Sunday 19th January

Six thirty start so not so bad.  It was dark, I went down to make coffee and brought it back to bed and checked my phone until I noticed that the sky was getting lighter so I opened the curtains and went downstairs.  I lit the fire, it wasn't cold in the house since yesterday's sun had warmed up the brickwork, melted most of the snow from the terraces and today's sun had finished off the job.

I fried off sausage and an egg and had breakfast on a sandwich, washed up the dishes from last night and took photos of the morning.  The snow is so beautiful, the birds were dipping in and out of the pile of bread that's sitting on the stone on the terrace.  I also added the apple peel and core from the apple that I had with yogurt last night but they're so skittish, any movement and they are off.

I spent the morning tidying the lounge and removing the rest of the Christmas decorations and putting them away for next year, God willing.  I also set about finishing wrapping the presents that I intended delivering this afternoon.  That didn't happen.  My neighbour that I helped out yesterday cutting the vicious wood appeared today and we went cutting more wood for the top of her hedge.  She left with presents for her and her mother, the rest of the villagers will have to wait.    

Tomorrow plans may have to change, I'm not sure what I'll be up to, I had an incident with a patch of ice as I left the wood store and I may very well be resting.  Seems last years luck has followed me into this year.   LN.....Fire going, wood in and enough to last until the morning.....LN

Monday 20th January

Had a reasonable peaceful night and thank goodness I have two banister rails to get up and down stairs.  An angel of mercy phoned this morning and came up with a plan to photo the prescription and then she would arrange for it to be brought down to my village.  The sun arrived with the pain and antiseptic cream and pain killers that have to be taken after food.  The bill was in for payment of said medicines but in my hurry to understand the regularity of taking said tablets and applying the cream....I forgot to pay him and I've made him aware that I refuse to pay any interest incurred.

I'm not in a good way walking is round the furniture but I managed to light a fire. get wood into the house and empty the ashes.  I used my very competent brain to work out how to do things and by holding on to the furniture I'm managing and waiting for the pain to ease. I had a phone call from the lady who feels responsible for the accident....I was helping her to cut wood for the top of her hedge and if she'd left me covering a box in the same material as my bathroom curtains, this would never have occurred.

I've arranged with her help someone to come round tomorrow and get in enough wood for me and bring it into the porch.  He's supposed to be coming at nine in the morning.  LN.....No photos, not up to having much enthusiasm for the snow that leaves such rubbish like ice in its wake.....LN

Tuesday 21st January

Slept OK but then came the problem of putting foot to the floor, then the second one and suddenly there was more main that expected.  It's always the way, when the ache sets in it really does.  It was not such a good way weatherwise, the sun looked like it was going to shine all day but it was lying to me.  Intermittent sunshine, the temperature has settled at four degrees tonight and nineteen inside so time to poke up the petchka.

I had my first visitor at nine thirty this morning, one of the village boys came over to get in wood from the wood store and he filled up the porch for me.  I have enough to last until the weekend.  I offered money, he touched his heart and it makes me realise that I've a place in this village.  Later today I managed to climb the stairs and bring down my 'nest' from upstairs to the bedroom downstairs, another two quilts and my two feather pillows, not forgetting my stuffed elephant that my grandson bought me for Christmas two years ago.  I made up the bed up and looking forward to getting installed tonight.

I had more visitors this evening bringing bananas and some juice and very willing to do anything I needed.  She's a nurse and her comment was that I had 'the good injury', if the pelvis had been broken it would have been six months in bed and the same of physio to get on my feet again.  So now I have to rest and since I'm now operating solely on the ground floor, things should be easier.  Using the little laptop on the table in the stairwell and playing behind me is 'The Scent of a Woman' from Netflix, only recently added.  I first saw this film goodness how many years ago and I still love it. I missed the dance scene firing up the laptop but now I going to take it back to where I left it and replay.  Time  to draw the curtain to keep the heat in and slap another log on t he fire...with a little luck it will still be in tomorrow to save me a job.  LN.....I thinking of gettin a 'walker'....to help me over this bad parch I've fallen on, so to speak.....LN

Wednesday 22nd January

The fire was still going this morning and with two well place logs and only one top up, it's still going well.  The sun came out this morning but there didn't appear to be much heat in it....too many clouds around.  The temperature in the house is twenty degrees and five degrees out so at least we shouldn't have any overnight frost.  

I managed to get myself set up with bananas delivered yesterday by ty student's mum.  I got them into the lounge and on to the small table by the sofa and also managed to bring in a container of strawberry and banana drink, not my usual choice but appreciated none the less.  I also brought from the kitchen another bottle of juice and a large fizzy water...it used to be so easy to get things from anywhere in the house....my activity has been curtailed but hopefully things will heal and I'll be back to being normal.

I did manage to make it upstairs and throw down several pairs of pyjamas over the banister, made it back down the stairs and gathered up the pile of clothes into the dustbin that I'm using as a walker until the one that's been ordered can be delivered.  I have a friend coming tomorrow and need to place an order with her and on Friday a local friend is coming to see if she can help.  She was the one that was with me at the time of the fall and I'm sure she feels partly responsible since we were going out to get wood for her mother to protect the garden from the cows.  

