Chatting not shopping!

What happened to our lovely Autumn weather? It was drizzling when I got up this morning, but that seemed to pass over as I got ready to go to Monmouth to meet my cousin. By the time I left the house there was a watery sunshine with a promise of more to come. Not so ....by the time I got to Monmouth there was a steady downpour, and by the time I got to the meeting place I looked a wreck! My newly washed hair, stuck to my head and rain dripping from my nose, hood and umbrella! My cousin W. turned up looking smart and neat as always and I felt a real scruff by the side of her, but it is always good to see her and I forgot about my appearance as we started to chat.

A cup of coffee we decided was to be the first port of call, well tea actually, as we are both attending slimming clubs. We had our 'cuppa' in the nearest cafe and chatted our heads off, then thought perhaps we had better move on and do something else. We browsed around the shops in this little market town, but all the 'goodies' were far too expensive for us until we came to the £1 shop where I made two purchases.

We decided it was time for lunch about 30 minutes after we left the coffee shop! We ignored the super little Bistro we normally frequent in a pretty little cobbled street, in favour of a big chain place where we could get a humble baked potato. This we did, washed down with a slimline tonic and lots more chat! When we left we felt so virtuous! By this time cousin W. needed to move her car as her time was up in the car park. This we did and then decided to have an after lunch coffee. We felt we had earned this after our slimmers lunch. More Chat. We decided that through the winter months we would be more cultural, less shopping....what shopping all we did was chat!!!

By this time it was mid afternoon and we had just drifted from coffee shop to eatery to coffee shop! Well we enjoyed it. We parted promising to both go our separate ways and think of how we could improve our cultural knowledge the next time we meet. No chat .... just drinking in culture ...Huh who are we kidding?

Weight Watchers - Week 2

If there is anyone out there following this Blog you will know I started Weight Watchers last week. Tonight I went for my first weigh-in and I have lost 4lbs. YES!!!

An advert for Tesco's..............

Another lovely sunny autumn day. We really are being spoiled after all the summer rain. I met up with Mrs H. this morning we were going shopping. To 'proper' shops today not car booting! We were both after specific items and started out at a new store that had opened this morning. Mrs H was expecting toffees, balloons and a 'goodie bag' to be presented to us as we walked in...... well that was not the case. The 'official' opening is not until next Saturday with the Lord Mayor doing the honours, so we got nothing! Mrs. H. asked if we would get 'goodie bags' if we came back on Saturday, the young staff looked bemused! Nothing we wanted there then..........


We poodled on most of the morning, going to specialised shops and getting all the information our little brains could cope with and then we decided to check things out at Tesco's! After stopping for a 'cuppa' while we put the world to rights we made our way to the electrical department and what did we find, that good old Tesco's had what we both wanted at a more competitive price .......... and as Mrs H. pointed out, we got our club card points as well. Every little helps

Car Booty - Junk or Treasure?

After enjoying a nice lunch with my friend Mrs.H we were joined by our Hungarian friend, the lovely Ms.A and off we went to a local car boot sale!

Now I have mixed feelings about boot sales, some of them contain a lot of junk, but some can be very useful for buying specifics, or items that can cost a fortune in the shops. Depending on your knowledge some great items of art and sculpture can be found, especially if the seller has little or no knowledge of these subjects. Car boot sales have gone from strength to strength over the years and now are very popular and my friends love them. I must say I like to mooch around now and again, but couldn't do it on a regular basis.





Today was another lovely Autumn day, the sun was shining and the boot sale was attached to a garden centre so the venue was perfect and the whole afternoon was bright and cheerful.

It didn't seem to matter whether or not any of us bought anything, it was the fact that we were there together, enjoying ourselves and the sense of friendship, of being 'our little group'. The other two bought some items, but me...I bought a pot of nail polish, well it was half price and unopened!

A nice cold drink or a 'cuppa' in the garden centre finished off a few hours foraging. All were pleased with our 'finds'. The car booty season will end shortly and although I am not the greatest of fans, I will be sorry when they pack up as we have had a nice summer exploring this plethora of unwanted items on offer, but they will be back in the Spring and we will get to examine all those unwanted, useless Christmas presents. The stallholders will be out to sell again to someone who will find a use for their newly discarded objects!

An Autumn Afternoon

I went to visit a friend today. It was a misty morning and the drive deep into the country was lovely. A real autumnal day. Autumn is a season of much change, when nature makes preparation for the cold winter months ahead. I love it. When I arrived my friend was in the garden with her camera and as I drove up the drive she appeared from nowhere.....just out of the bushes laughing....... and proceeded to take a photo of me driving in! It was such a surprise I nearly jumped out of my skin, or my driving seat as the case may be!


