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On Tuesday morning I had a ridiculously small job and then nothing for the remainder of the day so I suggested to E that we might dine out somewhere for lunch. I had returned home before 10 o’clock and spend some time on my computer and the Internet and watched a couple of programs on television. It was around 1.45 when I heard a tap, tap on the lounge door and jumped a little for I had dosed off in the chair, one of those ‘cat-naps’ I love to experience. I looked toward the door to see E smiling at me. ‘Well I’m ready’, she piped up. ‘I’ve just washed my hair’, she said. She has the kind of hair that gets greasy rather easily but greasy hair is probably healthier hair as it proves that natural oils are being produced from the scalp protecting and nourishing the hair. Of course too much oil can be a problem and then the hair needs washing more often. E tends to have this problem. My hair on the other hand tends to be dry and would benefit having more natural oil. I tend therefore not to wash my hair as often unless it gets dirty. So I dashed upstairs to change my clothes and fix my make-up and was ready ten minutes later. E drove as she normally does and I didn’t ask where we were going as we headed off down the main road. She turned toward the coastal road so I though she was going to drive north as we normally do when visiting one or two of our favourite places but a couple of hundred yards (metres) down the road she pulled into the car park of my local pub! There were quite a number of cars there and I thought it would consequently be full inside but we were surprised to see it almost empty. After a quick look at the menu I went to the bar opened a tab and ordered the meals and drinks. We received the best of service as usual and the meals followed soon after. E followed her meal with a dessert but I didn’t. We had a great time together and chatted with the staff as the opportunity arose. When we had finished eating a couple of people came in and sat a short distance from us and I turn to look. ‘Hello, Shirley Anne’, the woman said and I replied in kind though I couldn’t remember how they knew me or I them, although I did recognise their faces. It turns out that I had done some work for them back in November. Neither the man nor the woman knew E personally but the woman recognised her as having worked in her local Post Office some years ago. The man told E what a good electrician he had found in me not realising that E is already aware of my capabilities! I thought that was very nice of him to say such things. He went on to tell us that two weeks after I had worked in their house they were burgled! Immediately I asked if they had an alarm to which they said ‘We have now’! Talk about closing the barn door after the horse has bolted! Fortunately not much had been stolen. Soon afterwards E and I prepared to leave for home and they bid us farewell, the woman saying ‘I’ll telephone you’. Looks like they want more work doing……….Is there no rest for the wicked? LOL
Elizabeth I of England, the Armada Portrait, Woburn Abbey (George Gower, ca 1588). Other versions of the Armada portrait are by different artists. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
There are many benefits to living at the present time but if you had the chance to live in another era which would you choose? I have often thought about this and haven’t really decided which I would choose. It is easier to choose from a time gone by rather than one in the future for we cannot know what the future holds as far as living in it is concerned. The past however has already shown us to some extent what conditions were like. With that in mind my thoughts are inclined to choose Elizabethan or Jacobean and also the 1940′s. The first two choices are probably based on romantic ideas about the times but of course they weren’t ideal times for everyone. The third choice is probably more to my heart. It was a time just before the modern renaissance where technology began to take giant strides. It was a time of war however and not so good from that point of view. One of the things which attract me to these times are women’s fashion styles. I simply liked what they wore, especially the 1940′s. I saw a story on television about a couple in their late 50′s perhaps who live their lives as Victorians wearing the clothes of the time. The husband’s duty was to wind-up his wife’s corset for the day which she wore presumably all day long. In fact Victorian women wore theirs all week and were only released to enable them to pass solids, then laced up again! By the 1940′s women still wore corsets but I suppose not all of the time. Steam trains, propeller aeroplanes, hardly any labour saving devices for the masses and a more leisurely lifestyle was a pipe-dream for most. There were many things wrong about the 40′s but things were about to change for the better, maybe! When I was born in 1945 and I remember living in a prefabricated house which had some of the things many folk couldn’t afford to buy for themselves but they were only there because the council supplied them. No-one had a private telephone unless they were well-off financially or were in business. We had a television in 1953, long before we got a telephone. In the 40′s, especially the early 40′s none of these were within reach of the ordinary working man or woman, I think that is probably why I would have liked to live then, as an adult of course, as life was lived at a much slower pace.
Astronomy For Beginners (Photo credit: AndyRobertsPhotos)
For most of my life I have had an avid interest in Astronomy and in my early years it occupied most of my time, even into my late teens. Whilst I still take an interest it takes up far less of my time these days. Music has always played a large part of my life one way or another too. From about the age I could reason and no doubt even before then I was interested in music. Curiously I have never liked listening to music whilst I was working, something most of my contemporaries being the opposite. From simply listening to music I eventually became interested in playing an instrument. That was partly due to the fact that I was engaged in children’s work at church and they really needed live music to sing along to. The other reason was I had always wanted to play but never seemed to get around to it. Most of my time was spent doing other things. Soon after picking up the guitar I found an aptitude for writing songs, most of which are Christian. For many years previously I had written poems, some good, some not so good but I always felt that I should write everything down whether good or bad. After I got married I took to photography, nothing adventurous but I simply liked taking pictures, mostly scenic in nature as I love the beauty of Nature and its wild places. I soon got bored with all that though and memories of places visited were confined to the brain rather than a photographic album. Nowadays photographs are stored as digital images to be recalled anywhere at any time if so desired. I gave up on photography many years ago although back in 2003 I took some lovely shots around my town one bright and early Sunday morning when hardly a soul was about (They are shown on the Southport page above) and of course there have been the occasional pictures taken in and around my house for the purposes of this blog but other than that, nothing. None of these things are an obsession with me in that I do not spend hours on end indulging in them. I do spend an hour or so almost every day playing my guitar, partly for practice but always out of enjoyment. I do many things in life but none of them have such a grip upon me that they take up all of my time at the expense of everything else. An interest, a hobby should remain that I feel, otherwise we might miss out on something else we might take a fancy to.
