What made you UNHAPPY today!

[Colin P]

Will be there in August with @C8RKH amongst others . Can't wait and the TT sets it up nicely.

 

[C8RKH]

I am usually going the other way there than the motorbike. I hit about 110-120mph and then dive on the brakes as we start the descent into the hotel at Ramsay, which is on the beach you can see in the distance.

Looking forward to catching up with Colin and the gang. There are still a couple of places left if anyone fancies. Lovely trip. With some great people. You are free to drive and explore, on your own, or in a group and a nice informal meal and a couple of beers each night. Great roads. Great driving. Great company (well, apart from me that is, the grumpy old twat in the corner!).

Come on, you have to do the IoM in a Lotus at least once in your life..... Those unrestricted, declassified roads have your name on it. You can even join me for my daily dip in the Irish Sea at Fenella Beach. Sublime....

[PaulCP]

@C8RKH stop making me vividly green with envy, when there’s something you want to do but can’t it really hits you in the guts……………………………….but wait…………….maybe I can join you on my newly acquired e-bike?

[C8RKH]

For sure, you can be my plus one anythime @PaulCP 😍

[PaulCP]

11 minutes ago, C8RKH said:

For sure, you can be my plus one anythime @PaulCP 😍

Unfortunately June is out for me Andy but thanks anyway

[Colin P]

Dates are Friday 28th July to Wednesday 2nd August. Bit later than usual this year.

Fortunately the guys are accepting of mon petite Lotus de francais and still letting me participate.

[ChrisJ]

I know one of the students killed in Nottingham yesterday 

[Dan E]

@ChrisJ the young hockey girl? Absolutely tragic

[ChrisJ]

yes - played in the same junior team as my daughter, who is really upset at the moment (middle of A levels). I've umpired her a number of times when she was at Southgate.

 

[Kimbers]

Got back from my run yesterday to find my wife laying on the Sofa, looking white skinned, sweating and struggling to breath. She said she was having chest pains and aches down her back so I immediately took her to Hospital. 

She's still in. 

What was initially thought could be her heart may now likely be a pulmonary embolism. Just waiting to hear more.

 

[Sparky]

All the best to Wendy!  HOWEVER:  I was rushed to hospital with exactly those symptoms around 3 weeks ago and spent hours in there being tested.  X-rays clear, No PE, no enzymes peaking, nothing.  I'm still struggling to breathe fully, and continuing to experience chest and back pain.  They're putting it down to long COVID.  Trouble is, that seems to be the most common answer now.

Updates please...

[bogle]

I will be be thinking and hoping Wendy gets better.   It will certainly be interesting if she gets the same results as Sparky.

[Alfa2Evora]

JENNIFER UPDATE:

OK, so it's been more than 3 months since I last wrote one of these but I'm afraid that that's mostly down to there being very little to report, at least as far as Jennifer herself is concerned - the messing about I've had from the local authority over the nursing home and covering the costs, and our access to therapy services, is another matter for another day as I'm still embroiled with them.

Just as I had been warned to expect by the medics many months ago, Jennifer's progress has sadly slowed to the point where any changes are miniscule. I will never ever accept that she won't return home some day but I am having to resign myself to the fact that it's not going to be anytime soon.

Her overall condition, both physical and mental, was assessed back in April by a group of experts, including her consultant from the Stroke Unit, and she was re-assessed last week, the report from which I received this morning. It doesn't make for great reading, confirming my fears that Jennifer's progress has essentially stalled and consequently recommending that her requirement for round-the-clock care cover be amended from 'medium-term' to 'long-term/permanent' status,  .

A few weeks ago, Jennifer contracted a non-Covid chest infection which took over 2 weeks to clear, immediately followed by a stomach bug. Her appetite during this spell dwindled to nothing with the result that the weight fell off her, something that she could ill-afford. Her muscle-mass had diminished to the point that we had to suspend most of her exercise regime, which put us between a rock and a hard place as we needed her to exercise to build up her muscles but at the same time we needed to limit the calories she was burning to try and get her weight back up.

