Spring forward, fall back….. A week of anniversaries & birthdays

This is my cat Penny, we agreed to adopt her a year ago this weekend J

This is my daughter Anna, we apparently adopted her 21 years ago on 1^st April J

Morphine – Nah, didn’t bother!

Week 11

Saturday 26^th > Sunday 27^th

Saturday started early with a trip to Decathlon to look at bikes, I ended up coming away with a Hybrid bike which seems to suit my needs, an advantage is that it was fully assembled & comes with mud guards, dynamo lights & panier racks. Ok, this may make me sound like an old man, but I am. I also be using the bike for short trips to the shops & possibly photo trips so I don’t need or want an expensive racing bike. Now that old saying “You never forget how to ride a bike” is total bollox! My first, and so far only, trip was a quick spin around Tilehurst. I was as wobbly as a new born calf to start with, it was also fairly disconcerting as to how close some cars overtake. I’m sure I’ll get used to it in time. It’s typical that as soon as I buy a bike the weather decides to be shoite. As I haven’t yet become a MAMIL (Middle aged man in Lycra) I resisted the temptation to go out again in rain that was coming down sideways.  Lunch time was spent watching one of the Rams Colts, Jakub, playing for Poland U18s in a European competition. They were up against the overwhelming favourites Holland in the final, but prevailed 9-8 in a tense final. Carol, Anna & Max disappeared off to Swindon Outlet Centre for the afternoon, I would rather pull out my finger nails with a pair of tweezers than do that trip, so it was a case of listening to England win at the T20 on the radio & doing a bit more work on the Rams website. I also seem to have developed a stinking cold over the last 24 hours, presumably it’ll turn into severe “Man Flu” by Sunday, so probably just as well I didn’t make the trip down to Wales yesterday.

I’m being slightly adventurous this evening for dinner. Thai Red Curry Salmon. This will be the first time I’ve used curry paste in probably two months. I was fairly conservative & didn’t use too much ginger either, but I still got a bit of the heat & a bit of the taste.  

Sunday was an early start, up at 6am despite the clocks going forward. I managed to sort out the garage first thing & put Max’s & Carol’s bikes up on the bike rack on the wall to make space for my new one. A quick spin again this morning, about 2 miles I think, but the weather was against me again, as was the wind for most of the trip! For some reason I was in an awful mood in the late morning. Not sure why, perhaps lack of sleep, but the kids knew to keep out of my way I’m afraid, wish the cat would learn to, she was lucky not to be thrown out of the window, without me opening it first! A half hour of weights seemed in order to freshen up my mood. I’m as weak as a kitten, struggled with 6lb’s on each dumb bell to start with L

As its Easter I thought we’d go for lamb this evening, but in recognition of booking our holiday I cooked individual Lamb Shanks as a Kleftiko with Greek roast potatoes, slow cooked for about 4 hours, just fell off the bones. I also weighed myself & I’m up to 78.5kg’s J My target for the end of the week is 82kg.

Monday 28^th > Friday 1^st April

I woke early on Monday feeling like crap after another awful night’s sleep. My throat was pretty sore after coughing my way through the night. I’m pretty sure it’s just a case of manful, but it doesn’t stop me worrying that it’s something more serious. Probably understandable after the last few months. The constant coughing has made my throat pretty sore today, the worst it’s been for a couple of weeks. However paracetamol appears to be keeping it in check without the need to revert to morphine. The day drifted away really. The most productive thing I did was take some old iron gates down to the tip. An afternoon dozing on the sofa to films, before prepping duck breasts for dinner. I’m hoping that the weather picks up a bit during the week, I need to get the front door painted & I’d really like to get a decent cycle ride in at some point. There was no way I was going out today, I’d have been blown backwards!

Tuesday ended up being a pretty busy & tiring day. Not a brilliant night’s sleep again & up fairly early. There was no call from CNS Jo, so I guess the weekly updates have now finished, I suppose I can always call them if I need to. Hopefully that won’t be the case. Anna’s boyfriend, Tom, has come down from Leeds for a few days, seems like a nice enough chap & at least he’s from Gods Own County J. After about 4 weeks I’ve finally finished watching Breaking Bad. Great series & enthralling to the end, I think my favourite character was Mike. An early dinner for Max, Bella & I as Max was supposed to making his debut training with the Seniors this evening, it only seems five minutes ago that he was an Under 7 however when we got over to OBR the pitches were flooded so he’ll have to wait another week.

Wednesday was another early start. A trip into town to meet my boss for breakfast at Carluccio’s followed a visit to the barbers & dropping Anna & Tom off at the station. She’s taking the Tyke up to see “That London town”, he seemed shocked when I mentioned it would be around £4.00 + a pint in town J

It was a productive meeting with my boss, he also paid for breakfast! We’ve agreed that I’ll target 1^st May as a date to return to work, albeit on a managed return. We had a few HR boxes to tick, but nothing I wouldn’t expect from a large company. I’ll confirm all this with Scary Surgeon next time I meet with her, I’m sure she’ll allow me to use my discretion as to whether or not I feel fit & well enough to return. An afternoon spent messing about on YouTube, sometimes it has to be done, this was possibly my favourite of the session -  Joe Bonamassa

A fairly momentous evening at OBR for me. I had my first alcoholic drink since 1^st January. A rather refreshing pint of bitter shandy passed my lips, & god it tasted good! Whether I continue I don’t know yet, we’ll see…….