English: Showing beauty through nature (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
If you don’t like The Beatles music (I do) this song might begin to drive you mad in the latter half. It seems as if it is never going to end, and then it does quite abruptly. I have always liked The Beatles and have all their records on vinyl. Are you old enough to remember vinyl records? Much as I would like to chat about music it isn’t the subject of this post. Whenever something drives me mad this particular song enters my thoughts. I was just thinking about the mad rush people bog themselves down with on the approach to Christmas, a mad frenzy of people buying presents, food and all the other trimmings they think they need when mostly they don’t. It’s all about tradition and doing what everyone else does but this isn’t the subject of my post either. The subject is advertisements and the pressure put on us all to buy something. At this time of year, well for me any time of year, adverts drive me mad, I cannot use my phone, listen to the radio (unless it is a BBC broadcast), watch television or use my computer without being bombarded from all directions with adverts. A really annoying trend are those adverts which are placed in front of a video clip, a news item of some sort you may be keen to see but have to wait until an advert runs its thirty-second course. Rather than sit listening to and watching an advert I close the video. I miss whatever it is I wanted to see but would rather do that than have my brain filled with rubbish I do not want. The same old adverts or similar ones sprout up each year, you know them, some ‘celebrity’ has a new line in perfume or some artiste you’ve never heard of has suddenly produced a record that we all want to buy and listen to over the Christmas break, as if. Watching the adverts is bad enough but having to listen to the dribble and all those silly jingles and catchphrases does my head in. You may call me cynical and you would be correct but I simply cannot stand advertisements. Some may be funny and well thought out and I suppose they are worthy in that respect but I have to say it, they don’t make the slightest difference to my spending habits. Cold calling texts, emails and phone calls drive me nuts too. It feels like I am swimming in a giant pool of alphabet soup and radio waves sometimes. What joy it is to be able to switch things off and go for a quiet walk somewhere without any means for people to contact me or to go to sleep and escape from the reality of a modern world I think I shouldn’t be a part of but need to be! It’s driving me mad, it’s driving me mad, it’s driving me……………….
On Wednesday morning In had it in mind to do some shopping for toiletries, something I do but twice per year at most. I buy enough products to last at least six months and they often last far longer than that. I could never understand why anyone should like to do this kind of shopping on a regular basis, once or maybe twice per year for me is by far enough. E and I had dined out on Tuesday afternoon and I was cordially dropped off later at my local pub to spend an hour or so there, which I did, not staying there all evening but returning just after eight. If I go to the pub in the evening I am prone to stop there all evening but only if I haven’t spent time elsewhere beforehand. I had a pleasant time chatting to a few people so it was worth the trip. I had been promising myself that i would do some shopping but kept putting it off so I was determined to get it over with and just do it. Whilst I was in the first store buying toothpaste, pant liners, moisturising creams and other toiletries I received a phone call from a lady some ten miles away who wanted me to fix a light fitting for her so I took the message and arranged to visit her later in the morning. Now I am the sort of person who can quickly forget place names or any names for that matter so I needed to write down the address. Alas I had paper but no pen, the paper being the one with the list on it for my shopping spree. A kindly assistant working in the store found me a pen so I was able to write the address down. I carried on shopping but couldn’t find some of the items I wanted. The kindly assistant once again coming to the rescue. I asked her if she would like to be my guide for the morning and we both laughed about that. I finished in that store and proceeded to the next, ‘Boots the chemists‘, now of course more than a store that sells medications. I was purchasing make-up products, lipstick, powder, mascara and such and I also needed some dispersible aspirin tablets. They had just installed new equipment at the check-out and the girl was having some difficulty in getting to grips with it but she managed eventually and I was free to go! Both of these stores sell ‘Alice bands’ but not of the type I wanted for I needed to buy a couple of them so i went to a specialist shop which sells them and I was able to find what I wanted there. One more shop to visit then off to deposit a little cash at the bank. The bank didn’t open until 9.30 so I did the shopping first. Having been given a smart phone a couple of weeks ago when my old phone ceased working I discovered that it lacked a decent memory size and that was preventing me from downloading some security software so I had to upgrade it. Crafty business this technology, I didn’t really want a smart phone but it appears the ‘normal’ phones are becoming less available now. I have a contract so I didn’t need to buy the phone but if I was to use it as extensively as they would like I could end up spending a fortune on it what with all the available ‘apps’ there are! That’s what I mean about crafty! The girl in the store obtained what she thought was the memory card but she couldn’t get the bar-code reader to read the code. She eventually called the manager who took one look and told her that the memory cards on display were all imitations put there to stop theft! The poor girl must have felt a little embarrassed but to be fair the imitation looked very convincing. Finally after fitting the card I trotted off to the bank to make my deposit. I was greeted by a lovely cashier who called me by name. We had met previously somewhere else other than in the bank but I had forgotten, although I did remember her face. It was so nice of her to remember me. Everything done so I walked the half-mile or more back to where I’d parked my vehicle only to be stopped along the way by another phone call. I answered but got no reply so I tried to disconnect. However the phone ‘locked up’ and I had to power it down completely and re-boot it from scratch. After what seemed and age everything was back to normal. I had a feeling that the party who had called hadn’t disconnected properly and