Birthday girl

A good night's sleep from which I woke up feeling alert and fresh for a change. I sang Happy Birthday to Clare and lit a birthday candle on the breakfast table. Now we're both eighty one years old.

Owain arrived in time for us to go out for a birthday lunch together at 'Sonder' a recently opened restaurant on Llandaff Road. Clare and Owain were satisfied with their menu choices but I opted for a disappointing  lasagne with two different flavoured sausage meat fillings, topped with melted cheese rather than a cheese sauce. It turned out to be excessively greasy, quite a challenge to my digestion sans gall bladder. Somehow my digestion coped, although I felt really tired after the meal. 

We searched for a bakery or a cake shop to buy a celebratory cake, with little success, as many of them close on a Monday. Eventually Coffee#1 came up with a big slice of lemon drizzle cake which served the purpose, topped with a candle. Rachel called to greet her Mum when we got back home. It meant she could join us in singing Happy Birthday from the far side of the United States. 

Before returning to Bristol, Owain helped me to deal with an on-line banking issue, moving money from  one account to another to benefit from a better interest rate. Making an informed decision is the hard part as there's so much detailed information attached to each banking offer. Owain is experienced from his job at reading confidently through on-line documents and making sense of them, this saved me a lot of worry.

I went out after supper and walked for three quarters of an hour, listening to the Archers on my phone as it got dark, then spent the rest of the evening watching the last two high tension episodes of 'Trigger Point', with an anti-climactic ambiguous conclusion that left me wondering if a decision has been made about a season five. 

 

Tomato abundance

Another night of seven hours' sleep from which I woke up feeling as if I hadn't slept enough despite being in bed for ten hours. I can no longer blame the meds for making me feel drowsy. My left nostril continues to have a tiny leak of blood which dries up, but results in a runny nose. It seems the wound is in no hurry to heal.

We went to the Parish Eucharist at St Catherine's. Three small children were baptized during the service. Children from Sunday Club escorted the families to the font from the chancel singing 'This little light of mine' - a nice touch. After the service Clare bought a jar of chutney made with red onion with church garden grown tomatoes from Hilary's church garden veggie stall. The tomato crop is abundant this year. Several different varieties of cherry tomatoes have been grown with a surprising assortment of flavours. A new taste experience when they arrive at the same time mixed together.

After lunch I dozed in my arm chair then walked for an hour around Thompson's Park. Clare went out separately to Victoria Park and walked further than she intended as she chose the wrong exit and lost her way on the return stretch. It's easy enough to do in a suburb of red brick terraced streets many of which look the same as each other.

I found a new series of the thriller 'Trigger Point' on ITVX after supper and binge watched three episodes before bed time. It's rather formulaic with its bomb disposal expert heroine playing forensic profiler unmasking evil conspiracies while doing her job and surviving great dangers. Entertaining rather than insightful.

Not the best of days

I didn't sleep so well and was awake for a couple of hours in the night. It left me feeling drowsy and slow to get going all morning. Clare was up before me and cooked our Saturday pancake breakfast. I walked up and down Llandaff Fields for three quarters of an hour to clear my head but it didn't make any difference to how I felt. I bumped into Marc and Fran and was introduced to Marc's son Josh who accompanied them. Josh is a stand-up comedian by profession. He resembles his dad, in voice and mannerisms, but he's completely bald whereas Marc is long haired.

Clare had lunch ready by the time I returned. I slept in my armchair for a while afterwards and felt fresher. Then I walked up and down Llandaff Fields for another hour. I've had a runny nose all day of the kind I've come to associate with recovery from a nose bleed when dried blood comes away with thick mucus as the nostril wound heals. I think waking up half a dozen times from bladder or bowel discomfort raises my blood pressure just enough to cause the wound to leak. The body reacts to the irritation by producing a surfeit of mucus. It's so frustrating, and tiring too. Early bed tonight.

Conker time

Well, I didn't have a nightmare last night but remember a dream about sorting books to get rid of. I woke up to a cloudy though not quite overcast day, quite warm. I slept well and wasn't as light headed as I have been the past few days. We took the bus into town after breakfast and found a jeweller's shop in the Royal Arcade displaying a simple lab grown diamond pendant that will go with a set of ear studs which Clare already has. The pendant is a birthday cum 60th anniversary present.

We went to John Lewis' top floor restaurant for a drink. I didn't feel like eating but Clare had salad and frittata for lunch. When we got back home, I cooked myself scrambled egg with a few rashers of bacon and a large fried tomato. Then a walk around Llandaff Fields. 

Over the past two weeks the ground beneath the trees along the avenue through the park have been littered with fallen chestnuts gathered by excited small boys for playing conkers with. Someone with an original take on tidiness collected enough of them to cover a circular drain cover set in the grass.

On my way home I called in the Co-op and bought a birthday card for Clare.

It seems that's a hint of progress towards ending the US-Iran war, moving beyond diplomatic exchanges to consider the technicalities involved. The UN General Assembly meeting has provided a background for  exchanges between countries with a stake in maintaining Middle Eastern oil supplies, impacted seriously by the Iran backed Houthi militia's choke hold over the Red Sea waterway. Qatar is active in mediation between Iran and the US. Iran proposes a seven day plan to re-open the Straight of Hormuz, re-starting talks on a wider peace agreement including nuclear issues, restrictions on oil exports and other economic sanctions. Trump is eager for success as US mid-term elections approach and opposition continues from Congress to American prolongation of war in the Middle East.

