Week 47 One Daily Positive and Project 365

We had a fab weekend at the Rugby League World Cup Final, but we were badly bitten by bed bugs and have both been itching all week. The hotel offered us a free upgrade and breakfast for our next stay but we've declined, as I'm sure you would.

We also had a bonus of listening to Heather Small perform live at the end of the match.

The adblue sensor on the car has gone, so we've been limping around with only a handful of miles to spare before the vehicle won't start. It's booked in the garage next week.

My head hasn't been any better, not the full on migraine but a dull nagging pain behind my right eye, the same one they've discovered a freckle behind after I complained of blurred vision in it.

I've been asked a few times and even challenged about how I can function when I have migraine attacks. I just about function. The pain is non stop, but I just can't go to my bed and pop some pills as my migraines last up to 72 hours, I get a small time of respite and then they kick back in. It is constant pain. I can't just take to my bed and do nothing because nothing doesn't help.

322 Saturday Drove up to Manchester and afternoon and evening spent at Old Trafford watching the Rugby.

323 Sunday The hotel was a disaster so we left by 8am had a coffee and wandered around Manchester before driving home via Ikea in Birmingham.

324 Monday Home from work then up to Gloucester Hospital till 2am with my niece to look after mum who had been taken ill. My Uncle died in the morning so it was a long and difficult day. Discovered we'd both been bitten by bed bugs.

325 Tuesday Part of our relocation to the UK involved either moving house or having an extension built as well as modernising the house. We decided to stay put, sold the flat and the money has paid for the new kitchen and tonight we signed the paperwork for the new extension which will commence in the spring.

We had hours of entertainment with the dog getting stuck behind doors.

326 Wednesday I finished the ironing, put everything away and tidied. The food shop was delivered and notes written up for A level English Literature. 

The new quality street wrappers are boring and dull.

327 Thursday Home from work, early tea and I got the Christmas decorations down from the attic, ready to go up over the weekend. We watched the football and I did some blogging. 

I got the Christmas decorations out the attic.

328 Friday We went to Birmingham to do some Christmas shopping, visit the German markets and see the lights. The evening was spent blogging.

The Floozy in the Jacuzzi.

On the blog this week:

Weekend in Manchester for the Rugby

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Post Comment Love 25-27th November 2022

Welcome back to #PoCoLo with Stephanie from Lifeat139a and I. 

Post Comment Love #PoCoLo is a friendly weekly linky where you can link up any blog post you've written this week and all we ask is that you leave a comment on either mine or Stephanie's post which you linked up through and at least one other post.

Sorry I've not been around to share and comment over the past two weeks, but we've had a lot going on with various family and health issues.

Today is a Staff Well Being day so I'm off work and we're heading to Birmingham for the day to finish the Christmas shopping and see the lights and the weekend is being spent in pjs, putting up the Christmas decorations and watching TV and eating chocolate so I'll have plenty of time to catch up with everyone.

I desperately need to get out in the garden and sort out the bougainvillea that I've planted as a hedge row. The roots need protecting from the frost and ideally the plants should be brought inside, but we just don't have the room for them, so fingers crossed they'll be ok.

We also need to dismantle the old shed now the new one is in place and we need to sort the bike shelter and gardening stuff out in their new home.

I've also started writing the Christmas cards and will need to find some time to do all the Christmas wrapping. I tend to work better with a deadline.

We had a fab weekend at the Rugby League World Cup despite getting bitten by bed bugs during our stay at The Britannia Hotel in Manchester.

We'd also love it if you could RT us on Twitter when we tag you to help us reach a wider audience.

I'll be catching up with reading your posts from last week and this, sharing and commenting over the weekend.

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The Rugby League World Cup Final and Heather Small

We love attending sporting events and have traveled far and wide to attend events such as the Rugby 7's in Hong Kong and I went to the Olympics in 1992 in Barcelona as well as events where we've lived. From football at Birmingham City and other grounds to FA cup finals and England Games at Wembley. There's been the golf in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and South Africa and cricket, rugby and football in South Africa at The Wanderers, Centurion and Ellis Park. Peter recently attended the opening game at the new Allianz Stadium in Sydney. I've worked on the European Golf Tour in the UAE and the UK and volunteered at the Commonwealth Games and for a few years I worked for the English Football Association.