were thus permanently connected to my phone. They must have called me in error as they didn’t call again. I finally made it to my van and prepared for the ten-mile journey to fix that light. As I had been out shopping I did not have the bag I normally use during the day at work so I wasn’t in possession of a map to find the location of the address. Had it been a major road or one that I was familiar with it wouldn’t have mattered but it was a road I wasn’t familiar with so I had no idea where it was. Fortunately I have a sat-nav in my van but as it isn’t used very often the battery had drained of power. I had to wait a few minutes whilst it booted the maps from scratch and then I had to set the language before I could get it to accept a request. Perhaps I should leave it connected more often in order to prevent the battery from draining but it’s like everything else, it gets forgotten! When I got to the address I was warmly greeted by a lady who was well into her nineties and as fit as a fiddle. The job took about three minutes to do and I didn’t have the heart to charge her the price I would normally expect for a call-out so she had a massive discount. I arrived back home before eleven and spent the rest of the day at home collecting appointments for jobs to follow. At least I won’t need to go shopping for toiletries for another six months or more. I can’t say the same thing about work but at least I don’t mind that.
I don’t often go shopping with E which is just as well, she confuses me sometimes. On the rare occasions we find ourselves shopping for food I am told, ‘you don’t need that’ or ‘we have some at home’ and if I do pick something I want as a treat to myself she shows that she does not approve. It doesn’t matter whether I am paying for it or not either. I think she partly resents me being with her when she is shopping for food and that I am incapable of making decisions on what to buy. If I select something she might say, ‘that’s too expensive’, even though I am prepared to pay the price! The strange thing is she often buys things in the weekly shop that we don’t really need. Now shopping for clothes is a completely new ball game. I have taken her with me on occasion when buying clothes, partly for her opinion and partly because I might be treating her to some new clothes which I have done a few times in the past. Asking E her opinion is a little pointless for we do not share the same tastes in clothes. Not to be unkind to her I think I have a better dress sense but sometimes I just want a second opinion. On Monday afternoon I decided to buy the materials I will need to fill in the void above the new roller-shutter door that was fitted a few weeks ago. I drew out a plan on paper and measured the space to be filled then decided how much timber I would need to do the job. E came with me to the builders merchant. Now I had it in mind what dimensions of wood I would need but unfortunately the width I wanted is now no longer supplied which meant two pieces would be needed on one section to make up the dimension required which was 300 mm. We settled on one at 200 mm and the other at 100 mm width to make up the 300 mm required. I also needed another length at 200 mm along with timber to make battens to connect everything together. The guy serving us was very patient and he measured the timber and cut it to length for us. However, E in her usual way started to question why I had asked for two lengths of timber at 200 mm but when I reminded her why it was needed she maintained that I was wrong and the guy was left standing waiting for a decision. Even after I had explained things to her it still didn’t sink in. In the confusion the guy ended up cutting two pieces of 100 mm width timber too when I really only wanted one at that width! I bought it anyway so as not to confuse the poor guy any further as the cost was minimal. I don’t know why I take E with me when purchasing anything as she often causes unnecessary confusion and contradicts what I say but then my trips out would be a lot more boring wouldn’t they? I love her to bits but she drives me nuts sometimes!
Yesterday I decided to buy a protective cover for my new mobile phone and E told me of a place to get one so she came with me. Unfortunately the store was out of stock on a suitable cover. We drove into town to buy fuel for the van and then I parked it and walked to another store whilst E remained in the van. As the distance to the store was around a half mile or so she decided to stay put because of her disability and wait for my return. Although the store didn’t have a cover specific for my phone they did have a rather nice alternative which on reflection is probably better so I bought it at £17.99. Now the area where the store is located is that where I normally do my shopping for toiletries, clothes and such but this time I couldn’t indulge as E was waiting for my return so reluctantly I shelved the idea. I don’t go shopping very often as I tend to buy things in quantity but in a couple of weeks time I will be returning. We returned home to do all the little daily tasks that occupy our lives like bringing in the washing (it was actually hung in the boiler room in the cellar), taking out rubbish and other general tasks before lunch. After lunch I set about familiarizing myself with the mobile phone so that I will know how to use it! I arranged and installed some security software on the phone should it ever be needed. The software was free and because I use the same software protection on my computer the two can be linked to the same account. Is is such a shame that we need to do things like that, it was never a problem with a simple telephone was it? Progress? Yeah, sure! I had expected a call from a client but it didn’t materialise so I spent the rest of the day at home. So far this week I have had one job but it is enough to satisfy my average expected income for the week. I may yet receive requests before the week is out, that’s the way it is in my business. I did make a call to the guy who fitted the roller door to my garage to ask what progress he had made in gathering the equipment he will need to automate the other garage door. He tells me he has most of it but is waiting on one or two items. He said he will ring back early next week. I shall be very happy to see that work completed so that I too can enjoy the privilege of driving directly into the garage without having to manually open the door. E uses the other garage although my van would better be parked in it as it is a higher vehicle with only an inch or two of headroom when the ladders are on the roof-rack, which is all of the time! As long as I can get the van inside it doesn’t matter. The guy doing the job is aware of the limited headroom so it should work out.
