Yesterday the weather was atrocious, strong winds and torrential rain for most of the day. It was the sort of day where hibernating seemed like the ideal plan. I did have to go out a couple of times, to visit my Mother in the morning and again in the evening to take her a meal. She is recovering, but very slowly. Later that morning I left a message on my twin sister's mobile, its many months since we chatted, she rarely if ever responds to my messages and is usually quite 'off' with me at anytime we do speak. I was quite surprised that Denise returned my call and was actually friendly and chatty!
This morning I was supposed to transport my Mother to the surgery for a blood test, but I had to cancel it as she isn't mobile enough to get out. I also had an appointment to see my GP. She sent me off for a blood test and I was able to take the same appointment that I had cancelled earlier. I also had to have an x ray which I was able to have done this afternoon. Isn't the NHS wonderful when it works. I have been having difficulties with the joints in my hands and as I suspected its the early signs of arthritis. The tests are to find out if its rheumatoid or osteo. It is most likely to be osteoarthritis which is aged related! Ooh dear is 50 really old!
Tomorrow I'm back at work after two weeks absence, the first due to sickness and the next for annual leave. I'm looking forward to it, though I will have to try and fit in the work I missed during my sick leave!

This morning I had a telephone call from my Mother. My Mum had fallen in her bedroom and was in a lot of pain from an injury to her back. She told me that the fall had been a couple of days before and she hadn't been able to sleep because of the pain. I felt so awful because I'd been home from our holiday over 24 hours and I hadn't called her, instead I had spent the day doing the washing and shopping and my plan had been to call into day after a trip to the hairdresser!
The Dr made a house call and pronounced that he didn't think she had done any lasting damage, she had probably twisted her back and was probably bruised internally. Pain killing gel and strong pain killers were prescribed by the GP and collected by me from the chemists. Advice from the kindly Dr was that it could take two or three weeks to recover.

This morning at I.00 am we arrived back from our holiday. We have been to Germany for 6 days and had driven down to see Friederike & Vic in Munich. Our plan was to take it nice and easy and drive back with a couple of stopovers with plenty of time for sightseeing. We didn't pre book any where to stay and getting accommodation on spec worked well.
Our first night was at Heidelberg, we arrived there after an afternoon spent at Rothenberg a beautiful walled medieval city. Steve had been to Rothenberg before about 20 years before on business and it was well worth a visit. Sadly I spent some time in the all year Christmas shop. After a night in a lovely hotel, we visited the schloss in Heidelberg, having nearly killed myself walking up the hundreds of stairs we discovered the funicular railway! We revived ourselves with delicious coffee and cake and moved further north to our last stop in Aachen.
After booking into the hotel we discovered that the wallet containing our passports and insurance documents were back in Heidelberg!!! After a few stress full phone calls and the realisation that we were unable to arrange for posting/courier for our paperwork we knew that we would have to drive back for three hours to collect the documents. We were both tired and decided that we would have a meal and some sleep before driving back the next day. We saw Aachen by night and had the best meal in a small Italian restaurant. My apologies to anyone who thinks German food is good, but apart from the cake and what our hosts prepared for us I don't particularly enjoy the cuisine. I chose a Capresse salad as I was yearning for fresh veg and I couldn't face garlic bread as I was totally breaded out! After an early breakfast of fruit & yogurt we were on the road by 7.00am yesterday morning. We spent six hours extra driving and in reality the time spent on the road yesterday was the same if we had driven back from Munich in one go. Oh well, we had a great time with our friends and things were going really well until Tuesday night! I would go by road again as it was so nice to see the countryside and take our time. Neither of us have apportioned blame for the forgotten documents, but I can say it wasn't me who tucked them away in a draw for safe keeping:).
I'm not a great shopper, but I do really enjoy shopping in Europe, so I was a bit disappointed that I wasn't able to go around the kitchen shops in Aachen. Oh well, there will always be another time.

Why have I been on the sofa since 5.00am? The answer is because ones husband had a night out with the sailing committee and has been snoring outrageously since the early hours! Admittedly I could have gone to a bed in another room, but I am too awake to get back to sleep. I'm feeling a lot better than I did yesterday, though the fog in my head hasn't lifted yet. I shall have the day off today, my colleagues have cancelled my work for the day, which is probably sensible as I don't want to inflict either any parents or child with this horrible little bug!

