Week 17 One Daily Positive and Project 365

I've really struggled this week with extreme fatigue. I'm in a lot of pain and my brain just keeps getting muddled. All these Doctor and hospital appointments are getting me down, but I guess if I didn't need treatment they wouldn't be giving it to me and taking regular blood tests. I just really wish they'd find out what is causing the malabsorption issues with the iron, B12 and Vit D. It's been going on for 6 years, I improve with treatment then spiral back down slowly, but often quickly and the treatment starts all over again, there must a reason. 

In other news the conservatory is in full use. We still need to fit and paint the skirting boards (on order) buy and fix curtain rails (we have the curtains) We now have room to move the sofa out to do these jobs.

The dining room is now back in full use, the lounge is empty of clutter (tools, tiles etc) and we are able to use the patio and I can hang the washing out properly. 

The patio won't be finished for a while as the builders are coming back next week to sort out the drainage for the roof as their new pipe slightly slopes away from the drain and the patio keeps flooding.

114 Sunday Day spent with popping to the supermarket, cooking a roast and planting up hanging basket. A lot of TV watched.

It was Bob's Gotcha Day. he moved in with us 10 years ago.

115 Monday Late into work after my Vit B jab. Really tired today, struggled through the day. An early night.

My reading for May. The Robinson Crusoe book belonged to my dad and was a gift from his Gran in 1947.

116 Tuesday Really struggling with breathlessness, can't manage more than 150 meters without panting. GP called and asked me to go to the surgery, I've an inflamed serum which is causing the pain probably due to the bit B12 deficiency and therefore I'm not taking as deep a breaths as I need with the iron deficiency anaemia that is the cause of the usual breathlessness.

Floor tiles finished. Skirting boards and curtain poles to go in next week.

117 Wednesday Felt a lot better today after taking the anti-inflammatories. After work I took a gentle walk into town for a coffee then onto the Youth Club. We went on a walk to the chip and by the time I got home at 7pm I was absolutely exhausted. Had a bath and an early night.

Pinched a colleagues mug as she wasn't in today, sent her this picture.

118 Thursday Late into work after another Vit B jab, a quiet day with Teacher's striking. The afternoon and evening spent tidying up the dining room now the sofa is in the new extension.

Sofa in and room in full use.

119 Friday Day in work and home to finish tidying  the dining room. Friend came round for chips and we spent the evening in the new room.

120 Saturday Hung the washing out and into Worcester for a food shop. sat outside for a coffee. In the afternoon Peter & I took Bob to town. Son and his wife with our grandchild arrived in the afternoon to spend the night. We had sat outside for our dinner as the weather was so nice.

On the blog this week:

Things to do on a 5 day visit to Dubai

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28 - 30th April 2023 Post Comment Love - The New Room.

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

There is still a bit of work to do in the new extension with skirting boards and curtain poles, but we now have the sofa in which means we've reclaimed full use of the dining room as well. Our son and his wife with  our grandchild are coming to stay for the weekend, for the first time since the work started in February.

It's purpose was to replace the old conservatory that was too cold to use in winter and too hot in summer. It'll be another room I can sit in and read while Peter is watching the TV and somewhere nice to entertain visitors away from the TV.

Any suggestions as to what we call this room? The Blue Room? Garden Room? Orangery? Conservatory? Other Room?

Currently it's called The Extension and will probably stay that way.

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. 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, sharing and commenting over the weekend.

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5 days in Dubai as a tourist. Things to do.

We spent a week in Dubai over Easter, it was also Ramadan but every year since we lived there 2015-2021 restrictions have been eased and now apart from the decorations, coffee cups, Iftars and sales you wouldn't know it was taking place if you were visiting.

Our week in Dubai was to chill out and relax, a beach hotel was important to us and we opted to spend our time at The Hilton The Walk Jumeriah Beach Residence (JBR). You'll find cheaper hotels inland but we wanted beach, walking distance to a variety of restaurants and proximity to the tram and metro to get around easier.

It's coming to that time of year when you'll get some great offers for hotel stays but this is due to it being summer and most days it reaches the mid 40s but with humidity the humid factor can add 10c to the 'feel like' temperature.

As we've already done the tourist things with family and friends many times, we just had chilled days, leisurely breakfasts, beach time as well as shopping and exploring further a field.