AA car transport vehicle, Bristol, United Kingdom (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Thursday at our house means that E drives over to see her mom in the afternoon and they go shopping for food, usually to a superstore for most items and then on to other smaller stores for the rest. I had been out during the morning and when I returned I discovered that the gate to the new garage in which she now puts her car was closed but the alarm had been set in the house meaning she had gone out. She wouldn’t close the gate knowing that she was going to have to open it again on her return. I checked inside the garage to find her car was still there. I thought she may have gone to the store in a taxi so I called her mobile to ask if she needed a lift back home but she said she didn’t. When she returned home later with all the groceries I discovered that her brother, who lives with her mom, had given her a lift. I asked why she hadn’t used her own car and she told me that she wanted to see if she could get her car repaired in case that fault recurred and she found herself stranded again. Sounded sensible to me but the cost was going to be around £800 as she was previously told. She had phoned several other repair depots and got similar quotes so she knew the price was fair. So she had to give in to the fact that it was going to cost something to have it repaired. Most probably though it will be me paying! During the afternoon she made arrangements to have the car taken back to the depot who had previously checked it but when the rescue vehicle arrived they realised it was not suited for the task. As it was getting late in the afternoon they decided instead to send a large flat-bed vehicle fitted with a ramp and a winch on Friday morning. Now our street isn’t very wide and when the vehicle arrived it was far too long to back in toward the garage and even so the gates are too close together to allow it anyway. The car could not free-wheel as the gears were engaged because of the fault which meant it had to be slowly winched out of the garage and down the drive to the street using plastic skates beneath the two front wheels to protect the tyres. The driver used the winch and took the cable via a pulley half-way along the vehicle before taking it up the drive to the car. essentially the winch was pulling the car through a 90 degree angle. Eventually he managed to get the car on board and I drove ahead of him the two miles to the repair depot. E went along with him in his cab. We returned home in my van after a short detour and now await a call to let us know the repair is done. I got a call from an old lady who wanted some lights fitting and went off to do that. I have done several jobs for this lady who now lives alone after the death of her husband last year. She is still struggling in coming to terms with her loss and I could tell she is feeling lonely. She was a little short of funds to pay me and wanted to go to an ATM to withdraw some cash and also to spend an hour or so in town to do some shopping. She lives just on the other side of the main shopping area in the opposite side of town to myself. Naturally I took her to the ATM and then offered to drop her off as it was on the route home. We had been chatting about home life whilst I was working so I asked her if she would like to come along to see our house. She was so happy for the suggestion as it would be something of a diversion for her, a change to her routine. We drove to my house and her jaw dropped when she saw how big it was for she lives in a small bungalow. I invited her inside and took her for a mini-tour of the ground floor and cellar and then into the garden at the back. She couldn’t get over the size of the property when she saw it from the back garden for it is four stories high from there whereas it only looks two stories high from the front! After a short while I drove her back into town so that she could do her shopping and I went back home.
Stockings! Well what did you think I meant? The colder months are upon us now, which is pretty much welcomed by me, I don’t like it too warm. So I have been wearing my stockings again for the past few days. It will be late Spring before I will consider going bare-legged again. Many other things are returning to my use too of course, heavier clothing and coats. Time for breaking out the boots too I’ll wager before too long. It has been some time since I last did any shopping for clothes but one of the main things on my shopping list will be a new pair of boots or two. I do have boots but not many, nothing like the number of pairs of shoes I possess. I love Autumn fashions so I may treat myself to some new clothes in the weeks ahead. It depends on how much disposable cash I’ll have. Funny thing about the cooler months, they don’t seem to be as cool as they used to be years ago. I have a couple of lovely Winter coats that seldom get an airing these days because it never seems to get cold enough. One coat is made of sheepskin leather, dyed black and is lined with a thick coat of grey-coloured fur, that is man-made fur and is so warm to wear that even the coldest wind cannot penetrate. I once wore it at home whilst naked just to see how warm and comfortable it was. I didn’t want to take it off! That coat is knee-length. I have another knee-length coat which is camel coloured and silk-lined and a lovely ankle-length grey coat both of which are warm to wear. One coat I bought in Canada three years ago is red in colour, ankle-length in simulated soft leather and Mediaeval in style with adjustable lacing on the back. I have been waiting for the chance to wear it and the weather is getting cool enough to do so now. Other coats I have are lightweight ones and only really suitable for wearing when it isn’t too cold. As a woman I can’t have enough clothes. It isn’t about the amount, it’s about the choice and flexibility so many of the clothes I have are not worn regularly but are there when I fancy a change. There will always be something I feel I should have but I don’t always fulfil my wishes.
