Mid Life Crisis

It was my birthday yesterday.  I may have lived more years than I have left to live.  A sobering thought.

I need to let rip, otherwise I may be too old to do so.

I could buy a Ferrari, but I’m not really into cars. A car for me has always been about getting from A to B without breaking down.

I’ve considered a change of job, but I really can’t think of anything I want to do more. I don’t think I’d qualify as a wine taster with my indiscriminate taste.  Any way I like working for myself - I can give myself half days off and I can change my job description to suit my mood.

I could buy myself some heavy jewellery, but that really does remind me of medallion man and hairy chests from the 70s.  Not that I have a hairy chest, nor am I a man last time I looked; but it's all very ostentatious.  Not really me.

I’m pretty confident I could get a bit on the side, but I imagine after a few months it would be like having two partners.  Why would I inflict that on myself?

If I didn't have responsibilities I think I'd sell up, get a back pack and travel light for the rest of my life.  Can't take it with you after all.   Without the people I love around me though, I'd be very lost.

Perhaps I'll look more seriously into keeping chickens or bees.  Or do more gardening.  Not exactly letting rip though.  I'm going to go shopping on Saturday... let's see what I come back with.

Gran's rebelling...

Him and Her Next Door have gone away for a few days leaving us to Granny sit.

This is fine except Gran is going through a rebellious stage... "I am not getting dressed today, I feel dizzy when I try to..." glaring at me as if daring me to argue.  "I've put on my summer dressing gown for the daytime.  I'm quite decent."

Hmmm, one of Her Next Door 'rules' is that Gran should get dressed daily - except for her bath day, she is allowed a day off then. 

"And another thing, I don't want a new dress for my party." 

Blimey, let it all out Gran.

Is there a book on how to handle teenagers centenarians?

Hopefully Her Next Door will remain blissfully unaware of this outburst.  Nobody reads this do they?

Our garden in pictures

I love this time of year... (and wondering around the garden on a sunny day like today is the perfect antidote to politics).

Ms Angry to Ms Proud in 48 hours

Lows
Friday morning I found our Internet was down – being an IT company we are dead in the water without it. I phoned our ISP (note this stands for Internet Service Provider) who duly did the line checks and found nothing wrong. He told me that before anyone would send an engineer out we had to replace our router.

Not an unreasonable request I suppose except that I informed them that our neighbour was also down. What was the likelihood of two routers going ‘ping’ at the same time?

Apparently this information was irrelevant and had nothing to do with our issue. To me it was obvious that they were following a problem solving ‘script’ and come hell or high water and even when provided with useful information, they had to ensure that each item was duly checked off the list. Sorry Madam, it MUST be your router, grrrrrrr.

An hour round trip to pick up a new router, ½ hour to configure and £80.00 later, low and behold… our Internet was still down. Apologies, but the earliest an engineer could be with us now was Monday. My response? Insert expletives here.  I would also like to know who is going to refund us the cost of purchasing the router - it doesn't make a very convincing objet d'art.

Highs

Sunday I did the Race for Life at Scolton Manor in Pembrokeshire, what a beautiful day in more ways than one. There was a little team of us and G8 also ran. It brought tears to your eyes reading some of the dedications pinned to the backs of most of the runners. I ran for one person in particular who never got the chance to grow old, but also for two or three survivors. As we began our running they played Heather Small’s “What have you done today to make you feel proud?” and for once I had an answer to that.

Carers

It struck me recently how old age strikes with some stealth, it creeps up on you almost unnoticed.  We're all living longer and therefore having to cope with aging and all it brings in a way never encountered before.  If not for ourselves then for others who are close to us.

My Gran, who is very alert and has all her cognitive skills, yesterday had an accident she couldn’t avoid and was utterly heartbroken. How cruel ageing can be. The only real joy she gets from life (apart from her family) is from listening to her books and doing quiz shows on television as her sight too has let her down. She never moans though and is usually surprising cheerful.

