My poor hands

My left hand is stiff and  sore all the way up to my shoulder. It's from hanging on to Beano's lead when we were visiting our boater friends on Wednesday.

Beano took great exception to the cyclists whizzing along the tow path. Slow bikes he is fine with, he will ignore them but not the cyclists who hammer along at great speed expecting everyone to leap out of their way.

For some reason, today my right hand is now also stiff  and sore, but this is only my in my hand, my arm and shoulder are fine.

I've taken a paracetamol so I'm sure it will soon be better.

On Friday morning the new resident stopped me, she wanted to make a complaint. I suppose it was only a matter of time before she got round to me. She has complained about many things since she arrived. She complained about Beano. It seems he disturbed her on Wednesday by barking non-stop all day. Whilst I'll admit Beano did bark a lot on Wednesday he was 5 or 6 miles from our flat visiting our friends on the narrow boat.

Next time there is somebody here from the housing association I will speak to them and explain that we were not on site at the time the resident claims she heard Beano barking for hours.  I expect she did hear a dog barking, there are quite a few around and some of them are very vocal.

A day out.

Yesterday we went to visit friends of ours, they live in their narrow boat and were moored nearby.

We have not seen them for a few years as they have been travelling both by boat and in their campervan.

It was lovely to see them and we had a BBQ on the canal bank.

Beano has a lovely time playing with their dog Daisy and a long run in the fields nearby.

Steve has arranged to go on a short boat trip with them in a couple of weeks. He is desperate to steer the boat. I shall probably stay home as their deck has only room for three people. Beano and I would have to stay inside for the trip.

I will check how far they are travelling, if it's five miles or less I will go and Beano and I will walk the towpath.

How much?

Steve decided to buy a leaf blower as we are surrounded by trees.

Unfortunately we are also surrounded by a high wall.

It didn't occur to Steve that there would be nowhere to blow the leaves to.

He spent £190 on the leaf blower I'm assuming it's gold plated at that price.

He used it y'day morning, he blew the leaves away from the front door, about 10 inches from the front door.

The leaf blower is now in the hall cupboard, I doubt it will see the light of day again!

Heavy breathing.

Sorry that my posts are a bit sporadic, it depends very much on how Steve is whether I get chance to post or not.

Steve refuses to wear his hearing aids indoors, he refuses  to accept that he is deaf. Because of this, he doesn't notice that his breathing is incredibly loud. It like having a steam train in the living room.

I went to bed at 11 on Wednesday night, well, I intended to, but Steve was snoring up a storm. Even when I took my hearing aids out I could still hear him. I returned to the living room and watched Whitstable Pearl on my kindle until 1 a.m. Steve was still snoring but by then I was tired enough not to care. I was up and dressed just after 5 a.m. Steve finally surfaced around 11 a.m and insisted he hadn't slept a wink all night. 

Steve is still accompanying me to the summer house meetings, y'day a meal out was mentioned, we were invited to join we both agreed but I expect Steve will drop out at the last minute. He will expect me to drop out as well.

Silence is golden.

After y'day when Steve ranted and bitched non-stop all day mainly about immigration, today we are having a day of silence. 

I've no idea why he is silent but I'm enjoying the peace and quiet. He isn't sulking because he doesn't do that quietly, maybe he's found a new book on his kindle to read. I have downloaded a few new cheap books lately,  99p for a few hours silence is a good price to pay.

I try to keep my eye out for books by good authors that are on special offer.

Neither of us can see well enough to read physical books so we rely on our kindles.

Old friends.

We had a message today from some boater friends, we are hoping to get together in a few weeks time.

The wife has a soft spot for Steve so that should put him in a good mood.

They are going to do lunch for us on their boat which will be nice, we can take Beano as they have a dog too.

It will be nice to catch up with all their news as they have a new grandchild since we last saw them.

No doubt Steve will tell them in great detail how unhappy he is and how unkind I am, refusing to move into a rented flat.

They may agree with him that it's better to rent than buy, in which case he'll be very happy.I

I've told him repeatedly that he is welcome to rent somewhere to live but although he dislikes me he wants me to move too.

A day of peace

Steve went out as soon as Tesco had delivered, he's gone into town to meet up with Bob. Bob is trying to sell his camper van but he's asking way too much for it and is getting annoyed that it's not selling. Steve will sympathise with him, he also thinks the things he owns are worth more than they actually are.

I've had a peaceful day so far with no shouting or whinging. I shall go over to the summer house later for a natter with my neighbours.

It's sunny here but not too hot, the weather is supposed to get hotter in the next few days. Whenever we have a cooler day Beano gets an extra long walk. He's had two so far today and I'll take him out again between 3 & 4 o'clock and again around 7 ish.

I need to wash my mug and clear the kitchen and that will be all the housework I do today.

In a strop.

When Steve first was recovering from his stroke he used to attend a stroke club. He didn't attend for many weeks, he can't bear criticism and when the staff suggested he stop being so nasty to me and shouting at me all the time he stopped going. They tried to explain that it wasn't my fault he'd had a stroke and lashing out verbally was unacceptable.