I got my new camera out straight away and we started taking photos of spider's webs while the mist was still covering them. It was good fun and we both had some success!

After lunch the sun came out and we went to visit my friends local Church which is set in wonderful countryside with fabulous views. We took dozens of photographs there and then sat on a seat in the graveyard, looking at this spectacular view and just talking like only friends can for almost half an hour. It was so peaceful and 'comfortable' there.

We moved on to the nearby convent grounds and continued with our photography project. We then went and visited the Sisters burial ground where we just sat for a short while. All the time the sun was shining and again it was all so peaceful. I thought how comforting it must be for the Sisters to know where their final resting place is going to be, in such beautiful surroundings with nothing but wild flowers marking the spot, and a crucifix nailed to a tree. What a marvellous thought to hold in ones mind as you travel through the winter of your life.

Teen Study Bible - NIV

After my stressful day at the hospital I decided to go for a swim. The only place I could find to park, near to the leisure centre, was outside the Christian Bookshop. In the window they were advertising a Teen Study Bible for teenagers 12 to 15 years. I didn't think there were many teenagers studying the Bible these days so I thought that was encouraging.

There were some teenagers in the pool when I got there, very well behaved, just having a good time, but I wondered what they would think of this Teen Study Bible. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant, do they think there actually is a God or do they not understand about religion at all? I would like to have asked them, but they probably would have thought I was some kind of lonely religious nut case.

As I watched them I just hoped that they find peace and purpose as they go through life and not just struggle to survive without God in their lives.

The National Health Service

This morning I went to the city hospital to an out patients clinic. I got there 15 minutes early for my appointment and the waiting area was packed to standing room only. The clinic was running two hours behind schedule. Eventually I was able to sit down and looked around me at the people waiting and the staff trying to organise the clinic for the consultant and his interns. It was chaotic and stressful for all concerned.

I thought back to the inception of the NHS in 1948. It was born out of a long-held ideal that good health care should be available to all. Aneurin Bevan, born in my home town of Tredegar, son of a Tredegar miner, was the creator of the NHS. The central principal was clear, the NHS would be available to all and financed entirely from taxation which meant that people paid into it according to their means. So what has happened since 1948.....population explosion, bad management, taxes being spread to thinly but whatever the reason, I don't believe it needs to be in the chaotic state it is today.

When you have nothing to do but stare into space for two hours, no magazines, no vending machine to get a cup of tea, you can't help but overhear people's conversations. Dissatisfied, disgruntled and all these comments being made in ear-shot of the nurses, was soul destroying for all concerned.

The chap sitting opposite me likened it to being packed in like animals in an abattoir, to which his daughter replied 'at least the animals get a time slot for slaughter that is adhered to'. Someone else said he supposed the consultant had been late starting due to over running in his early morning private clinic......... Then one of the nurses was sent off for a break and another one took her place. Someone shouted 'what about a break for us, where is our cup of tea'......... The morning dragged on.

I came to the conclusion that for very little cost a vending machine could be supplied or a water dispenser, and a few magazines donated by staff. If Nye Bevan had taken such a nonchalant approach to his vision of the NHS none of us would be as healthy and privileged as we are today. It is so sad to see it all in such a shambles.....I wonder what the man himself would think about the way it has evolved............... but despite it's shortfalls the NHS is far better and more economical than any other service in the world.................. Now that is food for thought!

I can do it!

This is just to say I CAN DO IT! I can post pictures...............

Nature

I am back in camera mode! I decided that I would practice uploading a picture by myself without my tutor Miss L sitting next to me. Bingo.....I did it! Now whether I can do it again remains to be seen!

I took this picture on the weekend when I did my 'Round Robin' of the city to practice with my camera. I love boats and love being by the water even more, as a Cancerian water is a huge part of my sign, and a huge part of me. I love being by the ocean or the river, that's when I function best.

On my way out earlier, I didn't see any boats or water, but what I did see was a flock of migrating birds. There must have been three dozen or more of them flying overhead in a perfectly shaped V. It was so beautiful to see and so incongruous in this shabby part of the City, where no one looks upwards to see such a sight. It just goes to show you don't have to be in 'posher' parts to see nature, it's all around us if we have the time to look. That sight has uplifted me and has made my day.

The heart of the matter

Having had a day at home waiting for a parcel to be picked up my thoughts have strayed to Friday when I visit the Cardiologist at the local hospital. I am hoping to be discharged from his care at the end of the consultation.

I had never considered the possibility of heart disease prior to this scare, other diseases yes, but never the heart. Unless there is a history in families, I don't think it is a disease that women think about, but women should be more aware of the risk of heart disease. I read in the surgery that more than 100,000 women have a heart attack each year in the UK and heart and circulatory diseases kills almost 10 times as many women as breast cancer, yet it is mainly thought of as a man's disease.

