And the weather this weekend...

When I saw the headline for this article in the Daily Telegraph, well, I got really excited. A weekend heatwave, hot enough to lead to health warnings! And then I read the article. As usual, anything that happens weather-wise  in the south east is immediately given prime coverage as if the whole of the UK is going to be affected. Yes, I know we are in the middle of Wimbledon and so the forecasts there are more than usually important, but this happens all year round. I pity the poor Scots. They routinely undergo hail, rain and chest-deep snow and no-one even hears about it.
At the moment, I am in Bristol (south west England). On Sunday, I shall be returning to North Wales, also on the west of Britain, so I shall not be affected by or interested in what the weather is doing over on the east, except to be mildly disappointed that I shall not need my factor 50 sun lotion whilst travelling, to protect me from the fiery rays of the sun.
Oh no, "Elsewhere in the country will be cooler, with unsettled conditions and temperatures in the low 20s in some places."  That's what we'll be getting.
On the other hand, it's probably just as well that I shall not be collapsing at the wheel with heat stroke like all those poor people in the 'Sahf East' innit!

 

T.K. is back!

I haven't treated you to one of T.K.'s gems lately, so here's one I got from him this morning. You know what they say - there's many a true word spoken in jest!

Julia Gillard, the Prime Minister of Australia, and David Cameron, her British counterpart, are shown a time machine which can see 100 years into the future.
They both decide to test it by asking a question each.
Julia goes first. "What will Australia be like in 100 years time?"
The machine whirrs and beeps and goes into action and gives her a printout.
She reads it out. "The country is in good hands under the new Prime Minister, crime is non-existent, there is no conflict, the economy is healthy. There are no worries."
David thinks "It's not bad, this time machine, I'll have a bit of that." So he asks, "What will Great Britain be like in 100 years time?"
The machine whirrs and beeps and goes into action, and he gets a printout.
But he's just staring at it.
"Come on David," says Julia, "what does it say?"
David replies, "I'm buggered if I know. It's all in Arabic."

Skinny dipping

At 8.30 yesterday morning on a beach at Rhossilli, 400 people took up the challenge to stay in the (extremely cold) water for at least 10 minutes, to raise money for the Marie Curie Cancer Care and the National Trust.Read all about it here. 

And before you ask, no, I was not among their number - far too cold for me.

Daphne, on the other hand, could have been there except that she was busy doing her own Great North Swim. You can read a comprehensive account of that on Silverback's blog, here.
It's a good thing some of us are hardy critters!

A Mother's Story: Father's Day

A Mother's Story: Father's Day

The week in pictures

The Daily Telegraph has a regular item, The Week in Pictures, which is well worth a look at even if you are not a Telegraph fan.
This is the one I picked out from this week's gallery:

If you're a fan of pink and of traditional phones, this is just the one for you. Of course, you'd need a pretty large bag to carry it in, but hey, you can't have everything.

And it is pink....   Everyone will want one!

At the doctor's - again

Yes, again because on Tuesday I had a call from the surgery telling me that my GP would dearly like to talk to me about my cholesterol level! All that worrying I've done over the years about my blood pressure and it's the cholesterol that's sneaked up on me.
On Keith's advice, I went early, arriving at half past eight so that I would be one of the first patients to be seen, which would have been a good strategy had not the rest of the practice decided to do the same. Next time I go, I shall definitely take a shelf full of books with me, or my Kindle, which has a shelf full of books on it anyway. Two hours later (yes TWO HOURS), I got to see my GP.  At least she is not jealousy-makingly thin and there was a sense of heartfelt empathy as she agreed with me that losing weight is much harder after the menapause. Anyway, she was quite happy with my blood pressure, althought interestingly, she did comment that it had been very high in 2004. (Anyone who scoffs at the idea that teaching is stressful, please take note...) After taking some family history and asking me about my diet and exercise, it only remained for her to type up my prescription for Simvastatin.
"What about diet?" she asked, "What are your weaknesses?" "Well, nothing really," I started to say.
"Do you eat cheese?" "Well yes, sometimes..."
"What kind?" "Er, Red Leicester usually, but I don't ..."
"HA! You'll have to cut down on that, then!"
While I am anxious to do whatever it takes to avoid strokes and heart attacks,   this seems like the first step towards the dreaded senior years and a reminder that the old body does have a finite shelf life, however much I like to think otherwise.
You think I'm being a bit melodramatic here? Of course I am - it's what I do!

Upper end of normal

This morning was my appointment with the nurse for BP and cholesterol test. She looked vaguely familiar when I went in and then I remembered, in her other life, she is one of the receptionists. I was hoping she was also trained for taking blood, as she sank a painful needle into my arm. I explained about my 'white coat syndrome' which means that my blood pressure tends to rise when it's taken in the surgery or hospital and told her what it had been at home earlier. She nodded politely and then told me that it was now a little lower than that.
"Upper end of normal. I'll pass it on to the doctor," she said.
"I would prefer not to have medication if I can do without it," I said. "Of course, if I could lose a few pounds it would help. They say it's more difficult to lose weight after the menapause - it certainly is!"
She, stick thin, nodded politely.
"I walk about 45 minutes every day with the dog," I continued desperately, "and I eat healthy stuff..."
She nodded politely.
"The results of the cholesterol test should be back on Wednesday," she said.
"Right," I said and got up to leave.
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