Thursday, January 31, 2013

What a Brilliant day today.

♬ ♬ ♬ It's a hap-hap-happy day ♬ ♬ ♬
♬ ♬ ♬ Toodle-oodle-oodle-oodle-oodle-lay ♬ ♬ ♬
 ♬ ♬ ♬ The sun shines bright and the world's so right ♬ ♬ ♬
♬ ♬ ♬ It's a hap-hap-happy day ♬ ♬ ♬


A happy Frankie
Yes folks it has been a brilliant day today, one of the best days I have had for a few months, it is surprising how a combination of Sunshine, fresh air and a change from the normal shopping venues can make such a difference. unfortunately it has set me all behind with todays Journal so sorry it is late and a bit brief today. 

The day started at 7.00 am when I was awakened by torrential rain rattling on the bedroom window, I thought that was how it was going to be for the day and that the plan to go shopping in Southsea today would be scuppered,  so I got out of bed and made a coffee and then went back to bed to listen to the radio until I got up at 8.00 and made a cup of tea and into the lounge to wait for Carol my carer, the good news is that by 8.00 the rain had stopped and the sky was looking brighter, I fired up the laptop to check out the weather forecast and it looks like today will turn out better than I thought it would.
5 day weather forecast.
The sun is coming out
While waiting for carol I check the emails and facebook (still seem to be locked out of words with friends) anyway Carol arrives about 8.45 and we have a chat mainly about the weather earlier on anyway by now the sun is starting to break through and the skies are clearing, anyway it does not take long to get me sorted for the day ahead and Carol also said that tomorrow she will not be with me until about 9.45 as they have given her an extra client, but that is Ok as Friday is Methotrexate day so I don't go out on a friday, so I am ok with that time tomorrow, so carol is off to her next client and I text Pauline to let her know all is done and dusted.


Getting Ready to go shopping.
Pauline phones back and says all is Ok so we arrange for me to get a taxi at 11.00 to go down to Palmerston Road Precinct in Southsea, and she will meet me there and then we cah go shopping in Southsea today for a change, It is a long time since I have been shopping in Southsea certainly not in the last 3 years, so I watch some TV until 10.00 and then get shaved and dressed ready for the Taxi at 11.00 O'Clock. 

The Taxi arrives at 11.00 and it is one of our regular drivers. he gets the wheelchair into the taxi and off we go to Palmerston Road via the health centre to collect my Prescription. once we get to Southsea He unloads the wheelchair for me and I wait in the Precinct opposite St Jude,s church in kent road for Pauline.
St Jude,s church opposite Palmerston Road Precinct.
Once Pauline arrives I decide to push the wheelchair for a bit and we make our way to the other end of the precinct into Osbourne road where I need to go into the Building Society.
Osbourne road looking East

Osbourne road looking west to the queens hotel at the end of the road.
Once we are out of the building society my legs have just about had enough walking so I am into the wheelchair and we make our way back towards Palmerston road and go into the newer part of Palmerston road and go into a Sainsburys local shop and get a couple of items before making our way back into the main part of the Precinct.
The 2nd part of Palmerston road looking North towards the main shopping Precinct
Once in the main part of the Precinct we go into Knight and Lee,s department store and have a browse around and then go to the 2nd floor where we have a snack in the restaurant. it is waitress service only which is very nice. I have a lovely Gluten free Bacon and lentil soup and Pauline has a nice tuna roll and we have a latte coffee each it was excellent and made a change from Morrisons, tesco or Greggs. once we have had our snack we go and have a mooch along the precinct and make our way to Waitrose to get the shopping. Waitrose is part of Knight and lee,s)


Night and lee,s Department store.
Palmerston road precinct
Palmerston Road Precinct
Palmerston Road precinct looking north to Kent Road
Once we get out of the precinct we make our way into Marmion road and to Waitrose to get the shopping done. we do not have a lot to get but I manage to get some gluten free biscuits, Pasta and also to my delight some gluten free Sausages as you can see below.
Gluten Free Country Fruit Cake
Gluten Free Spaghetti