I wonder if it is because women are less likely to seek help if they develop heart symptoms, and are afraid they may not be taken seriously if they do. I certainly had a shock when I was told my heart had gone haywire under the anesthetic when undergoing minor surgery. Although not a heart attack, it was a very surreal moment to know that the main organ in my body was not functioning as it should.

This is why this new diet is so important and so imperative that I succeed. To keep the heart healthy is more important than looking good, but if I can achieve both then I will feel as though I have succeeded.

Beyond the fridge

Day one of my diet is almost over....... so far, so good! I am not following the Weight Watchers regime to the letter, just applying common sense to the suggestions on offer. If I had to spend my time converting food into points, I wouldn't get much further.

My difficulty is living a sedentary lifestyle, and I am always in front of a screen, whether it's a computer or a TV set, and since I have had the car it has compounded the problem. Prior to my getting the car earlier in the year I was getting a lot more exercise.

Now I have to curb the boredom cravings. Anyone who has been on a diet will testify that if it weren't for the evening/boredom food cravings the weight would drop off, so the secret is to keep busy........... I hope!

It's those moments when only a biscuit or a packet of crisps will do. How do you overcome the urge for an unhealthy snack? I was told last night that women are more likely to have cravings than men. Thinking about it that feels about right.

I must stop writing about food, it's making me feel hungry when I know damn well I am not!
How did I allow myself to get into this mess?

Many Happy Returns

Today my friend WJ is having a birthday. What is so unusual about that you are thinking. Well, it's just that she put off having children for so long to establish her career that she now feels she has left it too late. It cost her a marriage somewhere along the way and so birthdays make her sad.

To you WJ...female friendship is all about support, fun and understanding - or at least it should be. You have given me all those things over many years and now its my turn to say 'you can count on me kiddo'.

Weight Watchers

Well I finally did it! I went to Weight Watchers.

After weeks of thinking about it and breaking promises to myself, tonight I finally went to Weight Watchers. I would be lying if I said things have changed; they have to some degree, but still the same small, tatty room in a local pub, with over priced branded goods on sale, everything from cereal bars to cook books and weighing scales.

The only change I noticed was that these days you make an orderly queue and go forward in privacy to be weighed instead of the leader telling you, none to quietly, what you weigh when you are in the front of the scrum!

After the big weigh-in I was given the diet, quick start diet, membership card, points booster, plan tracker, core plan, points plan, recipes, a-z food list and healthy eating guidelines........ and I thought I was crammed with information regarding my blogging, computer instruction and digital camera problems!

Now whether I ever go back to this place I do not know at this point. Nothing has happened tonight to alter my thinking that if you eat healthily, take regular exercise and cut out all rubbish , the same effect can be achieved without converting everything you eat into points!

It can't be that simple can it? Weight Watchers is a world wide organisation, spearheaded by the Duchess of York, surely if they say you weigh every morsel and then convert it into X amount of points per day is the magic formula to loose weight, it has to be true.......doesn't it?

Today I have suffered from an overload of information one way or another. I think I will go and reflect on it all with a bar of chocolate!

A lot to Learn!

What with trying to get to grips with Blogging, my new digital camera and still having my computer lessons, I feel my poor old brain is about to explode!

Good old Miss L. is providing tuition on all three of the above and commented this morning that I was looking a bit 'bog eyed'....well yes, there is a lot of information in there! Still it's better than wasting my time wondering what to do or where to go next! The joys of retirement!!!

I eventually had my curtain pole put back on Saturday, which has meant that I have had some privacy in the evenings and been able to sit with the lights on! Now that this is the case, I can practice putting photo's on my blog in the evenings!

I'll get there in the end. I am determined all this 'cramming' has not been for nothing!

Camera shy?.....No camera mad!

I have spent an entire weekend of my life 'getting to know' my new digital camera! Some of the time it has been a pleasure and some of the time quite frustrating, making me annoyed with myself. A bit like men really!

Have I mastered it? Not by a long way..... I Borrowed one some months back and enjoyed that so much it prompted me into buying one of my own, but I have to say, at the moment, I am not having nearly as much pleasure out of my own. I suppose it's because I am just practicing with this one, wherefore with the borrowed one I was actually going out and about and photographing images I wanted to keep.

Having got my HNC in photography some years ago, I thought this digital business would be easy. How wrong can you be? Taking the photos is easy, downloading is not too difficult, it's the bits in between I can't seem to assimilate. Practice makes perfect so they say....if there is any one out there reading this I guess you will be hearing a lot more about this subject!

Today I bought my first digital camera

This is the first picture I've taken. Can't wait to take more!

Welsh Valley Success

It must be my day for talking about Wales. That's not a problem for me as I am proud to be Welsh.