I occasionally watch a television program called ‘Fake Britain’. It reports on and exposes the business of counterfeit activities in the UK from the manufacturing of fake dvd’s and toys to clothing and alcoholic drinks. Almost anything these days can be copied and sold off as genuine and much of the time the general public have no idea that they are buying fake goods. Although some fakes are quite safe to use many of them are not and fail the British Standards for safety thereby placing people’s health and sometimes lives at risk, alcohol being especially dangerous if it is counterfeit. The counterfeiters are often so good at their work such that a keen eye is needed to identify the fake from the real thing. Over the years this country has built up a rigorous set of safety standards for everything that is manufactured here and any goods which are imported have to meet with these standards too. The counterfeiters are undermining those standards for a quick profit and they do not care about the consequences to public safety. The question is would you buy something knowing it to be fake just to save money? By doing so you encourage criminal activity. The temptation to turn a blind eye can be strong but we must resist for our own sake and for the sake of everyone else in this land. There may be times when you don’t know you have bought a fake but once you know would you willingly report it? Many of us even right now are walking about with fake items on our person, pound coins! The treasury is aware of them but it is very difficult to sieve them out once in circulation. No doubt they will be doing that anyway. The thing is none of us really inspect the coins we carry to check if they are real or not do we? The very structure of our society is being undermined by the activities of the criminal element from the small-time crook to the organised gangs. Whilst the vast majority of folk in the country are hard-working and paying their taxes many criminals are raking in the cash, our cash, to line their pockets with. So when someone offers you something at a reduced price check your conscience before to buy the goods.
I got up bright and early on Monday morning. I was lying there in bed for some five minutes after waking at 7 o’clock and decided that I wanted to go shopping for clothes. Yes, that is me, spur of the moment decisions. As I had no work scheduled the decision was easy so after my prayer time and ablutions (lol) I went downstairs for breakfast but having got to the kitchen I settled for a banana and a sip of water. It was yet another warm and sunny morning so I took the opportunity to walk into town which is only around two and a half miles for the round trip. I arrived in the main pedestrian shopping precinct in Southport at the stroke of 9 o’clock. I had taken a pair of shoes into town to have them re-heeled so dropped them off and went to Nero‘s for a coffee. This coffee shop has tables outside as well as indoors and a panoramic window to see through if inside, a perfect spot to people watch as they go about their business. I ordered a large cappuccino and was tempted to have a croissant with it but decided against it, well I am trying to watch my calories. I sat near that window. I returned for my shoes around thirty minutes later then went shopping for some clothes, specifically tops to go with the numerous summer skirts I possess. I bought five new tops which in total cost me less than £23 because of the special offers. Then I went window shopping and browsing, a dangerous occupation of mine and I had the cash to spend too, even more dangerous but after a while not seeing anything I liked I started back home. Just as I got to my street I got a phone call requesting my services but I guess the guy didn’t want to pay my prices, which I might say are pretty reasonable. It seems you cannot please everyone or maybe some people want things doing for next to nothing. I resigned myself to the fact that I wasn’t going to get any work for the remainder of the day so I spent the afternoon at the pub, wearing one of my new tops of course!
A pair of high heeled shoe with 12cm stiletto heels. Category:Shoes (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The new-found friend I met on Thursday last week met with an accident on Saturday night. I’d telephoned her earlier in the day to thank her and her fiancé for their hospitality on Thursday night. I hadn’t phoned on Friday as I was out of the game and not feeling well myself. It transpires that she treated her fiancé to an evening meal and dance to celebrate his birthday which was actually on Monday. On returning home in the early hours of Sunday she decided to fix them both a drink of coffee and whilst doing so trip over the cat! She admitted that she had been wearing high heels and was probably feeling a bit ‘tipsy’ so blamed herself for the accident for not removing her shoes when at home. Unfortunately she hurt her arm so much she visited the hospital emergency outpatients department to see what was wrong. She had X-rays taken and was told she had broken her arm in three places and might need surgery. However, as she told me on Sunday evening, she has problems with her liver and she says the doctors consider it too risky to operate. I took some flowers and a card to her house on Monday morning but got no answer. I assumed she was still in bed, although is was after ten o’clock, so I left them inside her porch. Now she didn’t tell me how high the heels were that she was wearing but it does tell me that wearing any heel that is high, especially if it is slim like a stiletto, can be dangerous. I like wearing high heels myself but don’t do so very often but it only takes a little slip or stumble and anything can happen. My friend broke her arm but she could well have easily broken her ankle too, probably a much more serious accident. I know a couple of women who wear high heels very often and without any problems so it isn’t simply that high heels are dangerous, they are far more dangerous when the person wearing them is a little under the influence of alcohol! I have worn high heels many times and I have stumbled once or twice whilst wearing them but those incidents were more to do with the pathways I was walking upon rather than my drinking habits! I actually find it easier to dance in heels than to simply walk in them. I feel sorry for my friend and perhaps she wasn’t totally to blame for her accident but that is the nature of accidents isn’t it? We never know when they might happen, one moment’s lapse in concentration or one pussy cat wandering beneath your feet unawares and hey-presto another mishap.