My Mother-in-law is with us for a week and she too is struggling a little, mainly with arthritis which her weight aggravates and the two combined are now really affecting her mobility. She fails to remember things sometimes too.

Both Grannies would choose to remain totally independent - but for various reasons really can't. Mother-in-law lives on her own still but is helped enormously by her only daughter who shops, cleans and drops in daily for much needed human contact and Gran obviously lives with us cared for mainly by Her Next Door - but neither helper gets much direct help from the Government - financially or practically. This caring group is ignored yet it will become a bigger problem in years to come as each generation seems to live that little bit longer.

All this free caring is saving the tax payer a lot of money. Is it fair that people in their late sixties and early seventies who should now be free of mortgage, children, paid employment etc are finding they have other responsibilities? Please don't misunderstand, all mentioned here do this willingly and with much care and love - they wouldn't have it any other way. But should this silent army be doing it alone and without any support?

The lonliness of the long distance runner...

I love it, I go into a world of my own... and think all sorts of thoughts. Although I can never remember them when I get back. A bit like dreaming I guess.

Tonight wasn't so lonely. The dog actually kept up... well I had to carry her past the fishermen (I should have started jogging by then but thought it might be better if she didn't actually run off with one of their fish). I had to go dangerously close to them to retrieve her. I normally try to avoid all human contact in my running gear, not a pretty site. I dumped her unceremoniously at the beginning of the track and tonight she kept up. Actually she was good company, until we met another runner - yes who is she? I was so busy telling the dog to shut up that I didn't have time for pleasantries except for a rather muffled ‘hiya’. She looked a darn site fitter than me and I was soooooooo relieved that at least I had my new gear on and not my old jogging bottoms that have paint splodges all over them and a top that is supposed to be white but has a definite grey tinge to it.

I wore my new trainers (a pair of Saucony Progrid Triumphs) for the first time and boy do my toes thank me for it. A couple of my toenails have gone black so this time I have bought a whole size larger. My feet generally feel better all round and just to be sure I bought some running socks; yes I too thought a sock was just a sock but oh no, it’s all very technical. My sports bra also arrived. Wow, this over the shoulder boulder holder was a struggle to get on but again so comfortable, no black eyes at least.

I am now on week 8 of the Couch to 5k in 9 weeks - yes OK it has taken me rather longer than 8 weeks to get to this point but we'll just gloss over that. I'm now doing 28 minutes solid running. I need a goal to aim for so am running in the Race for Life at Scolton Manor. I keep being badgered to enter the Cardiff half marathon by a couple of proper runners - gosh how many miles is that? Don't tell me, it may be a step or two thousand too far.

Reasons to run for me are really for my mental well being – I do feel more positive and definitely more content.  It is great to pound the tracks and loose yourself in the here and now. Shedding a few pounds won't do any harm either but it's not my primary reason. It's not for everyone - but it suits me.

Secret surfer

I am so glad I had a daughter; I can delight in things like matching handbags. I love surf gear, and there are an awful lot of shops in these parts to tempt me.

G8 was after a new bag and while she was at a dance session with her best friend I was sent off on a mission to look for one for her. What a responsibility. Well I trawled through the shops in Narberth (the loveliest shopping place for gifts and quirky items).  It was a tough job but someone had to do it.

I didn't find one, I found two!  A matching pair.  I just couldn't resist one for myself.  The one I spotted for G8 was PINK, great. Sold. I asked the sales assistant if it could be returned - although I was pretty certain G8 would love it you can never be sure.  And crucially it would be coming out of her own savings, I'm a great believer of children learning the value of money and understanding that unfortunately it doesn't grow on trees. 

The bag cost £20.00 in round figures.  I told G8 it would cost her £15.00 of her hard earned pocket money (she'd lent us £5.00 to buy ice creams earlier in the week).  When G8 decided to keep it she went to remove the labels and she noticed the price of  £19.99 and insisted I still owed her £5.00. She'll make a great politician.