Red wine and exercise

It rained during the night, as forecast, but this morning it's fairly bright if a little breezy and I have a bit of a headache, due to imbibing red wine last night. I feel obliged to drink red wine, at least now and again, whenever I read that it is good for the heart. It is, of course, a huge inconvenience, but, hey! one must look after one's health, innit! Then I am reminded that it contains calories, at least 70 per glass (and that's a small glass) so I decide that maybe I should give it a miss. The problem with the headaches is that, unless I drink wine on a regular basis, (We are only talking a glass or two here, not barrelfuls, you understand.) when I drink it on odd occasions, I invariably wake up with a headache the next morning.
So this morning, as I am not quite a hundred percent head-wise, I am not sure how I am going to occupy my time. (Note to E.D. - I have just planted the peas and beans.) Shall I go for a walk, do some much needed hoovering and cleaning or start digging the garden?
I'm sure I read somewhere that one should not engage in vigorous exercise under the influence of a headache............ That settles it then, feet up with another cup of tea.

Chilli or curry powder?

On Wednesday, I did the shopping for Keith and myself, as I do these days, before going to Dad's on Thursday.
"Get some curry powder, please," said Keith.
So I did. Well, actually, no, I couldn't find any so I got chilli powder instead. Keith was horrified. He rang me yesterday to tell me I hadn't bought any curry powder.
"No, but I got chilli powder," I said.
"But it's not curry powder!" he protested.
"It's the same thing," I said, "It's hot, just like curry powder."
"I can't make chicken curry with chilli powder," he said.
One's hot, the other's hot. What's the difference? I can't see the problem myself. I didn't even get into whether curry is really a good choice for his diet. One thing at a time...

Motorway driving

This is getting to be a bit of a habit.
I feel rather like an American on a tour of Europe - "If it's Thursday, it must be Venice." Only in my case, "If it's Thursday, I must be en route for Bristol again." The novelty of bombing up and down between North Wales and Bristol is, I must confess, beginning to pall now. Last week, I drove back with a nail in my rear, nearside tyre, although I didn't realise that until it went into the garage yesterday to be looked at.
This week, I drove down in the company of idiots. There were the usual ones who are sure the road belongs to them and can't understand why anyone should have the temerity to be in front of them and then there was 'Super-Idiot'. This clown was so incensed that there was a car in front of him in the outside lane, that he switched straight from outside to inside lane, undertook a car in the middle lane and then shot back into the outside lane and continued his journey at 10,000 miles an hour.
However, you can bet your last month's salary that he will get away with his behaviour scot free while, in another place, some hapless motorist trundling along an urban road at two miles over the speed limit, will be speedgunned and ticketed before you can say Jack Robinson.
(Who is he, anyway?)

Sponsors required please

OK, I know I have been silent for some time but I've been busy - OK??

However, Elder Daughter's partner, Mark, and his friend are planning to take part in The Mongolian Rally.

"On Saturday 18th July 2009, around 500 teams will set forth from the historic Goodwood Circuit in Chichester. Their goal is to reach Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia, some 10,000 km away. With no support crews, no set route & in cars that struggle with the weekly shopping trip, this is the Mongol Rally 2009.
Young and foolish, yes, maybe, but it is for a good cause, the Christina Noble Foundation, which raises money to help children in Vietnam and Mongolia.

Click on the links to find out more about it and to sponsor Mark and Adrian, just click here or on the link on my sidebar.

Every little helps...

Off again

Dad had a hip replacement last month. Because he had had osteomyelitis as a young man, the NHS consultant could not guarrantee that the operation wouldn't interfere with the area of bone lower down where the osteomyelitis had been, so Dad decided that, in that case, he couldn't go ahead with it. He was recorded as 'having refused treatment'.
That was six years ago. Fast forward to this year, when the hip was giving him far more trouble and he decided to see another consultant privately. This time, the risk was assessed as being extremely slight and so he went ahead and had it done privately and all went well. He was fully expecting to be out digging the garden by now (well, maybe not quite yet) but, as he couldn't go home to an empty house for the recovery period, he went to stay with my sister, where, within two hours, he had fallen and was taken back to hospital for a further week. Luckily, the joint was fine but he needed the clips replacing in the wound. Last week I went to stay with him for a few days and then, when I needed to come back home, he went to my sister's again, where, within a few hours, he was feeling ill with the beginnings of a cold, which could have been a chest infection. (You see a pattern here?)
As it turned out, it was only a cold, so tomorrow, I am off to Bristol again so that he can spend a few more days at home. I have managed to book my clients into Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, so I can only stay until Sunday again, but at least it means that he gets to spend a few days of the week in his own house, which is what he wants, and soon, with a bit of luck, he will be out in the garden, although maybe not digging it - not yet, anyway.
You can't keep a good man down!
And Paddy? Yes, he'll be staying here with Keith again for more male bonding, but hopefully, not more strangling.

A close shave

I'm down in Bristol visiting Dad for a few days and Paddy has stayed at home with Keith. There could be a bit of male bonding going on there! Yesterday afternoon I rang Keith to see how things were and he had just been out on a call to a motorist who was having key problems. So far, so good. He had taken Paddy with him on the passenger seat, using the special clip to attach him to the seat belt, but by his collar instead of the accompanying harness. After a while, he noticed that it was getting a bit warm in the van, so he wound down the window to give Paddy some air.
Just as he was finishing the job, he looked up to see said dog hanging helplessly by his collar, having tried the Great Escape but failing to realise that he was still attached at the other end! Luckily, it had only just happened and he was able to rescue the silly mutt and no harm was done.
However, had Paddy been a cat, he would definitely have used up one of his nine lives.
You see! You can't leave 'em alone for five minutes!

Alyn Waters Country Park

I am ashamed to say that, despite having lived in this area for six years, I have never ventured into Alyn Waters Country Park , which is only two miles away - until today, that is, when I decided to take Paddy there for his walk for a change of scenery. No camera with me today, I'm afraid, but I will definitely go back. The sun was peeping out and making a brave effort to shine, Paddy had lots of interesting scents to investigate and we had a very pleasant, relaxing walk.

But I'm not going to take the risk of expressing the hope that the worst of winter is over; no, that would be tempting fate.... but it would be nice to think that Spring is finally just around the corner.