We had a long chat with Rachel in her new place in Arizona. She's unsettled, having difficulty adjusting to cramped accommodation, coping with the midge season in rural Cottonwood. I can't see her staying there for more than a year. She's not got room to set up her music recording studio which cramps her creativity as well. It's not good for her morale. I can't help but worry about her being so unsettled.

Accidental chaos

Waking up from another good night's sleep I felt light headed but alert. It's such a relief to be spared taking the medication that caused drowsiness.  

In the news recently there have been reports of AI agents hacking systems and extracting data, causing widespread concern. The Australian government's Medicare statistics portal has been breached by Open AI. As if that wasn't enough, it was announced this morning that the US FBI's personnel database with details of 38,000 employees and job applicants had been accessed by a group of hackers called 'Shiny Hunters'. No information has been released yet to indicate if the use of AI was involved. It's highly embarrassing for America's security services and could put lives at risk if details of undercover agents have been published.

Linda came around for coffee and a chat mid-morning, bringing home grown veggies with her freshly harvested - big beef tomatoes, cucumber, French beans. As ever, we talked about ailments and the frustrations of being messed around as an NHS patient.

We had an innovative lunch today. Clare bought a packet of black turtle beans in Beanfreaks, something we haven't tried before. They can be soaked and then boiled, to be eaten on their own, or they can be cooked in a stew to give it added flavour. Ashley called while I was having a siesta after the meal. We chatted for half an hour, then I went out and walked around Llandaff and Pontcanna Fields for an hour and twenty minutes and took a few photos. It felt light headed and physically tired for no reason I could think of unless my body is still recovering from the toxic effect of the medication. 

After supper I had a problem when transferring pictures from a micro SD card to Google Photos. For some obscure reason my Chromebook wouldn't recognise the adapter I use, nor would it recognise a second micro SD card I use as a photo archive, plugged into the Chromebook micro SD slot. As I sought to diagnose the fault, and upload the photos I thought I'd try inserting the card from the camera straight into the Chromebook SD card slot bypassing the adaptor, but as I tried to remove the archive card from the slot I lost control of it and it sprung out of the slot and pinged on the radiator before disappearing from sight. Then I dropped the card from the camera, adding to the chaos. 

We heaved the furniture around and searched with a torch. The camera card was soon found, but not the archive card. I guessed that as it wasn't on the floor, it could have fallen into a box of assorted stuff under a side table. In adjusting a standard lamp to shine into the box, it short circuited with a bang and sparks. The lamp's wiring arrangement wasn't designed with the flexibility I assumed. When I inspected the box of stuff under a bright LED reading lamp, the missing archive SD card was clearly visible in a corner. The standard lamp's successor will be more suitable - brighter and adjustable.

That really was enough chaos and stress for one day. Let's see if I can get to sleep without any nightmares.

Recovering

Another good night's sleep, waking up refreshed, clear and sharp, though still feeling a bit light headed. A mild, bright sunny day for the autumn equinox. I went to the Eucharist at St Catherine's after breakfast and bought some church garden tomatoes and courgettes from Hilary at coffee and chat afterwards. It's such a relief no longer needing to be vigilant about taking slow release capsules that upset my digestive system after breakfast and supper. I had a one o'clock acupuncture appointment. It was a rush to get there on time, even with an early lunch. No dyspepsia afterwards!

Peter was pleased to hear about the difference that stopping the dipyridamole prescription had made. He had suggested my reaction to it was due to sensitivity to such a strong drug and that it was worth posing the question to the medics about changing it. I felt less light headed after he treated me today, comfortable in my own skin with a spring in my step when I left him. Although I didn't feel tired I slept in my armchair for a while when I got home, but went out again later and walked up and down Llandaff Fields to complete my daily distance.

After supper I watched this week's episode of 'Ludwig' and rather than watching anything else I decided to go to bed.

A new start

I woke up refreshed from a good eight hours of relaxed sleep for the first time in a year without discomfort from an irritable bowel or bladder awake only for an hour - my first night without aggressive medication working its way through my body upsetting my digestive system. I'm slightly light headed but without feeling faint or drowsy. Clare thinks the buttock wound has closed.  I'll wear a dressing a bit longer as a precaution. Her study group arrived after breakfast so I stayed in the front room and worked on transcribing my Ulster travel diary until lunchtime.

The meditation group Clare belongs to met chez nous this afternoon. I joined the two that came. Two more gave their apologies. I went for a walk after lunch before the session started. It was good to experience an  improvement in open air spatial awareness in the absence of the drug which has had such a soporific effect over the nine months I've been taking it. I didn't go to sleep during meditation and kept focus on the text chosen from Isaiah 30.15, 'In returning and rest you shall be saved, in quietness and trust shall be your strength.' So my concentration is better too. What a blessing, hallelujah!

A tea time shopping trip to Tesco's for chicken, kefir and a bunch of roses for Clare, and after supper a short walk in the dark to stretch my legs and complete my step quota for the day. I watched the last episode of 'Marbella' again as I wasn't sure if I understood how the conclusion was reached, nor for that matter what the point was of the anti-hero dodgy lawyer's apologia for his support role in the glitzy world of organised Costa del Sol crime. Was this comic irony? Re-watching left me none the wiser. Then I watched another episode of 'Ludwig', quirky, funny, very much a British whodunnit. A world of difference.

All too soon, bed time after a drug free day, although I have been straightforwardly light headed. I wonder if this will wear off when the dipyridamole is completely out of my system, or if it's the aftermath of the stroke and the terrible time I had in hospital? It's a matter of wait and see.