Now for a self massage with the cream from the hospital and bed seems the most comfortable place to be but getting in and out is not so good.  LN....I'm counting the days till I'm up and at it again.....LN

Thursday 23rd January

Well what an exciting day.  I slept until two this morning, settled down again and it was six the next time and at six thirty I put in my order from the day from a good friend who was visiting later.  I want food that can sit on the table and be available for when I have to have a tablet that states 'to be taken after food and I think I half a packet of biscuits or a banana will fit the bill.  The good news came around eight this morning....my Zimmer frame was being delivered today to the car shop, I'd already asked them to take out a repeat prescription on the first that had been issued by the hospital from the chemist next door and that my friend would pick up the items on her way to my house when she'd finished shopping in Kardjali.  My body is frail but the brain still puts all ducks in a line and they normally swim up the river in order.

It worked.  My friend arrived around twelve thirty and the first thing to be unpacked was the Zimmer frame and what a joy it was to receive it.  I tried it out, it didn't need any adjustment and it's much better than skittling around in a plastic two foot tall container.  Next she unpacked the provisions that I'd asked for onto the table in the winter lounge, we sat down with a coffee and then we devised a list of other tasks that needed to be done.  There wasn't much to do...wood needed to be brought into the house from the porch which was easy to do, I asked her it she would bring down the clothes airer from the upstairs guest room and the dirty laundry from the bathroom.  I put it into the washing machine with little effort and one hand on my frame, poured the washing powder into the compartment, set the machine and turned it on.  She left before it had finished and it was no effort to put it on the airer in the kitchen and hopefully I'll be able to bring it into the lounge tonight and it will be in front of the fire.

I sent my daughter a message telling her that 'Mrs Bump' had now got a Zimmer frame and she sent me back a GIF that made me laugh...and that's what daughters are for.  It has made it much easier to get around and delivered price was seventy one lev.....cheap at half the price and I'll save it for when I get old when this incident is over or hire it out to my neighbours.  Now back to Netflix, I'm still wading my way through 'The Last Kingdom'.  I've only watched it around three times and read all of the books and love the characters.  LN....My mind is more settled this evening and tomorrow I have more visitors coming so what else do I need doing?......LN

Friday 24th January

Slept OK, Zimmer frame is keeping me company in the bedroom overnight and made my morning bearable.  The fire was still going so it was just a matter of getting the ash out of the ash can and I've been using the hand shovel for that to save the weight on my torso.  It's only been five days, it feels much longer but I suppose it has to.  The normality of walking around and getting things done has been removed and now I'm having to work out the best wat to do things and I've been quite inventive today.  I settled for another banana for breakfast but things have to change now that I can get about a little better.  I took the dry clothes from the airer, folded them and they're still in the kitchen waiting to be carried through.  A gain the television has been my companion for most of the day, I need to get more books on the kindle and I have to find the books on the computer and the right cable to transfer them....it's all been too much for my brain today.  I had an email in Bulgarian that I needed to read and for some reason Google translate didn't want to open up despite various efforts and I even had to sign in to my diary this evening.....I know things have to be secure but....its very annoying.  I had my morning conversation with my lovely garage shop lady and a few jokes flew backwards and forwards and it's just that she gets me....and I like that.

It started off sunny then the clouds rolled over and it's been quite a dull afternoon.  At twelve I worked out that I needed a larger table by the side of the sofa.  I was putting things next to me on the sofa then they were falling between the cushions and the back of the sofa and it was getting annoying.  I had a lightweight table in the guest room but didn't fancy trying to get it downstairs and put a liite more brain power on and moved the table that normally sticks out from the wall parallel to the wall and closer to the sofa.  It's on wheels to it was easy to move round...and job done.  Hungry around two so made a dish of tuna mayo, two slices of toast and that did the job and I'm settling for bottled water for the time being.  I also took chicken drumsticks from the freezer, thawed them out and put them in the slow cooker with two chicken stock cubes and I've just added a small tin of tomato purée and some curry powder.  

Now about to get ready for bed and settle down for the night....might be more TV or get my Sudoku book out.  It says that they are 'giant but they still only have nine boxes to fill in.  I think it refers to the size of the print and it's the final one before you move on to Braille.  LN.....my back is aching sitting on this chair so I'm going to manoeuvre myself back to base.....LN

Saturday 25th January

Three times in the night to the little girls room and it was hard going with my Zimmer.  I felt like I'd done a marathon in the night.  I was up for real around seven and it's seemed like a very long day....busy in patches then slow the rest of the time.  I had to light the fire from scratch and used some of the wood that I'd cur up for starter wood and it was soon sending the hot water round the radiators....and then the sun came out.  I'd used my wood because the logs that I had in the house from the delivered wood were large and I struggle to get them into the burner.....too much weight and pressure on the pelvic area which is now knackered.  Walking is fine, turning from the waist up is fine just  lift and carrying is not on the cards at the moment.

