#Diary Entry 5

Bert and I have been watching The English on Swisser's recommendation and have enjoyed it. It is beguiling, intriguing, beautiful to look at, well-written and well-acted. The ending was a bit of a faff but no matter. The only thing that spoiled it was our internet connection which is not behaving well at all.

So - I phoned our internet provider and spoke to someone who sounded like Martin Compston. I fell slightly in love, even though it's highly likely the fellow was young enough to be my grandson. Anyway, he was most helpful, giving us faster broadband, a new router, and a cheaper and better phone deal, all for less than we've been paying for half a decade. I should have phoned him five years ago except he'd probably only have been doing his GCSEs at that time.

That done, went shopping and bought a new coat, my first in many years. It's navy blue and is reminiscent of the Burberry I wore when I was a pupil at St Louis Convent Grammar School. Needless to say, I love it. It's so smart and sensible - no matter how Einstein-like my hair, how stripey my socks or how unfortunate my trousers, this coat will pull everything together and make me respectable. Cannot wait for Leitrim Sister to meet me off the Enniskillen bus and be wowed by my chic.

Did I mention I'm going to Leitrim at the weekend? Leitrim Sister and Yer Man should know that I have set aside some of my winter fuel allowance to spend in Wynns of Drumkeeran  - for what could be more warming than the local gin?

Right Place Right Time

 

My horticultural daughter during her early years. 

Sometimes online shopping doesn't work out. My gardener daughter asked me to buy her a particular pruning knife as a Christmas gift and I was glad to oblige. But because this thing was exceedingly sharp and pointy and I was ordering it in Antrim and having it delivered to Norfolk I was unable to satisfy the requirement for age verification. I phoned the company and they were lovely about it but said it was a tricky one, rules and all that. 

Then it occurred to me that the company's main shop is on a rather posh street in London and that I know someone who is not unfamiliar with upmarket shopping areas. Reader, I called Ganching and amazingly she was out and about and not tremendously far from the sharp things shop. A few hours later she messaged me saying the job was a good one. And she's doing the delivery too! Everyone should be so lucky to have a Ganching in their life.   

Very Kaffe Fassett

These are my own summer wallflowers, and I filtered the feck out of them. I think they look very Kaffe Fassett.   

Pippin continues her post-crate recovery. No outside allowed unless she is in her black and white polka dot cat harness. She tolerates it but it's obvious she'd much prefer running wild and free. But Bogdan was adamant, no outside. She dare not become pregnant and her spaying will not take place until January. Liver for breakfast has been discontinued and she is not best pleased. Thanks to Natasha, who gave me the heads-up, I now know no that liver should be an infrequent treat rather than a regular thing. What has become a regular thing is very frequent fights with Big Fat Fred. They are at it all the time. It's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt but, so far, that is only when he gives her a bit of a nip with one of his few remaining teeth. She has been spotted sniffing under his tail seeking out his non-existent balls - little floozy. Guess she's hit the catty equivalent of her teenage years.

In Which Fred Narrowly Avoids A Bath

The day started off horribly wet and cold. Pigs had a duvet day. It was Pippin's first full day of freedom since her horrible accident and she enjoyed it. She actually chose to spend time in her cage although the door was left unlocked so she could leave when she wanted. 

I went shopping before I picked up the girls and bought a new bed for Judy and another clothes airer. Since the rise in electricity prices, I have decided to drastically cut down the use of the tumbler dryer. The drive to empty the big freezer is going slowly - too slowly. I managed to stew some raspberries and whitecurrants today and made a plan for rhubarb and ginger jam. There is a strange fish in there which I intend to defrost tomorrow. 

Evie arrived covered in mud, something to do with falling on the grass. I was reminded of Fred, who turned up the other day absolutely clarried in muck. I couldn't understand how it had happened. The muck didn't smell foul but it had an oily quality to it and wasn't easy to get off his fur. Brushing it out made a start and the rest of it dried out and disappeared after a couple of days. That old boy is too old to be bathed. He would despise it.

After discovering a lot of fur (that flew) in the woodshed, Bert reckons he had a territory fight with another cat. Recently Fred has been spending a lot of time there and it's likely there is a nest of ratlings in there, somewhere. The rival cat must have tumbled him into the resiny, sludgy effluent that runs off the logs. But no harm done, he's fine now, spending more time indoors and tolerating Pippin following him everywhere he goes.

At the end of the evening, Martha showed me how to edit my videos and in return, I gave her a masterclass on the history of popular music from The Monkees to the Pixies. The only tracks she knew were Monkey Goes to Heaven and Smells Like Teen Spirit. Next week she is going to teach me how to suck eggs.

In other news, I discovered I have five of the Cazalet Chronicles and have started reading number one. Sadly. two of the five were duplicates and they are already donated to the Tesco charity bookshelf. I think I'm going to enjoy this reading adventure.

Freedom and Independence

 

Here's me and who is like me?