We spent the weekend in Manchester to go to Old Trafford to the Rugby League World Cup Final.

The atmosphere was great, the game was 50/50 although Australia won both the women's and the men game.

The crowd were definitely behind Samoa although they did beat England in the semi finals.

We arrived at Old Trafford at the end of the Women's final.

Australian Women's team presentation

In our seats, we couldn't see the outside.

Rugby League Kevin Sinfield at half time who has been raising funds by running 300 miles in 7 days for his friend Rob Burrow who has Motor Neurone disease.

Interruption to the match from a streaker.

Men's Presentation.

 Samoan Team.

England Mens Wheelchair Rugby League winners.

Leaving the ground was a bit treacherous as we were funnelled into a narrow space towards the tram.

It took about an hour to get on a tram.

At one point I yelled at the crowd behind to stop pushing as we balanced on the station platform edge.

We had a fab weekend, it's not cheap to attend a sporting event, but it's something we both love doing together.

And a bonus concert from Heather Small

Week 46 - One Daily Positive and Project 365

For the past few weeks I've been watching Stranger Things, it's really good and I'm enjoying it.

My migraines haven't been this bad since 2017 when extensive tests took me down the bone marrow biopsy route in Dubai. During that time I also contracted pneumonia.

I've had a headache 24/7 now for 4 weeks. I will say that I've become used to them now, but it's extremely hard going, painful and frustrating. You'll find me banging my head against an available wall.

315 Saturday I managed to do 2 loads of washing today and rather foolishly took the bed sheets and towels to the laundrette to dry. Rest of the day I spent in bed, head hurting too much now, unable to get any relief from it. Took up to my maximum dose of medication and according to NHS app and symptoms I should've called 999.

316 Sunday Didn't sleep all night, managed to be pain free for around 20mins per hour. By 7am, I'd woken Peter and we headed for the local A&E where I was told on arrival I couldn't have meds until I saw the Dr. After 2 hours I asked how long before I could see the Dr to have meds and was told 'they're not mind readers and I'm to ask' nurse returned with triptans and paracetamol. I told her I'd been taking these for days and they weren't working, she went straight into 'you can't queue jump and if you don't take these, I'll be recorded as refusing meds and it will delay me seeing the Dr. The triage nurse who told me I couldn't have meds stood and said nothing and another staff came out and said 'calm down, don't shout at the staff or you'll be refused treatment' I wasn't shouting, I was crying and in severe pain, I just asked a question, I took the meds and sat on the floor outside A&E for another 2 hours where it was quieter and not so bright with the lights. The Dr I saw was great, took time to listen, hooked me up on a drip, recommended I see my GP and ask for a referral to a neurologist. Home via Tesco to buy lunch and evening on the sofa.

317 Monday No work today, I still have some head pain and for some reason my back and neck pain is at its worse pain wise. Stayed in bed for the morning, then decided I needed some fresh air so took the dog for a walk.

The last of my fathers stamps, I've still got picture ones that can be used up, but these expire end of January, they're all paired up to the value of a 2nd class stamp ready for Christmas posting.

318 Tuesday Work and home to package gifts for sending to Australia and America and writing Christmas cards and letters to go in the parcels.

Messing around with DIL

319 Wednesday Work and home via the retail park to pick up some cat food, which ended up with me doing some Christmas shopping, getting home at 6pm.

Video call with grandson

320 Thursday Work and an altercation as I tried to access our blocked driveway where I was sworn at by a parent. I've had enough of this and saw the Head of the school who was dismissive and I've reported the incident on the none emergency police web page and am writing to the Governors. 

Christmas cards being written

321 Friday Work and home via the nail bar, evening spent with friend with chips and wine (vimto for me)

Waiting for their dinner

On the blog this week:

This week I'm moaning about the local school parents and their poor parking in Does common courtesy exist anymore?

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Post Comment Love 18th-20th November 2022

Welcome back to #PoCoLo with Stephanie from Lifeat139a and I. 

