A Bit Of An Effort

After a slow start to the day, I managed a brief not so brisk walk with my beloved around mid-day. It’s quite remarkable how much energy seemed to be used up on a ten minute visit to the grocery shop, at the beginning of the walk, making the short stroll much more of an effort.

By mid-afternoon, my energy was sufficiently restored to enable me to spend an hour on preparations for tomorrow’s lunch, a spiced and herby moussaka variant. If the result is even half as splendid as the cooking aromas suggest I’ll be well and truly satisfied.

What's This

My current levels of concentration [see Progress On Hold and A Temporary Setback on Heterocon] are such that, it seems something of a miracle to even get this far in a posting. Only problem is, I’ve forgotten what I intended to post! Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

A Little Night Music

Bluesy, Jazzy, Ballsy, Tender … Alison Moyet is just an amazing chanteuse. Along with my beloved, I’ve just been watching, and listening to ‘One Blue Voice Live’. Apart from the incredible vocal stylings of Ms Moyet, the musical arrangements, presumably by Steve Corley (Musical Director & keyboards) were quite simply impeccable. A glass or two of ‘Willy Willy Shiraz, 2004’ provided an ideal accompaniment.

Despite the rather melancholy subtext to many of the songs, one couldn’t help but be uplifted by the overall performance.

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Counting the cost

Monday’s Curtain Call, not totally unexpectedly, took its toll; it’s only in the past half hour that I’ve started to feel remotely human once more. The frequency, with which such modest degrees of exertion have a disproportionate negative effect on my sense of well-being, proves intensely frustrating.

I have to admit, that a few weeks back I wouldn’t have even contemplated performing the task imposed by the inconsiderate behaviour of the old curtain track. My bold assumption is that normal progress, on the health front, will soon be resumed!

Curtain Call

A LITTLE ACTIVITY GOES A LONG WAY but, unfortunately, it feels as if I’ve gone a lot further! Having clambered across the arm of a sofa, to access a wall cupboard, I managed to miss my footing and, as my leg crumpled beneath me, I flailingly reached out for an object to hold onto. The closest object to hand was the back of the self-same sofa which had provided my initial obstacle course. The sofa itself is backed up to the curtains; the rail on which the curtains theoretically glided but, in reality stuttered along, had been in situ for 20+ years and, had obviously reached a stage of plastic fatigue. The combination of hand on sofa back and sofa back on curtain, led to a phase of total collapse; fortunately not mine! Several of the rails supporting brackets chose this moment to emphasise their frailty, simultaneously fracturing, as the curtains and their track, spontaneously and unceremoniously, demonstrated the laws of gravity.

First port of call, for my beloved et moi, was the DIY store. A 2.2 metre rail was swiftly acquired but, the installation procedure involves a practise far less simple than the instructions suggest. Fixing the brackets proved quite straightforward (well to be honest slightly crookedly-forward) apart from minor glitches. Fixing the track onto the brackets was in principle equally simple, but the precise positioning of the bracket latch required a little more manual dexterity than this fatigued human-being could initially muster. Perspiration and giddiness are not my favourite companions whilst perched on top of a stepladder.

What should have taken perhaps 20 to 30 minutes, in practise took about 1 hour and twenty minutes but, I have to admit it only felt like an eternity. Task completed; the curtains do actually glide along the track and, for the first time, we have a curtain rail that extends beyond the actual width of the window. The curtains seem to hang better than before; I only wish I had the energy to rejoice in this minor task successfully completed.

A False Dawn

Methinks the frogs on Thursday were simply out for a practise run; the evidence for their temporary bout of frenetic activity is nowhere to be found. No frogspawn to be seen but, at least my preliminary tidying up operation means less work to be done when signs of Spring once more reassert themselves. For the time being we are back under the spell of more wintry conditions.

Slaving and Salivating

After yesterday’s day of de-activation, I’ve almost managed to stay awake today; I even managed a twenty minute brief brisk walk this afternoon. At lunchtime I prepared a salmon pasta for my beloved and myself and, towards the end of the afternoon (whilst listening to ‘Jazz Record Requests’) prepared tomorrows Chicken casserole –  a kind of hybrid Anglo/ Spanish/ Mexican concoction –  and par-boiled the potatoes in my special spiced & herby infusion, ready for roasting.

My traditional weariness (sore throat, burning eyes and inadequately synchronised lower limbs), was satisfactorily re-united with a cramp-like pain between the shoulder blades as I slaved over the hot stove. Apart from that it has been a reasonably good day. Ma Belle Helene prepared me a delicious bacon and black pudding sandwich as fair recompense for all my endeavours; it’s truly good to know that my culinary endeavours are so well appreciated!

Emergency Measures

A temporary mild spell of weather is now with us, an opportunity to check up on the pond once more and, remove the netting which has covered it since autumn. This morning’s visit proved timely indeed, as the first frogs had found their way to the pond. An emergency rescue was called for, as a copulating couple (of frogs I hasten to add) had managed, in their frenzy, to become entangled in the net’s edge. After a few minutes of careful manoeuvring, I was able to release the inseparable pair from this unintended snare.

Whilst up at the pond, I decided to do a bit of trimming back of the pond weed and, removed a little of the detritus that had somehow evaded our precautionary net. For the first time this season, I was able to watch a couple of the larger goldfish as they made a brief visit towards the pond’s surface; obviously the water temperature has risen a little from its recent rest within, and beneath, its hard ice shell. No sign of the baby goldfish today but, it’s still exciting to observe the signs of changing seasons.

By my standards, it turned out to be a rather busy morning but, I’m still alert enough to tell the tale. Much to my surprise, I’d even managed to take a shower without needing a rest before I applied myself to the task of getting dressed! Things are certainly starting to look up but, I still carefully listen out for my body’s request for rest.  

Blair's Friend is not (even remotely) amused!

Guardian God: I've lost faith in Blair