Gluten Free Sausages
Gluten Free Biscuits
Well that is about it once we are out of Waitrose We Get a taxi home Pauline helps me indoors with the shopping and then the Taxi takes her home, It is now almost 3.30 so I get a coffee made, get the vegetable prepared for tonight,s dinner and then start to get this journal written. It has been an excellent day and has been really enjoyable so thank you Pauline so that is it for today now to get this posted before Gervase comes in to see me on his way home from work so until tomorrow I will say Cheerio.



Wednesday, January 30, 2013

A Day comes, A Day goes.

Morning Radio
Here we are again bright eyed and bushy tailed on a wet, windy and cloudy morning, well you know what they say, the only way is up, and after having a box stuck on my head yesterday then I think I deserve a good day LOL.
However I had a decent sleep last night and only woke once during the night for the bathroom and woke at 7.00 this morning. So made a coffee and listened to the radio in bed before getting up at 8.00 and going into the lounge ready for when the carer comes.

On the Laptop with Facebook.
Well Carol arrives at about 8.45 and we have a chat and then she gets me washed and groomed so that I am ready for the rest of the day. Once Carol has gone I send the text to Pauline and then get myself some breakfast before setting up the laptop and logging on to check out my emails and facebook.

Pauline phones back about 9.30, she is out on the common with Misty, it is very windy today and although the weather is dry we are expecting a few showers today anyway it is dry and sunny at the moment so once I have spoken to pauline I get myself dressed and then while it is still sunny I take a walk round to the shop to get a paper, it is a very pleasant day out there today and it is nice to get some fresh air so I take a slow walk around the block on the way back home, takes me about 20 minutes and when i get home my legs are just starting to ache so I know that is enough walking.
A Nice bright blue sky today, just after a shower.
Once back indoors I settle down with a nice cup of tea and read the paper and get the crossword done, I have the local radio on and it is a nice relaxing morning, at 12.30 I decide to have a snack and do some Toast (Gluten free) of course with some apricot jam and then settle down to watch the 1.00 News on the TV. after that I watch an episode of Doctors
BBC1 Series 14 of Doctors
An Afternoon Cat Nap
Once doctors has finished I go back on line and carry on working out the designs for the new website I will be setting up and then at 3.00 I go for a lie down for an hour. Pauline phones at 4.0 to see how I am and then I make a coffee, get the vegetable prepared for dinner tonight and then get back to getting todays Journal written. Gervase phones at 4.30 to see how I am, he is just on his way home from work and he always phones about 4.30 to see how I have been, and if I need anything brought in on his way home, I am so lucky with my family and friends.

My Gluten Free Diet

well so it is now almost 3 weeks since I went totally Gluten free and I must say that I have found a terrific difference in my Digestive system.

  • I have noticed that there has been a massive reduction in my acid reflux.
  • I have for the first time in almost 2 years that I have had a reduction in my reliance on having to use laxatives.
  • My appetite has returned once again and I am not having the bloating feelings that I used to have.
Those are the three main differences that I have noticed, there has also been a few minor improvements as well. As with all things there are some drawbacks and with Gluten free it is the cost of some items as you can see from the examples below.


  • A pack of 4 gluten Free crumpets  £1.98 GBP
  • A Small sliced white Warburtons bread £2.00 GBP
  • a Pack of 6 Jam Tarts £1.93 GBP
  • Pack of 6 Pork Sausages £2.78 GBP

So if you want baked items or things like cakes, bread or processed foods like sausages or ready meals you pay a premium price, the prices quoted above are at Asda, ( Wallmart in the USA and Canada ).

So I am seeing my GP next Tuesday and let him know that I have got an improvement in my digestion and see what his response is, also I will see if he will reduce the dose size of my Lansoprazole and see if the acid reflux still stays under control, it will be interesting to see what he has to say, If he agrees with what I am saying it will be possible to obtain some Gluten free items ie Bread , Flour etc under Prescription. Anyway I will keep you all updated.