Her appetite has fortunately now returned and she's eating well. The nursing home has been plying her with high carb/high protein drinks as often as Jennifer can take them and thankfully these are having the desired effect and she has started to gain a bit of weight. However, she's still only weighing in at 43kg (95lbs or 6st 11lbs if you prefer it that way) so there's a long way to go. Her arms and legs look so painfully thin that I'm frightened to give her a cuddle in case I break something.

At the start of this week, we resumed a gentle version of her exercise programme and hopefully we'll be able to increase the frequency and duration of the sessions over the coming weeks and get Jennifer back to being able to use at least a walking frame to get around rather than the wheelchair or over-sized 'baby walker' device that she's having to use at the moment.

A little bit of good news amongst the gloom is that her conversational abilities are still gradually improving. She's really quite quick-witted and her sense of humour, and her penchant for sarcasm are still to the fore. She is though still struggling with reading, finding even the simple words in the 'My First Alphabet' type books I'm using with her difficult to grasp and yet when we're out and about on our daily walks she'll point to a sign and read out something from it, usually a comparatively complicated word such as 'reception' or 'veterinary' or some such. Really weird,  .

That's about it for now. I suppose I'm just going to have to get used to the house (it's not a home without Jennifer) being too quiet for a bit longer than I'd hoped. If nothing else, it makes me more determined than ever to find a way to get her here.
 

[bogle]

Wow! Jennifer and you have been through some tough months.  I'm glad she was able to fight off both those illnesses.   However, losing all the exercised body build up definitely cost both of you valuable time it took to get her better previously.   I can't imagine what it is like to go home and know she's there at the facility.   That's got to be a struggle for you.  I know all of us wish Jennifer would return to her normal fietsy self.  The timing is just not right for Jennifer at the moment.   I usually butcher words of comfort, but every one here on the forum is exceedingly impressed with how your coping through this ordeal.   Personally I think I would crumble if put in your place.  That's why I so astounded with your bravery.  I can’t imagine what Jennifer is going through and her side of this emotional roller coaster.  The question you keep asking yourself is Why. Why her?  Peace and rest for both of you.  

[mdw]

That little bastard grass seed just cost us £600 to have removed from our dogs  ear due to her needing to be sedated to get it 😲.    No walks through the woods for now , we can go across the parsnip field instead,  less chance of them getting stuck😁.

[Escape]

We had similar with out little mutt a couple of years ago. After a walk, he just could not stop sneezing, banging his snout on the floor as he head. On a Sunday, of course, so I drove him to an animal hospital (around 200km round trip). There the vet just got some tweezers and pulled a 15cm blade of grass from one of his nostrils! We could have done that ourselves, saving on the bill but more importantly relieving him from what must have been a terrible itch much sooner.

[mcdonaa]

I just found out my previous car, a lovely 2008 Elise was written off recently 😢

It was a lovely car.

 

[oneshot]

First world problem.....

The circulation pump on the swimming pool has packed up  

So a new one is required and until fitted means the pool is out of action.

[pete]

[pete]

Anti viral drugs coming tomorrow 

[Dan E]

You have dressing rooms to build bailing out is not an option 

[ChrisJ]

I hate 2FA. I'm in Zambia at the moment, and I lost my phone on the 2nd day - not stolen, dropped out of my pocket at the national hockey stadium.

I have my laptop with me and signing into websites - we have sent a number to your phone to authenticat it is you. FFS - I don't have my phone, so ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

 

[pete]

Shall I ring it

[bogle]

Can you track your phone with your laptop?  Hopefully it won't ask to authenticate. 

[ChrisJ]

No point in phoning tracking it, as I couldn't get a local sim to work, so I turned my UK on off to ensure I didn't get a huge bill.  Local MTN sim wouldn't give data and was going to go to another provider to try theirs. 

So UK number won't work, and local sim won't connect, so can't track it. Have cancelled the UK sim, and set my security program to wipe the phone if it comes online in its current setup. 

Claim on travel insurance for the first time. 

Tried to login yesterday to start the process, yup you've guessed, we have sent the authorisation code to your phone. 

Started an online chat to try to get them to send the code to the email address. 1sr sentence was I am on holiday in Zambia. 

The online agent was I have to phone you to verify you. Errr, I've lost my phone. You must have a landline. Head wall bang.