Tuesday 28th January

Much better night, I threw off the heavy quilt and just managed with my nest which is two fleece sheets with a quilt stitched together and a quilt inside.  It's my solution in the winter, fleece blankets dry much quicker especially over the balcony when the sun is out.  It's very windy out there this morning but fortunately is battened down really well.  The fire needed attention this morning, it had gone out overnight and having limited side movement means that I tackle everything really gingerly at the moment, I'm alright up and down but no twisting of anything attached to the pelvis especially legs.  I can support my own weight as I found out this afternoon when I was working between the counters in the kitchen.  I made toast and sausages in the air-fryer for breakfast and tuna mayo with toast for a late lunch which is going to see me through.  The routine is now food, tablet, massage with the cream and then see what needs doing that I can manage easily.

I lit the fire, brought logs in from the porch but used the smaller starter wood to get the fire going before I lob on a large one that keeps it ticking over.  I now seem to be judging it fairly well, it's run down tonight but I shall be banking it up aroundeight thirty hoping that it will be going in the morning.  I had interesting communications on social media that made me laugh out loud and one from a friend that I haven't had contact with for ages,  He posted, I commented updating him on my predicament and it turns out the he was 'getting a new leg today' which would change his reliance on a wheelchair and I realised how lucky am I.  I'm hoping that the Zimmer is a short-term solution.  He did say that he wished his body was still in such fine form as his brain, we used to be in a group on the web and we were always the ones to see the funny side of a situation.  

I've finished Outlander until they release more of the same.  I'm not sure when that's supposed to happen but I need a new series on Netflix.  I started the robot cleaner manually this afternoon, worked it for about half an hour just in the area that I'm living, pressed the home key but unfortunately, when I'd started it I'd moved the docking station so had to fiddle with it.  It put itself away but started up again after about fifteen minutes so I pressed another button and home it went.  It's eight degrees outside at the moment and twenty three in so i shant't freeze overnight but according to the local news, we can expect lower temperatures towards the weekend.  Got my man in to sort out my requirements on the wood front in the morning and I must remember to ask him to put a black bag in the container in the square.  LN.......I need to make a list....all this time with so little to do that I'm bound to forget something.....LN

Wednesday 29th January

I seem to recall sleeping on my back with my knees bent and when it came to getting out of bed this morning, I'm guessing that the pain in my back and hips was due to the overnight sleeping position.  I struggled around and tonight I will not just sleep with the heavier quilt folded down, the really lightweight one is going to go on the bed.  The weight on my knees must have realigned my position.....and all this without alcohol||

I slept in a little late this morning and apparently so I found out later that the lad from the village had work today and his mother said that he came round, saw that there were two containers of wood so went off to work.  I didn't hear him calling me but with two closed doors inbetween it's hardly surprising but no harm done.  My friend who arranged it phoned me and gave me the details but I was very surprised when his mother came round mid morning to see if there was anything she could do for me.  There was nothing...I'd not bothered lighting the fire, the sun was out and shining into the house and soon up to twenty five degrees and tonight the house still sits at twenty three degrees and ten outside.

The chicken leg went into the slow cooker with a can of tomatoes and some curry powder and that was ready for around four this afternoon.  I settled for toast for breakfast just for something for my tablet to sit on as it went on to do its stuff and had a massage to get those joints that were reluctant into action again.  I listened to an interesting podcast this lunchtime about the conflict between religion and the science and found it very interesting.....Judaism verses Atheism....with no real conclusions except that one description regarding of God of 'the spy in the sky'. That's what we were told at Sunday School....God sees everything.

I had my early lunch and added potato wedges to the menu, unfortunately cooked too many potaotes so they're going into an omelette for breakfast.  The robot set itself off late afternoon, I let it run to see what it would do.  My carpet is still there and looking immaculate and Robo put itself back to bed when it had finished.  There was a slight disturbance, I'd forgotten to close the curtain to stop it going under the stairs and getting stuck but I managed to bullfight it out of the area using a chair as a buffer and back it came and once it was over the threshold, the curtain was drawn, it was confined. I lit the fire around five this evening, it went first time and is ticking away nicely and only one more log required before bedtime.  LN.....In myself I'fm feeling fine, the territory is secured, there are fewer motions that I need to be careful of and hopefully it won't be too long before everything is back to normal...afterall it's only been just over a week.....LN

Thursday 30th January

So on our way to February, one month of the New Year almost gone, I call it my birthday month.  Well yes, it is my birthday month but Auariarius is my busist month for cards and memories, mother, daughter and son and myself all born under this sign.  

