A Bit Of A Thaw

I eventually managed to get out to get my parcels from the local sorting office this morning. I needed to get some food too, so I couldn't put it off any longer. I knew that it was still cold out so I made sure that I was well wrapped up and that I wore a hat and some gloves and equipped with my shopping bag and walking stick I set out. Most of the snow at the back of the house had gone but there was still much on the road and pavements at the side of the house.

As I stepped off the drive onto the pavement I put my foot down somewhat gingerly but I needn't have worried. The surface that last week had been so slippery was today quite soft. There had been a little more snow over the weekend but the real reason that it was much safer underfoot was the fact that the snow was actually melting. We are having a bit of a thaw at the moment and even though it is still very cold it is possible that by the end of the week most of the snow on the pavements will have disappeared.

I made it to the sorting office without a hint of a slip and then made my way to the supermarket for life's essentials. I now have bread and milk as well as a few other bits and pieces and I should be fine until the end of the week now. I decided to travel as much of the way home as I could by bus because the shopping was quite heavy and I really didn't want to come a cropper if I did mange to find a patch of icy pavement. In the end I made it home quite safely and once indoors I started to warm up a little.

I managed to get to sleep last night without the aid of medication and somewhat unbelievably actually managed to sleep in this morning too. I was supposed to go to see the HTT this morning at 10am, but I was still asleep then. I eventually woke at about 10.30 and knowing that I had other things to do that were far more important than going to see the HTT I decided to phone them to apologise for not being there owing to my having overslept. I had a brief chat and when asked when I wanted to go to see them I persuaded them that as I had a lot to do this week, especially having to get my assignment in to my tutor by lunchtime on Friday, that I not call in this week but go to see them next Monday. This was accepted by them and so I have a reprieve for this week.

Tomorrow I am off to see the psychologist again and I am already beginning to get anxious about it. Last week's session was less psychotherapy and more an opportunity to talk about how the news about Mr Smiley has affected me. Tomorrow it will be back to the real work and we will also be discussing how many more sessions I will be having and whether I am to be referred for long-term psychotherapy. I believe that this is quite likely, but the fact that I am being referred by one of the mental health trusts psychologists rather than by my GP will hopefully mean that I don't have to wait too long for the therapy to start.

Now I have to decide what I am going to do for the rest of the day. Do I have a go at writing the 1500-word story for my assignment? Or do I sit and do some knitting? Or should I sit down to write another post in the Tackling the Mental Health Minefield series. Making decisions is very difficult at the moment.

Why Does The Postman ...

... always try to deliver parcels when I am not in?  Friday is pretty much the only day of the week that I can guarantee to not be at home when the postman comes, because I am out all morning travelling to and from, and attending my psychotherapy session. So last Friday he tried to deliver two parcels and took them back to the sorting office necessitating me taking a long walk there this morning.

As the crow flies the distance to the sorting office is not too far, but unfortunately to get to it I have to walk three sides of a square because it is the other side of the railway line.  The only good part about the journey is that there is a pedestrian underpass beneath the railway line otherwise I would have to walk a further mile to get to it.

I could have collected the parcels on Saturday morning, but I ended up sleeping most of Saturday morning and by the time that I woke up there was not enough time for me to get dressed and walk to the sorting office before it closed, so this morning I set off armed with the card that the postman left telling me he had taken the parcels back to the sorting office, and a shopping bag, because if I was going that far I might as well get a bit of shopping at Sainsbury's too.

I'm now back home, with my feet up, and about to inspect my parcels.  They contain some craft materials that I ordered last week and one of them contains some materials to try out a new technique for my card making.  I'm quite looking forward to having a go at it to see what I can achieve.

Not Quite So Traumatic Tuesday

Today hasn't been quite as bad as yesterday, but it had its moments.  I didn't have the perfect night's sleep, but it was good enough for me to feel reasonably okay by the time that I got up.  I had to collect a parcel from the local sorting office as I had missed the postman when he called yesterday morning; I was at the local Post Office posting a parcel.  I collected the parcel and then headed for Sainsbury's to get the few bits of shopping that I wanted.  I decided to get the bus home rather than walk, only because the shopping turned out to be a bit heavier and more unwieldy than I had expected.

I hadn't been home long before the doorbell rang.  It was the postman with another parcel.  Then, having wrapped up the presents and written the cards for next door, I went to deliver them.  My next door neighbour had been to the dentist this morning and that coupled with a streaming cold meant that she wasn't looking her best. Anyway, we had a quick chat and she gave me a parcel that had been left for me while I was out shopping. Anyone would think it was Christmas, the number of parcels that I have been getting over the last few days.

I took the parcel home and opened it.  I knew what it was as soon as I saw it.  It was my new Samsung Notebook.  I have a desktop PC, and a laptop, but the laptop is quite heavy and not very convenient to take with me when I go to study in the library or if I go away anywhere, so I had decided to treat myself to this Notebook for just those purposes.  I sat down with it, inserted the battery, connected it to the mains and started to set it up.