We have a trip to Europe planned at the end of the week. Our grand tour will take us to visit our friends in Germany. The trip is a bit of a compromise, because of Steve's little problem with his ticker. We have been advised to not travel out of Europe and to keep Steve happy I have agreed that we will drive instead of flying! I must be mad! Were due to leave on Thursday afternoon. We will catch the ferry from Dover to Calais and drive into Belgium where we stay overnight, driving down to Munich on Friday. We will probably stay with Friederike, Victor & Theresa until Monday, really looking forward to seeing them all again. Our Ferry isn't booked, so we can potter back at our own pace!

I realise the picture of Friederike isn't a good one, but I don't know how to delete it. Sorry Fred!

Can I really be spending another day between the sofa and bed? Yes, still feeling pretty yuk! Have been watching daytime tv, do people really watch Jeremy Kyle?

I had to stay home for most of yesterday as a super doopa air bed that was delivered last week in error was being picked up by a delivery man. The correct super doopa air bed that we had originally ordered and more superior to the first, was to be collected by yet a different delivery man! The collection went well and while waiting for the delivery of the right bed, the shopping arrived from Tesco.
I had ordered the ingredients to make some Christmas puddings and set forth. Weighing, peeling and mixing. I had decided to make more than usual and to give them to some friends. Two hours later and with a great deal of rum added, I had two large mixing bowls full! At this stage I realised that I didn't have enough pudding basins! A trip into Gosport was planned for after the delivery.
It wasn't too long before the delivery man banged on the door and would you believe he had brought the same model of bed, that a few hours ago had been sent back! The delivery driver very nicely told me that he couldn't take it back, so next Tuesday, Steve will work from home and hopefully it will be third time lucky.

After a trip to the shops and more Pyrex purchased I came home and filled and covered the bowls, ready for steaming today!
Having researched cooking on the web, I decided that I was going to cook them in a different way. Some in a Ban Marie, slow steaming in the oven. Elaine had offered me the use of her pressure cook which would reduce the cooking time by two thirds for one or two of the puds. I set the oven for 6, so the process could begin before I awoke.

Elaine arrived halfway through the morning, without the pressure cooker, I didn't like to mention it, but it wasn't long before she realised and we had a laugh about her senior moment! I refused Elaine's offer of going home, instead we had coffee and we sampled a small pudding which I'd cooked last night as a trial in the Ban Marie. (It was delicious).

It's been a glorious day, although I didn't mind being at home as I had woken up with my throat feeling like it was being cut wit razor blades and knew I wouldn't be wanting to go far. I did wander over to the seafront to watch the sailing for a little time.

At 4.00pm Christo & Naomi arrived as expected to collect a television that we had offered them previously. Just before they arrived I couldn't believe the condescending E mail I received from A telling me she had no problem with with us giving the television to Christo as longs as it was completely safe! We had a lovely couple of hours, before they left to have dinner at Christo's parents. They were both not looking forward to it as they said having spoken to the lady by phone earlier in the day they were in for a rough evening.

Tomorrow I have a trip out with some friends planned, at the moment I don't think I will be going as my sore throat is turning into a streaming cold:(.

As is usual I'm up first on this Sunday morning. We have friends staying after a very pleasant evening. It was prize giving for the cadets at the sailing club and as one of the trainers Steve was there. I didn't go, but had earlier in the day prepared a lasagna, so six of us had supper afterwards, a very relaxed, easy evening. Today I have no plans, already it looks like it will be one of those days where unless you really have to go out you should stay cocooned in the house. The rain has been relentless for the past 24 hours and the wind has been wild. Steve was disappointed that the sailing was cancelled yesterday afternoon, he didn't feel the same about the work in the garden that he had planned for the morning. Instead of out door jobs, Steve spent some time doing some much put of work in the house. Neither of us are greatly into DIY, Steve would rather sail when the weather permits and rather than pay a professional we would both prefer to spend our money on holidays. Hence why we chose a relatively modern house for this phase of our lives, we are defiantly not project people.

Steve saw his specialist on Tuesday. Steve is now being monitored on his new medication and if this doesn't keep his arrhythmia in check he faces surgery, we will face that if it becomes a reality. We have a weeks holiday from work in a couple of weeks, our plan had been that we would take a last minute trip to Europe. Steve is happy to go, I feel a little bit reluctant, we need to talk about it and check out our travel insurance.