As for this morning's weather, quite a change from yesterday with grey and very grey skies, it looked as if we had had rain in the night and it's been dull all day.  I was awake early, I wasn't sure if my young man would come to sort out the logs for me and he didn't disappoint.  He arrived around ten minutes to eight, I'd put porch light on already so that he knew that I was up and getting slowly about and I went out to meet him.  He was amazed by the walker that I had, his little eyes lit up and I'm not sure that he'd see one before.  I explained that I'd bought it from Kardjali and off he went to fill two log carriers for me, one with oak making it two in the porch and one with the smaller stuff from the tree pruning last year.  I asked him if he could also put the rubbish in the container for me, he obliged and off he went just before eight o'clock, on his way to work.  I've known him since he was around sixteen years of age and he's quite a young man now.

I had toast for breakfast so that I had a platform for my tablet, had a good massage and thought about lighting the fire which I eventually got round to.  It's nt been cold today for the time of year but just dull and the garden seemed lifeless.  It's not that I've had a black day like the clouds but there's so much I would like to be getting on with but can't and am looking forward to the day that I can.  I've filled my day with reading, Sudoku and sleeping of which I seem to have done quite a lot today.  Last night I was quite restless so I'm not sure if I was catching up on sleep or banking it just in case tonight is the same.  Moving on, time to bank up the fire for tonight, I'm still trying to work out how I can get one of the garden chairs into the bathrom and sit under the shower and negotiate a wet floor with the Zimmer in my imagination but the garden chairs are in the workshop so I need to get that organised before I can plan the rest.  LN.......So now for my journey into night-time and to filling my evening......LN

Friday 31st January

I was surprised at how low the temperature fell last night and there was frost and ice on the terrace this morning....best stay inside then, I did too much damage at the end of last year and the beginning of this. I must have slept peculiarly last night, I had aches in different places and that how it appears to be.  I'm not sure if I try to do to much during the day, I try to reign myself in but to no avail.  I'm down to just four tablets and it was suggested by my student's mum that I stopped taking these from a certain group quoting that they might damage the kidneys or the liver but still keep on with the cream.  On the phone this lunchtime I've ordered the prescription once again and I will treat it like I did the others, change to Nurofen and monitor the need.

As well as the frost this morning we had freezing fog making everything look very ghostly and it took ages for the sun to break through and raise the temperature to a reasonable level.  I boiled a couple of eggs for breakfast and had them with toast taking a photograph and sending it to my daughter just to let her know that I'm not fading away.  The message back was 'they look delish' and they were.  The yolks were probably a little well done for my liking but I managed OK.  I got on with my morning chores and brought a fewnlarge logs to keep the home fires burning for the rest of the day and I still have two large ones left should I need them tonight.  I tidied the kitchen, managed to create some music playlists and filled my morning listening to music and ready, doing a Sudoku in between and answering messages.  I was just about to put an early evening meal at around four this afternoon when I had a call telling me not to bother, my friend for the lower village was cooking for her mother and had prepared some for me.  She arrived around half four and had three containers in a carrier bag and it looks like I have food for the weekend.  One was a thick meat stew, enough for two meals and I had one tonight, the second was a cream of mushroom soup and the third was was a chicken soup all with vegetables.  Tonight's meal I added potatoes in skins from the air fryer and I shouldn't feel hungry until the morning.  Tomorrow's job is to freeze portions of the two remaining soups in portions and have then as and when.  She stayed for a while and she's here until Sunday when she goes back home to Kardjali.  She really does look after her mother well.  I think she's coming back tomorrow with Zelinger, who really wants to come and see me.

Fire going well, temperature is still nine degrees outside and twenty three inside with only a small fire.  The visit with my prescription, fruit and bread from my student's parents is delayed until tomorrow....my student has football in Kardjali tonight.  Now time to shut up shop for the night, I've started watching Vikings again but my heart's not in it like it was first time round so time to find something new.  LN.....It's supposed to be good weather again tomorrow and changing on Sunday, not that I'm going anywhere.....I'm safer around the house and just getting on with 'stuff'....LN