Yesterday has got to be amongst the worst days I have ever experienced at work. Everything started off well, got up spent some time in prayer, washed, dressed and down for breakfast before driving off to the only job I had scheduled for the day. The job was simple enough, simply replacing two ceiling lightfittings for an old lady a few miles away. Normally I would have expected to be back home an hour or so later but when I arrived I found that the job was to fit one ceiling fitting and two wall lights then check why the doorbell wasn’t working and replace some parts on a cooker! The last two jobs I had completed within a half hour before tackling the ceiling fitting. Taking the old one down was simple enough as was fitting the new one but then there was the fitting of all the tiny bulbs and lampshades, a time-consuming job if ever there was one. The new light worked perfectly, however, unnoticed by myself but not by the lady was the fact that the lower part of the fitting seemed mis-aligned. Before she had pointed out the problem I had taken one of the wall lights down and replaced it not noticing that a part of it had snapped off, in transit I presumed. Hard to spot as the light was quite ornate and the small part was easy to miss. It was whilst I was fitting the lampshades that I discovered the piece that had broken off and I decided to remove the whole unit which then could be exchanged together with the ceiling fitting. I attempted to repair the problem with the ceiling fitting but found it impossible. It had simply been manufactured poorly. The lady was adamant that she wanted it replacing which is fair enough although personally I wouldn’t have bothered had it been fitted in my own house. It wasn’t that bad. Nonetheless I asked where she had purchased the fittings and I duly telephoned the store which is located in the heart of my town. I had problems getting through to their lighting department but isn’t that usually the way? After a long discussion they agreed to exchange them both. The other wall light was perfect and didn’t require exchanging. The store personnel informed me that the fittings would either have to be returned via the delivery agent who would collect them in due course or they would have to be taken directly to the store to be replaced. I explained that it would be impossible for the old lady to return them and collect new ones because of the size and weight so they suggested I do it for her! Well I do go out of my way sometimes in my job but to ask a contractor to do things like this is never the usual practice as the customer would have to be invoiced for the time. It sounds a simple task but when making a journey into the heart of town involves not being able to park a vehicle anywhere near the store in question it does become a problem. My job is to fit the lights, not to go chasing after getting replacements even with the best will in the world, especially as I might have other appointments to keep. I asked the store staff if there was another way and they suggested I pack the broken fittings into the box they came in and they would send a taxi with the replacements and at the same time collect the broken ones, returning them to the store. A round trip of about six miles and far easier because taxi drivers are allowed to park close to the store without being booked for doing so. So that’s what they did and it took a mere forty minutes as opposed to probably two hours had I had to do it. It wasn’t long before I fitted the new lights but found to my dismay that the new ceiling replacement was making a loud buzzing noise! The internal transformer supplying the low-voltage lamps was at fault. Unbelievable! Now these transformers do sometimes buzz a little on occasion but I emphasise a little, not enough to be audible unless one is very close to them. This one could be heard in the adjacent room! It had to be replaced again. Now by this time my patience was wearing a bit thin, I had been at the house for four and a half hours when I should only have been there an hour or so. I telephoned the store yet again and was cut off twice. When I finally got through I was told that this time the lights would have to be returned by the customer or her agent. I explained this to the lady and proceeded to remove the ceiling light so the she could return it by whatever means she could. She said she would probably get someone to do that for her but thanked me for all the time and effort in trying to resolve things for her. Unfortunately she has had to pay me for the four and a half hours work and will have to pay me again to fit the replacements. That is simply business. During my time at her house I received a call to exchange another light fitting in another property but had to call them later in the morning to say I would be delayed but that I would be there sometime in the afternoon, which I duly did. I was to be informed as to when I could return to the first job. On arrival at the other house I discovered I needed to use the larger ladder which is normally kept locked on top of the van. Getting inside I found the ceiling higher than I had first though and wondered if even my large ladder would be adequate. I managed to remove the huge chandelier and proceeded to prepare the new replacement, eventually screwing the new bracket to the ceiling and connecting the new light to the circuit cable. I couldn’t quite reach the bracket in order to attach the light fitting itself, I needed about 15cm more height to be able to do it safely. Finally I found another ladder which I strapped to mine and with the guy holding the ladder firmly I was able to attach the light to its bracket. It is very rare to find such high ceilings enough to warrant having an extra ladder that might only be used once every few years. So the light worked ok but now was the painstaking task of fitting all the paraphernalia, the glassware and chains to complete the job. That took me twice as long as it took me just to put the fitting up! The guy paid me more than I’d asked as he realised the job wasn’t as easy as anticipated. So I eventually arrived home late in the afternoon, rather hungry as I had missed lunch. I set about preparing a meal and then ate it. I had no longer sat down in the lounge when the old lady phoned and explained that she had been able to procure new light fittings from the same store but that she had gone for a completely different model. However she now wants the two new wall lights I had fitted to be removed so that she can return all three units before she can obtain the new ones! She needs all three lights to be of the same design. I have offered to go there this morning and disconnect and remove the wall lights so that she can return all three together. I am now scheduled to do it all again on Monday. This is called taking the rough with the smooth I guess but crikey…..I hope this time all will go well……..I knew I should have stayed in bed. Who’d be an electrician?