Popping out just briefly as I wait for the handyman to call me (I left a message on his answerphone earlier) I met a friend from the valleys who asked me if I had seen a programme on television last night about a family from the area in which we had grown up. I hadn't.

Many years ago my father played golf and was Secretary of his particular club but played at other local clubs. He had often talked about one particular club that he liked to visit and was full of admiration for the guy that had created the course, practically single handed.

In about 1980, this chap had cleaned a golf ball which had, unknowingly to him, a film of fertilizer on it. Subsequently he contracted septicemia and meningitis. He survived this and would not be daunted by his disability, sold his house and took his family to live in a caravan near the Golf Course, so that he could complete his dream of building a hotel near the course.

I remember very little of the story after this. I had long moved away from the area and when I did see my father, we don't talk about golf.

It appears that the guy continued with his dream until he died aged only 62years. However his sons took over to complete their fathers dream and although I knew they still owned and lived on this complex, one of Wales most premier hotels, I didn't realise that they were multi millionairs. My Dad would have been tickled pink!

It appears that these sons have been approached by the Ryder Cup Committee to provide the overflow accommodation for the Celtic Manor Resort, just down the road from me in the City, who are hosting this event. What an achievement for a family from the valleys, who still live in this small valley town near the Golf Course, also I was sold today, have not lost their Welsh Vally accents! I wish I had seen the programme, but doubtless it will be repeated.

The Ryder Cup will now be bringing a major input to Welsh tourism in the valleys, not just the cities and no one is more proud of that that me. Well done to the family concerned.

As I have been writing this, I have been listening out for the 'phone.....nothing. Huh, another night in the dark!

Oh ....... I rang my landlord to tell him of my plight, he was in Greece! That call must have cost me a fortune and I have still no result! My doomed week continues.......

Just Some Thoughts..........

I read an article about Dame Shirley Bassey this am. She was speaking about the area in Cardiff where she was born. As a child and a young girl I knew it well...Tiger Bay. My grandmothers sister lived in nearby Splott and visits there were always exiting as a child, and more so as I got older as both areas were situated near the docks and just the thought of being that close to something prohibited was exiting!

In a previous blog I wrote about a disappointing visit to the now newly named Cardiff Bay. Dame Shirley had exactly the same views. It was somehow satisfying that I had not been so wrong about a place that people of a younger generation (and some oldies) now rave about.

I thought with some sadness after finishing the article, how such colourful areas as Tiger Bay and Splott had vanished, swept away by a great tidal wave, to create an are such as Cardiff Bay.

Some may think I have a reason to dislike the place. I mentioned in my last blog the place has painful connotations for me, with my husband and his brand new mistress, my close friend, choosing to live there. That is not the case. It is the fact that areas such as Tiger Bay and Splott, elements of them that are endlessly timeless in our minds are gone forever...and for what ...progress?

Apologies

I haven't got the hang of this wretched spellcheck yet, so apologies for the errors in last posting.

Eventually identified a house I might like to buy today, advertised in the local paper. However, in keeping with my luck this week, when I worked the figures out, they wont add up in the long term... no-one can take out a mortgage with a short term plan.

Ah Well!

A Miserable Week

I decided to give up blogging after a miserable week of not being very well and deciding blogging was a waste of time. I am not sure that I have changed my mind, but a comment from a friend thismorning spurred me on me to keep going for now.

I haven't done a lot, kept getting disaster after disater, some small, some larger, but nothing anyone else would want to read.

Yesterday was most frustrating. After cleaning the whole house I was finishing up with the bathroom. I decided to stand back and admire my handiwork, bumpted into a wretched Spider Plant that DID live there and knocked it into my sparkling clean white bath, spraying all over the freshly washed floor as it fell. What a muddy mess! It now lives, together with it's pot, saucer and compost at the bottom of my yard!

As if that was not enough,I then went downstairs to watch the 'Soap' that I follow, went to draw the curtains for the evening and the right hand side of the curtain and pole fell down on top of me. I hasten to add I was not hurt, but the frustration was emmence as I had to sit in the dark all night so that people could not see in.

This morning has not been a lot better, I put a load of washing in last night as the weather forcast was good, and when I opened the one remaining curtain it was raining cats and dogs. What up with these weather forcasting people?

Off to see my old friend B. who lives a few doors away, is 84 years old and likes to do odd jobs for the price of a pint. 'He's on holiday in Bournmouth' said his kindly neighbour. Damn...what now. No handyman will coome out for such a small job. Another evening in the dark while I think what to do!

Good job my friend Miss L keeps sending me giggly jokes to keep my spirits up!

The last staw has been while all this has been happening to me, another friend of ours keeps emailing me from her sunny holiday destination about what a great time she is having in fab weather! Who says life is fair?