He can't understand why his behaviour is unacceptable. Seven years later and nothing has changed.

Twice this week he's been nasty and twice I've pulled him up on it. He always reacts the same way, he storms out and goes to the pub to get drunk!

I just need to do this on a daily basis and I could have a peaceful life.

Cool mat.

I've ordered a new cool mat for Beano, the one recommended in the comments on my last post. It's fabric rather than plastic so hopefully Beano will like it.

It was sunny when I got up and walked Beano at 6:30, it seems be clouding over now and he has had his second walk though getting across the road to walk him is quite dicey. There are a lot of large lorries that thunder along this road and it is very bendy so quite difficult to see. I was taking to a neighbour who said a residents group has started to count the lorries as the number is increasing. It's gone from 100 a day to 450 in two years, which is quite a jump.

I'm not sure whether I'll go to the summer house this afternoon, it depends how warm it is. I'm hoping there is a quiz on Wednesday, last week it was held on Thursday morning so I couldn't go.

A new owner has moved into one of the upstairs flats, on-site here there is a cupboard for every four flats. The new owner is kicking off, she is an avid car booter and wants the cupboard for herself. The owners of the other three flats don't agree, it doesn't affect me, I'll get popcorn and watch the proceedings!

Summery day

I took Beano out for a long walk early this morning, when it was still cool. Then at lunchtime I just took him on to the grass in the shade of the trees.

It's not really that hot, it's not quite up to 30 degrees but Beano doesn't cope well in the heat. I'm ok with it, I spent a lot of time walking the towpaths from lock to lock.

I got to know which paths were shady and if it was too hot with limited shade, Beano would travel on the boat while I walked. He was very nimble when it came to getting across the lock gate. I on the other hand, kept a firm grip on the bars at the top of the gates.

I'm not going to the summer house this afternoon as Beano won't be comfortable in the heat. I shall watch another episode of Whitstable Pearl.

I'm a bit harassed

I've had a difficult few weeks with Steve and his continuous yelling and shouting.

He's been told before, by me and others, that it isn't acceptable but he insists that he's not shouting!

He been grumbling about money for a while now. The grumbles got louder and more strident until he announced that I needed to contribute more towards the household bills. He suggested I start paying half the food bill.

I suggested I pay for the food and sundries I buy, but I refuse to pay half the shopping bill since its usually around £170 a week. This is mainly for junk food and beer. I buy a fruit and veg box every week which is around £10 depending on what extra fruit I chose.

Next time he starts I shall offer to pay half the electricity as I do use half I'm sure.

Barking

Barking or barking mad?

Steve went out with Harry this morning, on their return our mad cat lady spoke to Steve. She demanded he came home and silenced Beano as he'd been barking for two hours.

 Steve, instead of thinking how unusual it was for Beano to bark, immediately agreed to do this and hustled through the front door shouting and ranting.

Beano was asleep on the sofa!

I told Steve to go and explain to the mad cat lady that the noise she could hear was a muntjac in the grounds of the building next door!

She won't have believed him but I'd limited patience left after listening to the muntjac barking for two hours. I couldn't go to see her myself, as I'd have been tempted to rip her head off!

Shoppng!

I know exactly where the money goes.

Steve buys six trays of lager every week and each tray contains 18 cans, these he drinks every week, plus occasional trips to the pub as well.

He eats no vegetables apart from an occasional mushroom, just meat everyday, this is why he spends so much money each week.

He has cornflakes for breakfast 3 times a week, the other days he has a cooked breakfast or a bacon sandwich. Lunch is a ham sandwich with a packet of crisps. His sandwich's are always made with white bread.

Steve's evening meal is, what I'd describe as party food, breaded scampi, chicken wings, stuff like that covered in copious amounts of BBQ sauce.I

This is followed by 4 or 5 packets of crisps throughout the evening.

Justifiable homicide!

How I refrained from murdering Steve y'day i'll never know. He spent the entire day ranting over and over about the same subject.

I tried explaining to him that he needed to stop but he claims that he needs to get things off his chest.

Unfortunately it doesn't work like that, he just gets more and more worked up the more he rants. I get thoroughly exhausted by it.

It's not as though he rants about something that affects him directly, he will find something in the news or online to rant about and off he goes.

I lost my temper eventually and told him to STFU. He then reduced his volume to a mumble. I buried myself in a Harry Potter film for a bit of escapism.

RAMBLER, Steve isn't eligible for pension credit as he has our savings to spend. 

I'm capable of managing on my pension, I even manage to save a little, but I don't smoke and rarely drink. I never go to the hairdressers and I don't shop for pleasure, just for necessities. Steve likes to think he's in charge of our finances and used to insist on paying all the bills. I used to pay for the food shopping but Steve decided to take it over and now spends between £160 and £180 a week. I think this is excessive but it's his choice.