Well that is about it for today, a very lazy restful day, and tomorrow it will be shopping with Pauline, hopefully depending on the weather we will be shopping down Palmerston Road, in Southsea
Palmerston Road Precinct Southsea. (Stock Photo)
It really is time to get this journal Posted now as it is 5.55 and time to think about getting dinner on cooking so until tomorrow I will say Bye Bye.


Tuesday, January 29, 2013

What a day this has been !!!!!!!!

ooop's
well folks, it has been a funny old day today, shopping, Lunch, Rain, Being Abused by a box, and I still survived the day, Whoo Hoo. The day started off much like any other day, I had a decent nights sleep last night, basically from 11.00 pm until 6.45 am, waking just once to go to the bathroom, so was pleased about that, anyway once I was awake I went to the kitchen, got a coffee and then headed back to be until 8.00 to listen to the local radio,

Text to Pauline
At 8.00 I got up and after making a cup of tea, I took it into the lounge to listen to the radio and to wait the arrival of the carer. Carol my carer arrives at 8.45 and she has had a good weekend, anyway she is busy today so it does not take her long to get me washed and groomed ready for the day ahead and then she is off to her next client, so I get myself some Porridge for breakfast and then text Pauline to let her know all is ok,

Nearly Ready
once I have sent the text to Pauline, I get the breakfast crockery washed and then turn on the laptop to check out the emails and facebook. Pauline phones about 9.40 to say that it is very wet and cold out on the common with Misty this morning, and that she will be booking a Taxi for 10.45 to come and collect me and the Wheelchair and then depending on what the weather is doing we will decide were we go shopping. Once we have finished on the phone, I stay on the laptop until 10.00 and then I go and get a shave and get dressed ready for when Pauline arrives. It is getting easier to shave these days but still have problems holding the razor the right way to get a decent shave but it is an improvement over this time last year, and getting dressed is certainly easier now.

Time for Coffee
True to form Pauline texts at 10.45 to say she is on her way and she is here with the taxi at 10.55. We get the wheelchair into the taxi and seeing as it is really wet and windy today we decide to get the taxi straight to Morrisons to do the shopping rather than going to the city centre first as it is not a nice day for Pauline to be pushing me around in the wheelchair in this wet and windy weather. So we go straight to morrisons and then we get the wheelchair out of the taxi and go into morrisons cafe to have a coffee before starting the shopping.

Give us your Money
Once we have finished the coffee Pauline said that Gordon will be coming down to collect us when we have finished so I ask Pauline to phone him to say that if he comes down about 12.30 we can have some lunch at morrisons, so Pauline phones him and then we start the shopping. Gordon Arrives while we are halfway through the shopping, so he takes over the wheelchair duties and once we have got everything including a big bag of dog food for Misty we go and get it paid for.

And now this is where I get abused by people who I call friend,s with friends like these who needs enemy,s LOL. First of all pauline decides to get a couple of empty boxes to put the shopping in as we are going to load the shopping into Gordon,s car before we have lunch
I am not a bl@@@y Lorry.
Now I cant see where I am going so I think I shout out help a couple of times and tell everyone in the shop that I am being abused anyway I think I should have kept my Mouth shut as this is what happened next. LOL

Should have kept my mouth shut LOL

Once out of the store we get the shopping and the wheelchair into Gordon,s car and then we go and have lunch, I have a Jacket Potato with Cheese, Pauline has a Panini, and Gordon has double egg on toast. plus coffees and a fruit juice for me as I am trying to cut down on my coffee intake. once we have finished lunch we make our way home.
Once indoors we get the shopping put away and then Gordon and Pauline have a coffee and I have a tea and then it is time for Pauline and Gordon to make a move back home, they are dropping my repeat prescription off at the Eastney health centre on the way home so we can collect the prescription on Thursday, it is for my Prednisolone and Methotrexate.
Eastney Health Centre
It has been a really great day today, it is now 4.15 and this journal is about finished for today , just to say that I have been working on the idea of setting up a "Myositis Hub Website" where people can find links to myositis related websites around the globe,all categorized by Subject and location and all accessible from one central hub, There is a lot of preparation and planning ahead before I get it started, but at least I have got the Logo Designed and copyrighted and the domain name registered, the next step is to work out a site map and this I will start on at the weekend. but here is the Logo.

well there we are then folks I will now get this journal posted and will say Adios until tomorrow.