I got up early today so that I could do that shopping I thought I might do but it was mid-morning before E was finally ready. She and I drove into town and headed for one of the open parking areas but we had to wait a few minutes for a space to become available. It seems many people were out shopping too. I already knew what I wanted to buy and we headed for the M & S store and upstairs to buy some underwear. I bought a couple of bras and some panties. E didn’t want anything from this section so we went back downstairs to the women’s section. Why they keep the two sections on different floors I will never know. I wanted some long-sleeved lightweight jumpers so we headed to where they were on display. The shop was crowded with women and one or two guys accompanying their wives or girlfriends. Most of the items were in the sale and I thought I would find it difficult to get anything I liked but the pair of us soon discovered some and I managed to buy three. We left that store and went to BHS across the way where we looked for more jumpers but we saw none that I liked. Now I had it in mind to buy a pair of low-heeled or flat-heeled shoes for day wear so we went to see what was on offer. Now I was in this store a few weeks ago but found nothing I wanted then but this time there was much more to choose from. I bought a pair of flat-heeled shoes and then E showed me a pair of mid-heeled shoes with a bar and in my size. I loved them as soon as I saw them and tried them on. Perfect, so I bought both pairs, which happened to be at a very reduced price. Throughout our expedition I kept asking if there was anything that E wanted and she told me that she was only looking for a pair of shoes for everyday wear. We found a pair that she liked so I bought those for her. Now there was one other item I wanted to buy if I could find one that I liked and that was a handbag. Just alongside the shoe displays we found the handbag displays. How convenient! It didn’t take me very long to choose the one I wanted and at that point we headed for the check-out. We hit lucky this time and we were served almost immediately. We headed back to the car park and on the way E received a phone call from our eldest and his heavily pregnant wife and I thought we were going to be told that the baby was on its way but they only wanted to store a couple of things in our house. We were back home ten minutes later. Well I know one thing for certain, I shan’t be doing anymore shopping this year!
With nothing much to do today my thoughts are beginning to turn to do some shopping no not for groceries, for clothes. I haven’t been shopping for clothes for quite some time and there are one or two things I could do with, mostly tops and underwear but I am always open to buying other things too. Usually, when I go shopping, I already have it in mind what I want to buy and buy those things first but if I see something I like I am often tempted to buy them. My main weakness is shoes but the only shoes I really need just now are those for everyday wear so I will make every effort to buy only those if I do go shopping, besides, I do not want to spend a lot of money at the moment. I do shop using the Internet sometimes but I much prefer to see items of clothing and perhaps try them on before I make a purchase and so I use the high street for that. You cannot feel the material and see if potential purchases are suitable unless you visit a store and it is far quicker too! Although I like to shop for clothes I don’t relish spending a great deal of time doing that. The longer I am roaming about the shops the greater the temptation to buy things when I don’t really need them. Whether I go shopping today will depend on other things but if I decide to leave it for another time it will be during the working week as I do not like shopping at the weekend. Places are so much more crowded at weekends I find and I hate crowds of people.
This post will be number 1208 if my calculations are correct. That means a lot of posts for my readers to mull over if they’ve an inclination. Lots to read to be sure. I wonder what happens to all the posts we’ve written in the past, many of which have no responding comments and yet we plod on and write more. Of course they sit in the memory of some colossal computer located somewhere in the world like books on a library shelf collecting dust. 1208 posts represent something like 1 to 2 Mb of space I would guess, not exactly a huge amount but that only accounts for the text. Pictures will take far more space but even so in this day and age it won’t be an enormous amount relatively speaking on an individual basis. I suppose the amount we write would be impossible to read by everyone so if we miss something that’s the end of it. Having categories and tags occasionally brings old posts back into circulation to be read in reference to new posts written by others and sometimes by ourselves. Posts are there to be read of course but bot everyone reads the same material do they?
I didn’t have work scheduled for Thursday as the job I had planned was put back until next week so I thought I would get up early and spend some time on my treadmill. I did get up reasonably early at nine o’clock and about half an hour later I was running. I have been slowly building up my stamina on the machine so I was able to go that extra distance on it. It was something like 11 o’clock by the time I got dressed and went out to deposit some cash in the bank and run another important errand. When I returned home I wanted to wash my van and remove the (locked) ladder from the roof. I set everything up and began cleaning the vehicle when I began to feel light rain falling. At first I thought it was just the spray from the hose pipe because it was rather windy but by the time I had almost finished it began to pour down heavily. Somewhat soaked I managed to put the van into the garage and went indoors to prepare my lunch. I had the afternoon free, so I thought but late in the afternoon I got a call to do a job. From what the guy said over the phone his shower wasn’t working so I said I would be there in fifteen minutes. It turned out to be the wall switch not allowing power through to the shower. I had a replacement in the van and thought it would take no time at all to fix but I hadn’t planned on the very poor workmanship of the original installer. Absolutely no spare slack on the cables and the wrong box fitted in the wall. The switch was also placed in a rather awkward position close to an adjoining wall making working on it difficult. The job took much longer than it should have done but I managed in the end. I get annoyed with the quality of work that some of my peers produce and I put it down to poor training. I am glad I don’t have to rely on them to do an electrical job for me. Shortly after I returned home my eldest son and daughter-in-law arrived to unload most of their belongings for storage in our house. They have an interested party wanting to buy their house and hopefully they will finally be able to move as they planned. They will live at her parents house but use our house for storage as it is far larger with plenty of spare rooms. The idea is to buy another house at some point in the future when they can save enough to do that. They won’t have as much expenditure to worry about once they’ve sold their present property so saving will be far easier but of course with a baby on the way they will need money for that. Happy days or maybe happy daze!