A few minutes later it was ready for me to start trying things out. It connected to my wireless network very quickly, and I was soon surfing the net, then I installed the office applications that came with it (they came loaded onto a USB dongle because the Notebook doesn't have a disk drive).  So the next thing was to have a look at the applications to see what was there.

Lunch was a little late today because of my having been playing with my new toy, but the bacon sandwich was well worth waiting for.  I decided to watch the QI Christmas Special on BBC iPlayer while I was eating my lunch as I had missed the programme last night.  Before long I found myself choking on my sandwich because I could not stop laughing.  I don't think that I have laughed so much for a very long time, and I may watch it again later just to see if it has the same effect on me.

I've done a bit of knitting this afternoon, and I shall do some more this evening, but I thought that I had better write a quick post before settling down for an evening of knitting and watching the box.

Yes, this post has been brought to you with the help of my new Notebook.  I can see it getting quite a bit of use.

A Strange Day

Today has been a strange day.  I have had some highs, but rather a lot of lows.

This morning started with me waking very early (about 3.30am) but I managed to fall back to sleep and didn't wake again until almost 8 o'clock.  I knew that I had to get up as I was expecting a parcel to arrive this morning; I had ordered some sheepskin boots from Amazon and knew that they should arrive this morning.  The door bell rang at about 10.30 and there was the postman with my parcel.  It took me less than a minute to get the parcel open, all the packaging out of the boots, and put them on my feet.  They were wonderful, and even though I wasn't going out I just had to scrunch my toes in the lovely sheepskin and enjoy the warm toasty feeling that soon embraced my feet.  I did eventually manage to take them off, but they make the prospect of going out tomorrow morning to post some Christmas cards and a parcel something to look forward to.

I made an early lunch because I hadn't had anything for breakfast. I decided to have one of my favourites; bacon rolls.  I tucked into them as though I hadn't eaten for days, and really enjoyed every last mouthful.  That in itself is a bit unusual because I haven't felt like eating much over the last week or so and I have been existing on pretty basic food.

Then the doorbell rang again; it was the postman with some Christmas cards and a couple of small packages for me.  These packages were a knitting pattern for another shawl (a really intricate one this time that will take me months to knit as it is so complex) and some wool (samples for the new shawl pattern, and wool for two different shawls).  It was a bit like having early Christmas presents, although as I won't get any presents for Christmas, perhaps I shouldn't have opened them and saved them for Christmas Day.

This afternoon has been less agreeable.  I had a phone call from Mr Smiley telling me that he wouldn't be able to make our Christmas lunch tomorrow; it's become a bit of a ritual over the last few years that we have lunch together just before Christmas and combine it with celebrating whatever the latest OU module is that I have passed.

I also have a cold, which has become more aggravating as the day has gone on; it's mainly a runny nose, but it has made doing my knitting more difficult because I am constantly having to blow my nose.  And to make matters worse, the conjunctivitis that I was suffering from a few weeks ago seems to have come back and I have had to keep wiping the gunk out of them.  I suppose that because I am feeling low at the moment I am going to fall prey to any bugs that are going round, but I have to hope that I manage to avoid the vomiting and diarrhoea that is doing the rounds.  It' s bad enough having things like that when you have someone to keep an eye on you and to take care of your needs; it's terrible when you have to suffer on your own especially when you really don't feel like doing anything at all.

Still, I have had a double-dose of Doctor Who this evening (BBC 3 is showing repeats of Series 4 at the moment) and now I am watching a DVD, which will get me through until it is time for bed. I'm hoping for a reasonable night's sleep tonight and although it is likely that I will wake in the early hours of the morning, I am hoping that I manage to get back to sleep again as quickly as I did this morning.

Not A Moment's Peace

I had my bath, boiled the kettle and made a mug of fruit tea, then boiled the kettle again and filled the hot water bottle, got myself into bed and wrapped myself up in the duvet and a shawl and I was just getting comfortable watching a DVD when the door bell rang.  It was the postman with a couple of parcels for me.

Isn't that just typical; the day that I didn't want any disturbances and I get one as soon as I get into bed.  But it was worth it because one parcel contained the next set of books for one of my OU courses, and the other contained a new camera.  When I tried to use my old camera the other day to take picture of my new jumper it wouldn't work.  I tried recharging the battery, and it was fully charged, but each time I pressed the button, nothing happened.  One of the problems with modern cameras is that they can cost more to repair than to buy a new one, so a new one it was.

One of the wonderful things about the Internet is that it is possible to order something on a Sunday, pay nothing for postage and packing and receive it on Wednesday.  So later today, I shall charge the battery for the new camera, and then take some test shots so that I get used to the feel of the camera and then I can take the promised photographs for Steph and Caroline.

I may also take a sneaky peek at my new course book to see what is coming up in the course, but the parcel that I am really waiting for is the course books for the course that I signed up for last week.  With a lot of studying to do in the days and weeks ahead, I need to get rid of this cold as quickly as possible.  So I shall snuggle in bed and try to sweat it out.