Monday, January 28, 2013

Here comes the rain "AGAIN"

♬ ♬ ♬ Don't know why, there's no sun up in the sky ♬ ♬ ♬
♬ ♬ ♬ Stormy Weather. ♬ ♬ ♬

These words are very relevant for today as the rain and gale force winds sweep in from the west, well according to the Met office weather forecast for the south coast is saying.
Weather for this week.
Sunny Southsea, Seaside resort of the South Coast LOL
A Good Nights Sleep
Enough of this frivolity, time to get back to actually writing about my day, well it was a decent nights sleep last night, actually slept through from about 11.30 until 6.00 this morning when I got up to use the bathroom, made a coffee and took back to bed, put on Radio solent and promptly fell asleep again until I awoke at 8.30, to a cold cup of coffee. anyway no carer today so made another cup of coffee and went back to bed until about just after 9.00 when I made it into the lounge with another coffee.

Go Pauline Go.
well once in the lounge, I put on the morning news on the TV, and fire up the laptop to do the usual checking, emails, and facebook, and then  send the morning text to Pauline. Pauline phones back to say that she is out on the common with Misty for the morning walk, and that it is cold at the moment but dry although the common is very wet and Misty keeps running through the muddy Puddles. but all is OK and that gordon will be up later in the morning to do the flat cleaning, so that is Ok

Hope you are feeling better Gervase
once I come off the phone to Pauline, I get myself some Gluten Free chocolate star cereal , and also a Banana for breakfast with another cup of coffee and then once I have finished that I get back on facebook for "Words with Friends" before settling down to watch some daytime TV while I am waiting for gordon to arrive. I have not had a call from Gervase so assume his "Man Flu" is getting better and that he has gone into work k, just hope he has an umbrella for him, as he will need it on the trip back home.

Monday Weigh in
While watching the TV, Gordon arrives to do some cleaning for me, so I make a coffee first and then Gordon gets on and starts in the Kitchen while I get ready and take a walk round to the Tesco Express to get the morning paper, and as Gervase was unwell yesterday and we did not go shopping I needed some milk and a piece of fish for dinner tonight, so once I have that I walk back home, unpack the chopping and then settle down with the paper while cordon is cleaning. Once he got all the cleaning done we have a coffee before he starts on the floor,s and then it is the Monday weigh in, I am at the same weight as two weeks ago at just over 12 stone and gordon is just under 12 stone, so no difference really.

Preparing the Vegetables
Once gordon has finished he has a coffee and then makes a move back home to Pauline, and I decide to get a bit of lunch as it is nearly 1.30 but what to have is the question. in the end I have a boiled egg with some toast, A "Manuka Honey Bar" and a raspberry yoghurt. and it was very tasty, so after that I settle back down with the laptop to check out the family history site, and also domain name availability for a project I have in mind, and then  after making a nice cup of tea and getting the washing up done and preparing the vegetable for tonight,s dinner I make a start on todays Daily Journal.

So it has been one of those days today that has flown by and yet I seem to have done nothing. but at least it means I will have extra energy for shopping down the city centre with Pauline tomorrow as I have "extra spoons to carry over".


So there we are then I had a facebook message from Leanne to day to ask how I was, so sent her a text back, and also Pauline and Gordon,s friend Agnes is Now one of my facebook friends.  so now it s 5.45 and the broadband is starting to get slow again, to many people on line and not enough band width so get it sorted sky and BT or in february when my yearly contract is up I will be back off to Virgin media. so now seems a good time to get this journal completed and posted so until tomorrow I will say Adios.