Many of the women I know do not take pride in themselves at all times. Unless they are going out socializing or to special occasions they don’t seem to bother looking their best. Now I am not advocating that they are dressed-to-kill at all times when in their waking hours or even that they should dress that way at any time but I can’t understand why they don’t bother with their appearance sometimes. For myself I couldn’t leave my bedroom without trying to look my best for what I have planned for the day, whether that be at work or being ready for work should I get the call, or going out for the day somewhere. Even when at home at other times I always try to look my best. At weekends, when I am not usually working, I dress in smart, casual clothes and I wear make-up every day, whether at work or not. I take pride in my appearance because it gives me confidence when I know I am looking as well as I can and presenting to the world. I see women and men too who couldn’t care less what they look like when they are outside or even at home. The majority of people do take care of themselves and the way they dress but having said that many don’t bother dressing to suit the occasion either. I can understand why some establishments insist on a certain dress code because if the decision was left to the individual many just wouldn’t bother making the effort. There’s nothing worse than dining out at a really good restaurant and seeing people lounging about in sloppy clothes and jeans. Well I think so. I will continue to look my best whenever and wherever I go out and whenever I remain at home.
On Monday I had a small job to do just out-of-town which didn’t take me long to do. The route back home took me partly into town so I decided to go all the way and do some shopping. Parking up just outside the towns parking meter zone I took the five-minute walk back to the main shopping centre. Every few months I go shopping for toiletries and anything else I have a mind to buy but this time it was for just the toiletries, so I thought! Having bought what I needed I did some browsing and found one of those nasal/ear/eyebrow hair trimmers that seem to be popular so I decided to buy one for £15 which is the top end price or thereabouts for this item. Like everyone else I have hair growth in my ears and nose and plucking them out can be painful. This tool efficiently removes unwanted hair almost painlessly. It is also handy for trimming the eyebrow hairs and keeping them short but I still have to pluck them for shaping which fortunately isn’t that painful! Leaving the shop where I bought the last few items I began to walk back to my vehicle but of course en-route there are shoe shops! A weakness of mine is to buy shoes when I don’t really need to because I have a wardrobe full of them. I was thinking along the lines of a pair of low heeled or even flat shoes for going to work and although I am not desperate at the moment I had to go inside a couple of shoe shops to see what they had. I saw two pairs of shoes that were suitable but I resisted all temptation to buy them. No doubt I will buy something on my next trip in November or December. The thing is, I had already bought another pair of shoes over the Internet on Sunday! I simply couldn’t resist the special offer. On Saturday I had been browsing the web site of a shoe shop which I have in my favourites cache in my browser and I saw some lovely shoes which were on offer at a much reduced price. I closed down my computer but the following day, Sunday I just had to go peek again and succumbed to temptation and bought them at £30, half the original price. It pays to wait for bargains! I will have to wait a few days before they arrive though. These shoes though are not for work they are stilettos with 10cm heels (4″)! Four-inch (or 10 cm) is my preferred height for heels but I do have higher ones (5 1/2″)! So resistance is futile with me sometimes when it is to do with buying shoes! It will soon be my season for wearing stockings again and these shoes really need to be complimented with nylon!
Most of us if true to ourselves will admit to living their lives in a routine way, that is to say routine in our lives is a matter of course. To some extent we need routine in our lives, especially in our dealings with others, in our jobs and everything to do with everyday life. Routines change though and for some that can be a problem for many people don’t like change unless it is necessary. Thinking about my own life and the number of changes I have endured in living it, they have changed frequently. My routine day has changed over the years but the fundamental things have always remained the same. The routine of getting up for work and preparing myself for the day, the things I do during the working day and the things I do on returning home are all done routinely. This is why I like to deliberately make changes these days, if I can. Things like organising an impromptu meal out, a barbecue, a trip to the pub, a shopping excursion or maybe a trip to the cinema all make the normal routine more bearable for me. Every one of my days is different in some way but some things I do routinely because I enjoy them, like playing my guitar, reading my Bible or other reading material, working at home, going for a walk. The more things that are done routinely however, the less time and opportunity to do much else exists so it is important to discipline myself if I want a change. Things today are not the same for me as once they were. Once I had no influence or very little influence over my routine day but now, because I work only part-time in my professional capacity, all that has changed and I find I have much more freedom to choose the things I want to do. Things are certainly not the same as once they were. Sometimes any plans I have made for the day go out of the window. Take yesterday for instance, I was having a lie-in when the phone rang. It was a bit of an electrical emergency which I consented to attend on so that meant I had to get out of bed when I would rather have stayed there just a bit longer. I thought I’d have the rest of the day to myself afterward so when I returned home I went into the garden with my guitar for an hour and played some. Sitting in the patio I couldn’t help but notice that the grass was becoming too long and needed mowing. Reluctantly I got on with the job and went indoors for my late lunch. On the way indoors I thought I’d pick some rhubarb again and make myself a rhubarb crumble. I had made some chilli-con-carne on Friday and there was some left over for my lunch and while that was heating through I chopped the rhubarb and an apple and placed it in a pan with some water and sugar. I then mixed the crumble topping before eating my lunch. It didn’t take long to cook the rhubarb and apple and soon it was in the oven topped with the crumble. E had gone out for the afternoon for her monthly meeting, the house was empty but for myself and I had nothing to do that I didn’t want to do.