Off to Cookstown today for what we hoped would be Pippin's final post-op visit. And it was! Bogdan pronounced her to be doing well and said that strict cage rest was no longer needed. In fact, what Pippin needs now is lots of indoor running around to build up the muscle in her injured leg. Bogdan assured us that her limp would disappear as the leg strengthens.

The first thing she did when she got home was playfight with Fred, and then they both went upstairs to nap on Bert's bed.

And that was our news. In other news, I was sorry to hear that Wilko Johnson died. But not sorry to hear that the Supreme Court has decided that Scotland cannot legally hold an independence referendum. Not sorry because I think it will harden Scotland's resolve. Hopefully, the next GE will show that. 

Diary Entry #4

 I got Wordle in two goes today, with a little help from my friends, specifically Catherine from NZ. They are so ahead of us in time. When the end times come the McGuckin cousins will be raptured up to heaven before we Nordies even know what's happening. Enz ways - I went for ADIEU, got the A and the I exactly where they were needed and made an educated guess.

And also, today, applied the Jazzer method to my housework routine and had all redd up in two hours. Spent the afternoon being very bored as Bert was out at a dental appointment. Somehow the kitten, despite being under strict orders to stay in the damn crate, got out, got hold of Bert's dental plate and skited it about the floor til she broke it.

It was cold today, so put the central heating on for one hour and made macaroni cheese for supper.

Later, out of sheer boredom, bought two pre-loved books from eBay, one a recommendation from Ganching and one other.   

Diary Entry #3

 

Hedges, too Presbyterian, silage bales, too shiny, late Autumn light, glorious

Nellybert got invited to lunch this afternoon, delicious food, great company, good time. Met, for the first time, a wonderful pup and for the manyeth time, some wonderful twins.

Diary Entry #2

I met an old friend today. I thought we'd spend a few hours together but she wanted to make a day of it and I'm glad she did because I enjoyed myself very much.

Bert was on his own all day and when I returned at around 5pm he was scoffing a filled baguette and a plate of pickles.

That's a late lunch.

Breakfast, actually.

You're not wise.

I kept thinking you'd be back with something nice to eat.

Why would I do that? Sure our shelves are groaning with food. I thought we had a pact to eat what is actually there rather than continuously buy more stuff?

That is actually true as we are trying to decommission a chest freezer. It is supposed to be emptied by Christmas but it's not going to be easy. 

Charity shop find, a present for my friend

Weather Report

 

It has been unseasonably mild these past few days. A warm south-westerly has been blowing and some summer-blooming annuals and biennials are even coming back into flower. According to BBC Weather, the unusually high temperatures are due to the action of the jet stream and the wind coming from the Tropics giving Northern Ireland its warmest November night on record.

Not that I'm complaining.

We had Ben and Sara for a sleepover last night. Ben was here for most of the day helping Bert split and chop firewood. This warm weather won't be here forever y'know. Sara had family commitments in Co. Derry so she came later bearing a pastry box from The Green Cat Bakery in Eglinton. Their salted caramel squares were blissful. Then I thought we might have a few little drinks and take in some great slide guitarists on YouTube but we ended up watching funny cat videos instead.

Which was good. Pippin enjoyed the cat videos too.

Tomorrow it is to piss down rain.

Diary Entry #1

I am definitely going to start using this blog as a diary. I might not always feel inclined to write reams on daily/weekly events and as I grow ever older I'll be glad to have the memories to hand.

Mick was here last week from Thursday evening to Sunday. Kerry Sister and family (all five of them and Jackie the dog) came up on Friday (staying in Glenarm) and leave tomorrow. They visited here on Saturday, I visited them last night - my first drive in the dark in months. I got to watch the moon rise from all the way from Broughshane to Carnlough which was beautiful.

Today I met Kerry Sister in Ballymena and I had a lovely sisterly time visiting nearly all the charity shops in Ballymena. And I had extra money to spend as my physio appointment didn't happen.

So tired this evening.

Extra Time

 

Ever since Pippin's disastrous accident on the 18th of October, and her surgery on the 20th she has been under the vet's order to stay in a cage. Strict cage rest they call it.

It was a tricky operation as her pelvis was broken in two places and the top of her femur was so damaged that it had to be removed. Then the plates holding her broken bones were so small and the screws so tiny that there was a real danger they could become undone if she was too active.

Four weeks from the 21st of October was the vet's initial advice. So we were all looking forward to the 18th of November. Freedom Day for Pippin. We have been taking her to Cookstown for weekly post-operative check-ups since her discharge. Today was her third visit. And today we were told at least another two weeks in the cage. Then they'll see.

Part of me sees the point of it. The vet who carried out the surgery is entirely invested in its success. She was (so far) the smallest cat he'd ever operated on and from our point of view, it was an expensive operation, easily worth 10 times the price of the average kitten. Not that that matters for Pippin is a very special cat. And another thing too - she's resting, she's eating chopped lamb's liver for breakfast every morning and she is growing - she's a much bigger cat now than the one Bogdan operated on. 

Sieve Eel Vein

Miss Evie's birthday is today. I baked her a cake on Monday, Family Meal Day, and took photographs. But they were not very good. As I get better at cake my photography declines. This was the best of them.