Sunday, January 27, 2013

The weather is on the change.

Getting to know me. episode 2

As you remember the other day I described how I was born in the middle of an air raid in october 1943, the reason for the air raid was that the german air force were dropping incendiary bombs along the railway track running from Southampton into Portsmouth so that the German Bombers could find there way into Portsmouth Naval base. Anyway the railway line ran along the bottom of the garden of the houses in Western Road Fareham, where my Maternal Grandparents Annie and Frederick Hubbard lived, this is where I lived with my Mother until my father returned home from the war in 1946. Sadly those houses have since been demolished to make way for the Fareham By Pass but western road is still there. This is where we had the street party in 1945 on VE Day, below are a couple of Photographs (1) Annie and Frederick Hubbard on VE Day (2) the same road in 2010, and also my Grandfather Frederick hubbard and Grandmother Annie Hubbard.with Auntie Maud and Uncle Fred in 1943/44
Western Road, Fareham. VE Day 1945
Western Road Fareham 2010
Annie and Frederick Hubbard with Auntie Maud and Uncle Fred 
A Relaxing Sunday
Well back to the present time. It was a better nights sleep last night and a nice lie in until 9.15 this morning as I do not have a carer on Sundays and Mondays as these are the two days I have my lie in,s. so at 9.15 i get up, get dressed and into the lounge with my coffee and a bowl of Gluten free Porridge, once I have had breakfast I text Pauline and then get the breakfast items washed up before settling down with the laptop and the political programs on the TV for a nice relaxing morning of checking out facebook and ignoring the TV.

Relaxing with the daily paper
well about 11.00 Gordon rings to make sure that all is OK, Agnes ids setting back of to go home to Weymouth later on this morning, at least the weather is a lot better today so it should be a decent drive home for her, so once I am off the phone, I get my shoes on and take a stroll round to the newsagent,s to get a daily paper before heading back home to make a coffee and settle back down to read the paper and get the crossword done. It is a very nice pleasant day out today, like yesterday blue skies and Sunshine although it s still chilly, we had a lot of rain last night so glad that has stopped now, but it is supposed to return tomorrow,
A pleasant day in the back Garden this morning, cold though.
A Happy lunch. Bacon and egg
soon it is 1.00 pm and Gervase phones to say that he is still full of cold, (he sounds very nasal) and do I think he should still come round and take me shopping, obviously the answer from me is NO. I can't afford to get a cold and anyway I rather he stayed home in the warm and looked after himself as he has work tomorrow, he is worried that I need items but as I said I have enough provisions to get me through until Tuesday when Pauline takes me shopping and If I need Milk I can get that round at the Tesco Express, anyway I convince him that I am OK but he insists that I phone and let him know if I want anything and Leanne will get it for me and bring it round. anyway once Gervase is off the phone I get myself a couple of rashers of Bacon with a poached Egg and a slice of toast for lunch and really enjoy that
Once I have finished lunch I get the washing up done and then think about what to have for dinner tonight, I think that I will be having a Gluten Free beef Bolognese tonight which will make a change from Chicken or Fish, anyway that is settled so no need to prepare any vegetables so I make a coffee and then go out to into the back yard to say hello to next doors cat that has come for its daily visit.
Hello next doors cat "Misty Moo"
once I have made a fuss of the cat it is in to the lounge with a coffee and then make an early start on todays Journal.
It certainly has been a relaxing day today and it has done the rick as the aches and stiffness in the thigh, hips and Gluteus Maximus has now all gone and is back to normal, well as normal as it can be these days, as my GP always says about the results of my regular blood tests, "Satisfactory for this Patient" well folks that is about it for the moment, so I will get this Journal finished and Posted nice and early today as I have been late with it the last couple of days so until tomorrow I will say Cheerio.