My friend arrived around eleven and brought a present just because I had given her and her mother one each.....she admired the walker, asked what the two hanging bags were for and I said that in one I had my phone, glasses for when I'm on the move and the other had tablets and cream so that when I go to another room or to bed, I have everything with me.  She was impressed and was very interested as to where I'd bought them from.  I turned the slow cooker on and added more water and that was going to be a late lunch.  She kindly filled up the three log carriers for me and the two small starter wood with not so small starter wooe but that's OK.....I can manage.  Off she went and came back at four this afternoon with her mother and she was fascinated by the house....she's not been inside before.  I'd only just woken up, I'd let the fire really burn down, slept right through it and felt sleepy but very refreshed when the arrived.  Off they went and tomorrow she's bringing me round some food that she's cooking for her mother and putting extra for me....very kind.

Enough now, I'm sitting on a chair in the stairwell and it's much more comfortable on the sofa in front of the fire.  LN.....Let's see what tomorrow brings......LN

Sunday 26th January

Horrible night's sleep, the bedclothes were too heavy and I'm thinking I need a cage underneath the quilts to take the weight off my legs and pelvic area.  May be I  did too much yesterday when I was feeling good and shouldn't have done.  The fire was rescued this morning and it's been going all day, not really necessary when the sun's out but there wasn't much sign of it when I first started getting around.

My friend from the village arrived this morning with toast cheese sandwiches, she'd made them for themselves at home and put a couple in for me.  I'd settled for water and apple juice while she sorted out the wood, put a large log on the fire as I'm guessing that the reason one of my other muscles is playing up is that one of the logs from last night was heavy.  At eleven I had more visitors bearing gifts, more fruit and a robot hoover that I begged them to take away but she was insistent.  She installed it, said that it could be left to its own devices but I just thought it was a perfect thing to trip over while trying to avoid it.  Her husband carried a container of wood in for me and brought me a few more logs in but smaller this time and off they went to feed the chickens down at the garage.

I slept for a couple of hours this afternoon, woke up at four and made turkey dippers and potato wedges in the air-fryer for an early evening supper.  I even managed to get a bowl out and have yogurt and sour cherry jam and am feeling stuffed to the gills.  I settled down again with The Last Kingdom and suddenly there was a noise I didn't recognise and the floor cleaning thing that started up on it's timer and I wasn't sure how to switch it back to home charger, I pressed a few buttons, picked it up, it came up with an error message.  I put it back down again, pressed 'Base' and I thing it's docked successfully.  I've turned the charger off......it's just too much of a liability.

Washing up done, fire set for tonight and think I'm going to abandon one of the quilts for tonight and settled just for the nest with a lighterweight quilt.  LN.....Let's see how I fare overnight......LN

Monday 27th January

So now we are entering my dreaded month of birthdays....two the end of this month and the rest of my brood including mine on the seventeenth.  Cards were easier to send, choosing them was fun in the old days, handwriting greetings both funny and sincere but now it's useless post from Bulgaria, if they arrive at all and the same applies from England to here.  We've given up so rely on the internet and bank transfers these days so they can choose their own gifts and as for me.....what do I really need now that the years have chugged on.

I've had a normal day for me....the fire was hanging in there and didn't take long to burst into life.  I had my morning messages from the garage which I really appreciate and a few emails from home asking about the accident.  They get the updates from the blog but some people like the detail so they are supplied privately.  The washing from yesterday is ready to put away, the robot hoover supplied by my friend started up again this afternoon and I spent some time trying to decide which button would send it back to its docking station but everytime it got near, my glasses went out of focus and it was all the time spinning that I gave up and let it get on with the job in hand.  I think my feet have never been cleaner.  My other friend didn't make it, she thinks that she's going down with a cold and doesn't want to add to my misery which is very good of her.  I don't think I could take the pain of sneezing for long as it involves tummy muscles if done properly.  One of my other neighbours came around mid morning carrying gifts of biscuits and fruit and I'm not sure if she was expecting her Christmas present.  She sat for a while and we passed a few pleasantries but no way could I get to the room with the presents in it.  It's blocked off by the table that I've swung round to make life easier for me....she'll have to wait like the rest.  My Christmas is just so delayed this year

I've done very little else exept for trying to pair my eleven inch tablet to my mini-printer with Bluetooth but I think another setting has to be changed.  I eventually gave up, went back to the Kindle and started to read one of the Outlander books and then rewatched the episodes on Netflix, I have wool and could be crocheting or knitting and embroidery I could be doing but I just don't seem to be able to settle.  It's just this nagging pain but I still should be sitting and let nature take its course but there are still things to do that put me in a difficult position and then something else seems to hurt.

Let's get on to a better topic.  We've had another sunny day, cold last night but in the house the temperature is still twenty four degrees which is outstanding for January.  I get the feeling that February might might us in the bottom with lots more snow and low night time temperatures.  I shall pay more attention to the ground if that happens and stay away from anywhere icy.....I've learnt my lesson.  So now to settled down to a few more episodes of Outlander, the fire is set for the night, tablets over and done with and now relax and then to bed said Zeberdee.  LN.....It's a bit like one step forward and two steps back but now I've identified the 'home' button on the robot, I should be fine.....I have control.....LN