Post Comment Love #PoCoLo is a friendly weekly linky where you can link up any blog post you've written this week and all we ask is that you leave a comment on either mine or Stephanie's post which you linked up through and at least one other post.

I'm still struggling with a reoccurring migraine, week 3 of it now and I've had enough. It means I've had much less patience with the world which is reflected in this weeks blog post.

We've had a quiet week, just work and lots of TV watching, we're off to the Rugby League World Cup Final tomorrow for the men and women and a night in a hotel

We'd also love it if you could RT us on Twitter when we tag you to help us reach a wider audience.

I'll be catching up with reading your posts from last week and this, sharing and commenting over the weekend.

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Does common courtesy exist anymore? The school run.

We live next door but one to a Primary School. I work at a Secondary School on the other side of town. 

Twice a week I cycle to work and I get a lift back and forth the other days. About once a week I take the car.

It's quicker for me to unlock my bike, check the tyres, cycle to school, lock my bike and put my helmet and bag in my locker than it takes to reverse off the drive, drive through the traffic, find somewhere to park and walk into school.

I don't cycle every day as some days I have too much to carry in, I'm not a confident rider and it is a 5 mile round trip which is a bit much for me every day.

If I take the car, I approach work the long way round and drive away from the school to park without blocking anyones drive way and park away from the junction, facing in the direction of home, so I don't get stuck in the melee of parents, cyclists, buses and those walking. However it means when I arrive home, it's often a fight to drive down the neighbouring streets with all the parents parking for the Primary School and there are many times when it's a tight fit to squeeze onto the drive, keeping a watchful eye out for children, unsupervised, running across our drive. On quite a few occasions, I haven't been able to get on the drive.

Parents park outside our house, lock their car and walk away to collect their children. Parents ignore our requests to move their car when they're sat in it outside our house, music blaring. Our garden often contains the remains of sweet wrappers, dropped on the ground at the end of school.

Cycling has its dangers also. Car drivers drive too close, over take while I'm cycling past parked cars and over taking me on blind corners. Cars over taking me then pull in front to turn left at the junction, I'm cycling past. Electric vehicles driving too close and I can't hear them. buses driving too close when over taking and pedestrians just stepping out in the road in front of me, usually school children of all ages.

Leaving work at 3pm means I have to walk the gauntlet of all the students leaving at the same time. I've broken up fights, dealt with bullying, walk through a wall of fragrance vapers. I get side swiped with bags, contend with cyclists on the pavements and weaving in and out of traffic and impatient drivers who narrowly miss knocking either me off my bike or the wing mirrors off my car.

All the above stresses me out, can make the start or the end of my day most unpleasant, no apologies, no embarrassed smile, no recognition they've even done anything wrong. 

So to combat this and reduce the risks of a) me getting knocked off my bike b) a car accident or c) me losing my rag at someone, I leave for work 30 mins early every day and I leave work 30 minutes late everyday, plus the journey time to and from work, whether by car or bike, I'm out the house for 30 hours for work, 3 and half hours commute and 5 hours out the house to avoid unnecessary stress. 

Do you do the school run? Do you live near a school? Are you considerate of the schools neighbours?

Week 45 - One Daily Positive and Project 365.

I've been in a lot of pain this week with my head still sore and banging from time to time and horrendous pain in my right shoulder and chest. 

The heating has been on twice this week, once in the morning and again on a different evening. It's not actually feeling that cold. Struggling to get the washing dried at the moment.

308 Saturday Woke early and off to see our grandson for his 1st birthday. Morning spent at child 4's house. Then off to the park with child 2 and his family and then to the in laws who were hosting a party with family and friends. It was lovely to see everyone again, we had some lovely food and company and were the last to leave having some time to catch up with DIL's mum and dad.

309 Sunday Called in at child 4s house to say our goodbyes and after returning the car hire we had something to eat and a coffee before our flight, then train and home around 5pm.

310 Monday Back to work and home to lay on the sofa all evening watching TV. Dinner of liver and onions actually tasted far better than it looked.

311 Tuesday Cycled to work and back, almost got knocked off when a car pulled out of a junction, my first near miss. I walked the dog and had a knee tea, ran the hoover round and watched TV.