If you want to pack everything in I can strongly recommend you see the following attractions. Each day would be a long day, take some bottled water with you, buy a silver nol card from the metro (25AED for the card with 19AED credit and top up as necessary, no more than 9 AED per journey.

It's worth a trip on the Metro just to experience the size of Dubai alone. The building on the left is 4km from the one on the far right.

You'll need to book the Burj Khalifa in advance, the Desert Safari companies will collect you and return you from your hotel. Brunch can be booked at any hotel which take place on Saturdays. Taxis are the only option for The Souk Madinat, The Frame, but there is a bus from the Mall of the Emirates to the Miracle Gardens.

There are so many other places to visit, things to see and to do. The Dubai Red Bus Hop on - Hop Off is also an option. There are outlets malls and bird sanctuary's as well as visiting The Palm, Blue Waters and The Museum of the Future which I've yet to visit as we should've booked before we arrived.

These are my Top 5 things to do in Dubai in 5 days

Day 1 Take the Ferry from Marina to Creek, you get a trip in the Arabian Gulf, ride an Abra and explore the gold and spice souks then taxi to The Frame, 

Day 2 Visit Dubai Mall take in the view of the World's Tallest Building The Burj Khalifa, go ice skating, take a look at the Aquarium from the outside if you don't have time to go in, browse the shops in the Fashion Mall, enjoy a variety of restaurants and food halls and watch the World's Largest Fountain in action.

Day 3 Spend the morning at JBR, explore the shops and beach front restaurants, hire sun loungers and towels or just sit on the public beach. In the late afternoon go on a Desert Safari

Day 4  Visit The Mall of the Emirates, book a penguin or ski experience in the Snow Dome, take a bus or a taxi to The Miracle gardens, then visit the Souk Madinat for dinner and a view of The Burj al Arab

Day 5 Brunch days are all day affairs, you arrive around midday then it's all you can eat and drink (different alcohol packages available) for around 3 hours. You can pay an additional amount to extend the drinks or add a beach/spa experience. 

We didn't brunch on this visit or pay for any attractions, we took in the sights, I photographed the changing skyline and we visited our old neighbourhood which has double in size in under 2 years.

You can do as much or as little as you choose in Dubai and there are plenty of things to see without paying any money to do so. 

Week 16 One Daily Positive and Project 365

Peter finished painting the new extension and started the floor tiles. The builders are back out on the 2nd of May to sort out the outside drainage and re seal a window that leaked during heavy rain.

I've been so tired and breathless this week with chest pains and I've been really anxious about all the blood tests, injections and appointments with various people in various locations. This week I've had a blood test, a Vit B injections and a consultation with the haematologist, and repeat for the next 4 weeks. I'm going to bed and sleeping for about 2 hours every afternoon, then 8-10 hours each night

107 Sunday Woke at 8am and back to sleep 9-10am. Off to Worcester to buy tiles for the new extension, we had a coffee and did a food shop. Peter cooked a late lunch/early dinner around 4pm, he then went to the ub to watch the football and I had a sleep on the sofa. Evening spent in the loft rooms tidying away and blogging, before sitting in front of the TV, bath and bed by 9pm.

New tiles for the extension

108 Monday Back to school. I was exhausted and had chest pain, very sleepy, feet and hands hurting. I managed to do a small bit of ironing, bath and early bed.

Cat hair everywhere so needed a groom

109 Tuesday Slept solidly for 10 hours, woke feeling tired. I left work early to have a blood test at the hospital, planted a hedgerow in the front garden, not as strenuous as it sounds, the ground was very soft. Had a bath, finished the ironing, bed early feeling drained and chest pains worsening.

110 Wednesday No alarm as I had a telephone consultation with the haematologist. Late into work, day passed quickly. All I managed at home was making my tea, I spent the afternoon and evening in bed sleeping.

Dog and cat finishing their Easter eggs

111 Thursday A long day, feeling exhausted. Peter collected me from work and we went for a coffee. The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent painting my nails and toning my hair. Peter went to the pub to watch football and I was in bed by 9.30pm.

I watched the snooker as I didn't have the energy to get the remote

112 Friday Had the first of my 7 Vitamin B12 jabs, late into work and sent home, day spent in my chair reading my book, then evening spent with friend with chips.

Tiling going down

113 Saturday Peter dropped me and Bob in town, I had a coffee and took a leisurely walk home. I hung some washing outside on the line and planted some seeds, dinner was cooked and evening spent in front of TV.

