Saturday 14 December 2019

One Daily Positive - Week 50 A visit to South Africa.

It rained Saturday night and Sunday morning and it was lovely to pull the curtains in the morning and actually see weather here in Dubai. It's also been raining in Centurion where I'm visiting this week, but their rain has washed away 500 homes in a township, claimed lives and became international news when people were air lifted from a hotel.

I haven't taken many pictures this week, despite being on holiday as I've been spending time with friends and their families, just chilling out, drinking wine and eating great food.

I've really had a good rest this week and it's been great to spend time with old friends with no agenda. I've been packing Christmas boxes and sorting through donations matching them up with the right facilities.

342 Sunday Spent the day cleaning the house, popped out for coffee and finished packing. Peter cooked tea and we had an early night. Finished approving quotes and booking the work needed on our UK house. Apart from carpets, it'll all be clean and freshly decorated throughout by my next visit. As the furniture isn't arriving until May, I have plenty of time to decide.

Time spent trying to capture this stray so I could get him to the vets but he won't let me near him.

343 Monday Super busy day, took Peter to the airport, cat and dog to boarding, Dr's, nail bar, dropped gifts with friend, car cleaned and took it to the garage to see about selling it. Home, ironing, dinner, bath and evening spent finishing off the online paperwork.

I visited a psychiatrist today as I've been having problems sleeping max 4 hours a night, since discovering I'm intolerant to wheat my health has improved, the migraines have stopped and my chronic pain has improved. But we still haven't reached the bottom of the high white blood cell count or discovered if my iron levels are rising and if the small bleed in the small intestine has stopped. The past two years have seen me discover a lesion on the brain, tested for Leukaemia, my father then died, bone marrow biopsy under the care of an oncologist for 18 months, dental implant surgery and now the decision to return to the UK next month. I was diagnosed with Generalised Anxiety Disorder. Had pretty much reached that conclusion prior to making the appointment but couldn't get short term help with the sleeping problems unless I saw him first.

Ladies waiting area at the Dr's

344 Tuesday Off to the airport at 7am for day flight to Johannesburg, Peter collected me on arrival and took me to my friends house in Pretoria where I'm staying till the weekend.

345 Wednesday Spent the day pottering around friends house and just relaxing. Peter collected me after work and we went to another friends house for a Christmas dinner. I stayed over night and he returned to Joburg.

346 Thursday I took myself off early for a mini self drive safari, where I used to spend a lot of time as it was near child 4 &5's old school. I finished reading my book by a lake, drinking tea and watching the birds. Early evening I met a friend with her 2 children at the local dairy farm.


347 Friday Out in the morning for a coffee then the afternoon was spent with the friend I'm staying with drinking cocktails while her son was at the cinema with Friends. Peter collected me after work and we drove 'home' to the Golf Estate where we used to live to stay with another set of friends for the weekend.

348 Saturday Had a good sleep and off to a local market this morning, then dinner out tonight.


On the blog this week:

Why it's important to have routine

Letting the side down with plastic use and recycling with Going Green.




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20 comments:

  1. Glad to hear you had an enjoyable week, meeting friends and just chilling out. That's exactly what you need. Scary about the rain destroying so many homes. That poor cat.
    Love the double rainbow, and seeing a meercat must be wonderful. Hope your sleep problems will be helped.

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    1. Have had a decent nights sleep every night I've been here, will adopt the fresh air strategy to life back in Dubai to see if that helps

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  2. It must be really nice to see rain but not nice hearing about the houses being washed away.
    What a sad looking cat :(
    You have had such a rough few years. It's no wonder your mental health has suffered. It sounds like you have been having a great time in South Africa. x

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    1. Thank you Kim, this trip to SA has been a life saver

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  3. Oh it looks like you are having a good time. I hope you get some relief from the sleep problems. Might be worth trying CBD oil if you haven't already as I found it good for anxiety/sleep problems.

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    1. CBD oil is banned here but something I'll look into when i'm in the UK

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  4. It looks like you are having a good time in South Africa - and how nice to see photos that aren't dark and cold and miserable! I hope the diagnosis is the next step towards getting your sleep problems sorted. You've been so busy and under so much pressure over the last couple of years that it is no wonder your mental health and sleep have suffered.

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    1. South Africa was amazing and hope to go back over a lot more next year with peter

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  5. Glad to hear you are having a good time. It sounds like you are loving South Africa. The photos look fab. I hope things calm down a bit for you now xx

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    1. SA was the tonic I needed, now full steam ahead for the move back to the UK

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  6. Sounds like it's been a good week. Hope you're on the road to improving the sleep issues now.

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    1. Hopefully with some medds for a short term period I can get on top of the sleep issue

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  7. glad you have had some down time and met back up with friends, just the relaxation you needed.
    No wonder you are anxious and worried, you have been through a lot for you body physically and your emotions with the trauma and deaths.
    Love the meerkat picture

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    1. thank you Elaine, SA was the right tonic for me

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  8. Sounds like the trip to South Africa was the perfect tonic and if it got you to sit still for more than five minutes it was definitely worth it!! #365

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    1. I'm adopting the SA life style back here and spending all my time outside, it's definitely better than mopping around indoors all the time

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  9. Aww that cat...hope someone manages to cat him. Good on you for trying.

    Sounds like a good week catching up with friends and just what you needed.

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  10. The weather has been awful all around the world but some areas are really suffering. I'm not surprised your diagnosis was anxiety after the recent experiences :( Wishing you more positivity and happiness in 2020 #project65

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