I love the variety of topics I'm exploring in school.

312 Wednesday Home and in a lot of pain, had a zoom call with the financial advisor, had tea, a bath and watched TV. Working with year 8s who didn't go on the rearranged Cadbury Trip from when the weather was too hot. 

313 Thursday Up early and paid my Inland Revenue £100 for filing my Capital Gains Tax 2 days late. Cycled to work and back, so windy, it was difficult to ride in.I managed to cycle all the way home apart from 20ms up this railway bridge. 

314 Friday Went swimming before work, noticed I had a bruise under my left eye, head still hurting and getting frustrated so left school, saw GP who took bloods then told me to see regular GP to manage migraines. Day spent in bed.

Pile of gifts, cards and letters for sending to Australia and America for Christmas.

On the blog this week:

Give us 3 rings when you're home

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Post Comment Love 11th-13th November 2022

Welcome back to #PoCoLo with Stephanie from Lifeat139a and I. 

Post Comment Love #PoCoLo is a friendly weekly linky where you can link up any blog post you've written this week and all we ask is that you leave a comment on either mine or Stephanie's post which you linked up through and at least one other post.

After a busy few weeks, we've got some down time for a week or two. My migraine still hasn't dissipated, but I'm on new meds, so fingers crossed.

We've spent a lot of tie with family recently, with a child visiting from Australia to a trip to Northern Ireland for Grandsons 1st birthday and extra visits with our other grandchild who lives just over an hours drive from home.

We've made a few observations about being part of the sandwich generation, between two completely different generations. Maybe our parents felt this way and maybe our children will in time as their families grow. But for now we feel we're the only age group that can survive with and without technology and all the other things/issues that come with that as I've written about in this weeks blog that I've linked up with.

We'd also love it if you could RT us on Twitter when we tag you to help us reach a wider audience.

I'll be catching up with reading your posts from last week and this, sharing and commenting over the weekend.

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Give us 3 rings when you're home

Does anyone remember doing this?

My parents used to do this after a long drive from visiting relatives. Dial their number from the landline and let it ring three times to indicate they had arrived home safely to save the cost of an expensive phone call.

My husband remembers a time before landlines in the house where his mum would call her mum, phone box to phone box at a set time and date and make arrangements to meet somewhere the following week.

No contact was had in-between.

Nowadays we check in at airports on Facebook, we WhatsApp, text, call and message to say we're leaving home, on our way and almost there. 

My parents would ask me to 'give us 3 rings' when I got home from visiting, but they'd also ask us to let them know when we arrived after a long journey on holiday or to visit other people, so they knew we were safe on the roads and then again when we arrived home. I found this weird, we weren't leaving their house, why did we have to let them know where we were all the time?

We do ask our kids to let us know when they've got home after leaving us and out of courtesy they do message to say they're on their way also, but they don't expect us to do it, they don't ask us to. I think they just assume we will do it and that's why we ask them.

So on the weekend, we didn't check in to the airport on Facebook or message to say we were on our way or had arrived and we turned up at child 4's house at 9am on Saturday morning to 'when did you get here?' followed by child 2 messaging the following to day with 'assume you got back safely'

Week 44 One Daily Positive and Project 365

My migraine is still with me, it started 2 weeks ago yesterday. I managed to get a Drs appointment for Thursday but ended up calling emergency number to get some help.

Child 3 and his girlfriend visited child 4 and his wife and visited our grandson for the first time.

It appears the season of spending money aka Christmas is upon us judging by the release of the Christmas coffee cups and music being played in stores.

301 Saturday A morning to ourselves after a very busy 2 weeks, a walk into town for coffee and some shopping with Peter and Bob walking home. I put the outside Halloween decorations up and I made a cushion seat pad for our grandsons bedroom.. Child 2, his wife and grandchild arrived early evening for dinner and stayed over night. 

302 Sunday Up early and off for a family swim, pool was fully booked and £7 per adult to book for the midday slot. Peter and Child 2 joined us in the park and before a coffee. Swim was good. Home to cook a roast, a lazy afternoon, neighbour joined us with her child for some pumpkin carving and everyone went home after tea. Peter and I went straight to bed around 9pm.