……… crap night!! Up three times, headache & very sore throat. I think I’ll wait a bit longer until I try beer again.

Thursday was spent largely acting as “Dad’s taxi” & doing a spot of DIY in Max’s room. My throat is pretty sore & raw today, so I didn’t want to overdo things. It’s a shame really as it was a nice day with little wind so it would have been ideal to go for a bit of a bike ride. Probably best to heed Scary Surgeon advice though, & if I’m feeling rough to just take things easy. If I’m honest, as Thursday dragged on I began to feel more & more rough. My throat was giving me quite a bit of pain & I felt increasingly tired. Paracetamol was the drug of choice rather than Morphine & it seemed to do the trick, i.e it knocked me out for the afternoon. I really hope this is just a bit of a blip & not the start of another period of low times.

I received an email from the Head & Neck CNS Nurses. As suspected the weekly phone calls have now ceased. However if I’m struggling they’re more than happy to give me a call. I’m hoping not to have to take them up on that offer, but time will tell.

Dinner of choice tonight is my take on the classic Spag Bol –

Ingredients

750g lean beef mince.

Two can of chopped tomatoes

Two stick of celery, finely chopped

Two onions, finely chopped

One carrot, finely chopped

One leak, finely sliced

Three garlic cloves, finely chopped

Chorizo, cut into small pieces

Glass & a half of red wine (Means you have to drink the rest)

Fry the chorizo in a large pan for about three minutes on a high heat to release the oils. Add the mince & brown for approx. 5 minutes. I use a whisk to break down the mince, easier than a wooden spoon & creates smaller pieces of meat. Once the meat is browned all over add red wine & bubble down until almost all has evaporated. Then add the onions, garlic, celery, leek & carrot. Stir for about 5 minutes until soft. Finally add the tomatoes, plus water from one can.

Turn down the heat & simmer for around 2 hours, add additional tins of water about every ½ hour or when the mixture begins to dry out.

Serve with fresh pasta of your choice & plenty of parmigiano reggiano!

Whilst this takes a lot longer than the sauce in a jar version it tastes far better & doesn’t contain a shed load of crap E numbers or preservatives.

An early evening drink with an old mate finished off the day for me & an early night was in order I’m afraid. Tomorrow’s another day & a big day at that J

1^st April, & Anna has managed to make it to the grand old age of 21!! She arrived at the very unsociable time of 4am if memory serves me right. Gas & Air were required just to keep me awake! An evening booking at Nino’s is the traditional way to celebrate either of the kids birthdays, so the 6 of us will be trooping off to Pangbourne later on. I think the first time we took Anna to Nino’s for her birthday was when she was 8, I’m sure Old Man Nino offered her a glass of bubbly that first time, at least this year she’ll be able to accept the offer J

The week is finishing on a bit of a down as far as health goes. It started off so well, & has gradually declined as the weeks progressed. My throat is pretty sore & sleep was interrupted 4 times last night. Carol is taking Anna & Tom back to Uni tomorrow via Evil Twin’s house near Cambridge. As Rams are playing at Bury St Edmonds I’d planned to go up to Cambridge & shot across for the game, but as I’m not 100% I think I’ll give it a miss & make sure I’m ok to watch Max play at Camberley on Sunday instead. It’s an important game for both Rams & BSE, a win for either side would just about see them safe in the League for another season. BSE will be keen to overturn the defeat at OBR where despite leading 10-18 they went down 32-18. However Rams are on a 6 match unbeaten run & are going for the “Magnificent 7” – 5 points please boys, you know it makes sense!

On the upside I did manage to give the lawn its first cut of the year, I swear a tribe of Pigmy’s were hiding in the undergrowth! You’ve got to love British Engineering, I’ve a Mountfield mower & once I remembered to stick some petrol in it started with the second pull. That’s after sitting in the shed all winter. A 2.5km bike ride in the afternoon totally knackered me out, so I rewarded myself with an hour’s kip on the sofa whilst some crap film played in the background.

It’s not often we all look vaguely smart as a family, so we took the chance to get Tom to take a new family photo of us prior to going off to Nino’s, one advantage of daughter having a boyfriend doing some sort of Media thingy at Uni, he knows how to use a camera J

The meal at Nino’s was probably the best night we’ve had so far this year. Waiting for us when we arrived was a chilled bottle of Prosecco & then a very good friend supplied a bottle of Moet for Anna. The food was its usual wonderful fare & for the first time in I don’t know how long I managed to eat three full courses & could even taste the roasted pepper sauce with my sea bass. Old man Nino really spoilt Anna, keeping her topped up with champers & then finishing her off with some obscure 40% Italian liqueur, this was after he’d dimmed the lights & brought out a birthday cake for her, unprompted J & you wonder why this is our place of choice for a meal out! It was good to bump into  a friend at Nino's, & I apologise for inflicting a chorus of "Happy Birthday" on them whilst they were enjoying their meal. 

As always, thank you for reading these musings.

To be continued……………………..

#shouldertoshoulder