It was harder clearing up the mess the it was planting the seeds

On the blog this week:

Ramadan in Dubai

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Post Comment Love 21st - 23rd April 2023

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

I hope you all had a good Easter and Ramadan Kareem whatever you celebrate. We were in Dubai for Ramadan and Easter. Then I took mum to Brighton for a few days to see her family. Easter isn't a big affair in Dubai unlike Christmas and Halloween, but there are still chocolate eggs and decorations for sale in the supermarkets.

It's been two years since I've been in Dubai and as you can imagine there have been huge changes. The construction and development seems to double in size every year.

It was lovely to visit the Worlds Largest Aquarium in Dubai and then the Worlds Oldest Aquarium in Brighton over the holidays. 

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. 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, sharing and commenting over the weekend.

Want to find out more about Post Comment Love #PoCoLo? 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Ramadan in Dubai 2023

It's been almost 2 years since we were in Dubai during Ramadan and so much has changed in the way non muslims can operate during the day.

In 2015 there was no alcohol served during Ramadan and all food outlets were closed during day light hours.

In 2016 they allowed alcohol to be served after Iftar (sundown) Some places were open for take out only but hours were restricted and the number of venues limited.

In 2017 - 2019 coffee shops with indoor service only were open during restricted hours and hotels were allowed to serve alcohol during the day, the food halls were open and screened off.

2020 took place during lock down.

2021 we were surprised to see the removal of screens and all coffee shops, restaurants were open during the day. However the rules asked you to refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and chewing gum in public during daylight hours.

2023 People were walking around the tourist areas eating, drinking and smoking. There were decorations in the malls and offers in the stores.

It was also Easter at the same time and whilst there are decorations in shops and chocolate eggs in stores, it's never been a big thing in Dubai unlike Christmas which is a huge event over there.

The take out coffee cups were decorated, but that was that. No restrictions at all and it just didn't feel like Ramadan at all.

Week 15 One Daily Positive and Project 365 - Brighton

It's been a long week and involved a lot of driving from Heathrow, collecting mum then down to Brighton for the week. I'm exhausted and I ache all over. GP called on Tuesday to say I have no folate, no B12 and after 2 months on Via D tablets my levels have dropped further. The haematologist also phoned to arrange bloods at the hospital on Tuesday.

100 Sunday Up early, checked out and at airport for 7.30am, fight delayed by an hour but we still have silver status so made the most of the lounge hospitality. Flight home was good, suitcases in hall on arrival, but sadly car damaged when it was dropped off.

101 Monday Off to Gloucester to collect child 1 then met up with DIL and grandchild at a car show, took grandchild on the tea cups, then we had to leave as child 1 wasn't coping with the windy weather, the people, noise and in general just being out. Took her to mum for lunch which she refused so after packing mums cases, we took child 1 back to her home before taking mum back to ours for the night. I spent the evening with the neighbours children being bounced and jumped on.

102 Tuesday Mum and I set off for Brighton and surrounding area, she's staying with her sister for the week in Hailsham, I'm with my cousin in Seaford. A straight forward drive, a coffee stop, then a phone stop for GP update, still no Bit D in my body after 2 months of meds and booked in for B12 injection 3 a week for two weeks, a blood testa at 6 weeks then every 2 months for ever.

103 Wednesday Collected mum and her sister to visit their brother, I popped out for some shopping, then collected them to take to another brother, then took them back. It was a 2 hour and 45 minute round trip over 66 miles. I popped down to the Marina and called in at a garden centre. Evening spent with cousin.

104 Thursday Caught the bus into Brighton for the day. Sadly a young man had been swept into the sea and his body washed up on the beach in Saltdean, which was a bit of a shock to see from the bus. I walked round Brighton, visited the Lanes, Pavilion Gardens, walked up to the West Pier then along the beach to the Palace Pier, played on the 2p slots, visited the Sea Life Centre, then bus back.

105 Friday Off to Eastbourne for the day. Bumped into a cousins wife, who just assumed someone must have died for me to be in the area. Very windy and wet, walked along the sea front, went all in at the Pier and spent £2 on the 2p slots to win thousands of tokens to exchange for a pencil and some sweets for grandchild. Fish and Chips for tea.

106 Saturday Said my goodbyes and collected mum, dropping her off on route then home via a quick visit to grandchild. Car and bag unpacked, bath and sofa then an early night.

On the blog this week:

What I'm reading in April

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