303 Monday Back to work via the swimming pool, afternoon and evening spent with answering the door to trick or treaters in the rain and watching Stranger Things. I ran out of treats around 6pm. Had a bath and was in bed and asleep by 9pm.

304 Tuesday Cycled to work, a quiet day. On my way home my migraine kicked in full force and I had to call Peter to fetch me and my bike. Home to bed with an emergency call to the GP with Peter collecting new meds at 7pm. Was a sleep around 10pm.

305 Wednesday Woke at 5am with head still thumping and took next lot of meds, drank tea and dozed on the sofa till 7am. I left work early and got my nails done on the way home. The sewing machine was playing up so I spent the evening sorting through emails, photos and sorting out a couple of upcoming trips.

306 Thursday Home after work to finish sewing a seat pad cover for our grandson, then Drs at 5.20pm for more meds and some blood tests. I had a bath, we put the heating on and I packed for our trip away and did the ironing.

307 Friday After work we caught the train to Birmingham to fly to Belfast for the weekend to see child 4 and his wife for Grandsons 1st birthday. Child 2, his wife and grandchild were already there. Only the 2nd time the cousins have met.

On the blog this week:

Living with migraine

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Post Comment Love - 4th-6th November 2022

Welcome back to #PoCoLo with Stephanie from Lifeat139a and I. 

Post Comment Love #PoCoLo is a friendly weekly linky where you can link up any blog post you've written this week and all we ask is that you leave a comment on either mine or Stephanie's post which you linked up through and at least one other post.

It's been a long two weeks full of family and adventure and I've loved every minute of it, although I've had an horrendous migraine and required medical intervention.

Halloween was fab, but I ran out of treats to give away around 6pm, despite the heavy rain.

We're flying to Belfast this evening for our Grandsons 1st birthday, it's been too long since we saw him last in July.

We'd also love it if you could RT us on Twitter when we tag you to help us reach a wider audience.

I'll be catching up with reading your posts from last week and this, sharing and commenting over the weekend.

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Living with Migraine

I've suffered with migraines since I can remember, they're not linked to my menstrual cycle, not triggered by cheese, chocolate, wine or caffeine. 

I was diagnosed with a wheat allergy 3 years ago which has dramatically reduced the number of attacks I have, combined with beta blockers, I can go 2 months without an attack, but in the last 6 months, they've returned with a vengeance. 

In the past 6 months I've had migraines caused by travel, lack of sleep, lack of fluids, eye strain from endless tests and scans and just migraines for no apparent reason.

The latest one is on day 14 and showing no signs of stopping despite taking 1200mg of ibuprofen, followed by 900mg of aspirin as advised by the GP or 6 doses of Naproxen which was prescribed by the out of hours GP on Tuesday, so after a visit to the GP this evening there has been a change of preventative medication and a strong pain killer usually used to manage drug addicts withdrawal symptoms.

In the past I've tried all sorts of preventative medications and pain killers, all work for a period of time, some of them have had the most horrendous side effects and quite a few have left me with headaches.

In the past 14 days, I've visited people, been out shopping, cleaned the house, done some sewing, ironing and been to work.

I can function with a migraine, drive, cook, blog, watch TV. What I can't do is sit in a darkened quiet room, because my senses are tightened and I can hear the fridge humming and the slightest chink of light is like a torch shining in my face.

It feels like someone is twisting a hot cork screw in the side of my head. I know exactly what that feels like as I've had a bone marrow biopsy. I find it difficult to find words to describe things, I can't answer simple yes or no questions. The pain is predominately left sided but can switch suddenly to behind my right eye. I also get random shooting pains in my arms and legs that literally cripple me for a split second.

I can sleep with a migraine, which is what people find weird, and when I wake up, I forget it's there, until I sit up and it feels like I've been hit on the side of the head with a brick. Heat pads and hot water bottles dampen the pain temporarily, a bath helps, as does a can of coke and caffeine. 

There's lots of things I can do to lessen the pain, but nothing I can do to make them go away.

Do you have migraines?