, christmas, me, my family, the flat, the food he bought when he went shopping,  yadda, yadda, yadda.

We have a Tesco order arriving today and another piece of furniture, Steve can put it together and carry on complaining!

Kitchen

My kitchen is 5ft by 7.3. So no room for a trolley.

There was one box left to unpack!

 I'd just sat down for a rest when Steve decided to unpack the last box, he told me to come and help.

I told him no, I was taking a breather. I've unpacked every other bloody box!

Cue a major tantrum and stuff in the box thrown away, heyho, hopefully nothing important.

It's bitterly cold today, Steve went into Reading to have a pub breakfast and look for a wall unit to store all his crap. He couldn't find what he wanted.

He's decided we won't have a TV as he can't find a unit he likes to stand it on. I'm not bothered as my eyesight is deteriorating so quickly I wouldn't be able to watch it for long.

He's sulking now, there are people in the summer house, he is complaining that I'm not going to join them and he gave up the boat for nothing. I don't need to spend every waking minute with the neighbours and he'd soon complain if I did. I'm just grateful that the neighbours are friendly and there are things going on that I can join in with.

Do i need a microwave?

Do I need a microwave? I've managed without one for years as there was no room in either of the boats. But Jennie bought me one and it is useful. I'm hoping to persuade Steve to extend the kitchen work surface and then there would be room as my microwave is quite small. Weirdly the work surface in the kitchen only covers part of the wall, it's a very strange layout that I'm hoping to improve on. I know Steve is intending to buy another fridge as he finds it inconvenient having food in the fridge as it limits the amount of beer he fit in.

I'm waiting to hear if Jennie needs me to care for Jojo today Jojo is unwell and has been off school. But Jennie is only allowed two days of paid leave and she's really not in a position to manage without pay. So if Jojo is still unwell I shall go over to sit with her.

Flis, it's hard work caring for someone isn't it, especially when they no longer seen like the person they were.

Thank you all for your kind comments, I do appreciate them and I'm hoping to get more organised and reply more regularly.

Settling in.

We're getting sorted slowly and are down to the last couple of boxes. These have Steve's name on them but if I don't want to be tripping over them into next year I decided I may as well get them unpacked.

Y'day afternoon I saw people gathering in the summer house so I wandered over to introduce my self. It seems they meet most weekday afternoons for a chat and a cuppa. I was made welcome and shall go again.

The rule for pets here is that if you've already got a pet you can bring it with you but you cannot get a new pet once you have moved in. So Beano is ok, he's met a few of the neighbours and so far has been a hit with them. There is a lady with two Bichons and I've seen a beautiful black and white cat in the garden, it looks like Jess from Postman Pat.

I'm making a list of things need, picture hooks come to mind so far. We need to buy blinds for the window as the current curtains cut the bay window off from the rest of the room. Steve wants to buy a unit to keep all his gibble in, I've told him he cannot fill the bay window up otherwise we will look like Steptoe 's junk yard.

Steve is still not happy and moans constantly but then he used to moan and complain when we were on the boat

First pic.

                        The view from the living room window.

                       
                        On the left, other flats in the complex.

On the right, the summer house.

And we're in!

Bob arrived with his camper van just after 9 o'clock he did two trips for us and then had to go to work but he worked really hard. This was good as Steve was struggling a bit, the first trip was ok but he really struggled with the second one.

Bob was very complimentary about our new home, despite Steve complaining about it!

We have a bay window overlooking the garden  which is lovely, it's nicely planted and well kept.

We've unpacked about 75% of our boxes, I'll unpack a couple more boxes once Steve's gone to bed and the rest I'll do in the morning before he gets up.

I know I shall change things around as I get used to living in a smaller area although it's a lot bigger than the boat.

I'll post some pics tomorrow or the day after.

Will we won't we?

Today is moving day, that is as long as Bob remembers as he is moving us! 

He can be a little flakey, Steve told him to get here by 9,  I've no idea why as I can't see Steve getting up before 10!

I don't know how big his camper van is so I don't know how many trips it will take, plus it is a long walk from the car park to the flat.

What will be will be, either way Steve will end up in a strop.

Steve hasn't packed any of his stuff yet, he is of the  the mistaken opinion that he travels light and has very little in the way of belongings. There is a very full double wardrobe and single wardrobe in the bedroom plus drawers. That's just his clothes, all mine fitted in a single drawer and  on three coat hangers!

Almost there.

I'm packing boxes and Beano is stressed, he's not sure what is going on.

Steve is at the new flat and bombarding me with messages, it seems the immersion doesn't work.

Nemmind it will all get sorted eventually.

Bob is moving us tomorrow.

I've no idea how many trips it will take as I've no idea how big his  van is.

Steve is panicking as usual, he's attempting to pay the council tax and electric bill immediately but the place has been empty for 6 months and the electric wasn't turned off. I'd rather approach things slowly and  check them out. Steve thinks we will be evicted if we don't pay the bills before we move in.