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Infusions

One thing I have to restart for the New Year is my regular eight-weekly infusions at West Middlesex Hospital. The first one was this morning.

After having a little game to get there, with various buses and ending with a short walk from the main road, I got there just in time for my 09:30 appointment.

West Middlesex Hospital – Main Entrance

After leaving there and just missing an H22 bus, we took a 117 and got off at Bell Corner and went into The Moon Under Water, the local Wetherspoons Pub on Staines Road.

Wetherspoons Large Breakfast

We were both hungry. Kathy had the American Breakfast, with pancakes and syrup, eggs and sausages, and I had the full English above.

Some decent beers were on the handpump there too. I had a couple of them.

Cask Ale
Cask Ale
Cask Ale 5.0%
Cask Ale
Cask Ale

There are the snobs out there who complain about Wetherspoons, but I’ve always had a decent cask ale in my local one, and found the food to be of decent quality too.

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It’s Almost Over

2022 hasn’t been a bad year for me. It’s not been particularly exciting, but it’s certainly not been catastrophic either.

Doesn’t Time Fly?

I’ve just ticked along at work; ticked along at home, and I have generally taken things easy. I think perhaps I’ve taken things too easy.

Next year I feel I should set myself some new challenges and revisit some old ones too.

I am going to set myself a number of goals and see if I can have the discipline to not only start them but to continue them and see them through. Only time will tell, of course, but if I don’t succeed I’ve really only got myself to blame.

It has been a relatively sober festive season; I’ve only been to the pub once, and I’ve barely drunk anything at home. That’s not a bad thing of course, and it does mean I’ve been a little more productive at home. A few pounds saved methinks, both in wealth and in health!

So, here’s to a safe, productive and happy New Year in 2023.

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Bored? I Don’t Have Time For That!

Bored? I don’t understand that. While I will accept that some of the things one has to do in life can be darn tedious, I can’t ever say that I’m bored.

On the contrary, I find that twenty-four hours in a day isn’t enough.

I need to sleep, eat and work. That can take up to 20 hours a day, which doesn’t leave much time for anything else. When I have a day off, I never seem to find the time to do all the things I want to do. Catching up on overdue tasks and chores; more pleasurable things such as reading a new book, listening to music, watching a movie, having a meal out (or a meal in), a couple of hours in the pub, putting the world to rights over a couple of pints.

I can’t do anything that I WOULD find boring, but I’ve always got something to do!

First published at https://ianbmay.com/bored-i-dont-have-time-for-that/

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Another Week Rolls By

This week has been pretty much the same as last week, although the lockdown is easing. Kathy has gone back to work albeit for shorter hours for now.

At work we are gearing up to move operations nearer to normal. Fares are soon going be collected again and front doors reopened. This depends on how quickly the company can get the drivers’ cab areas sealed properly. Once done, they’ll be examined before being allowed to leave the garages. Every single vehicle will be checked.

Life outside work goes on as before. Although non-essential shops are being allowed to open from the 15th June, the hospitality sector is still closed down. There’s not much point going out on a day off, as there’s nowhere to go for a coffee, a beer, lunch or dinner. It is a bit tiresome I guess, but I fully understand the necessity, of course. It would be crazy to rick a second wave right now by opening everything up too quickly. Even at Government level, it’s still all pretty much a guessing game; a balancing act.

I ordered some more beer, this time from Electric Bear Brewing Company. £35 for 12 assorted cans. 4 each of Session IPA; A Wheat Beer; an IPA and an American Pale Ale, which is pictured below.

Session IPA
A Session IPA

I had a couple of these on Friday evening. Went down nicely with some of the chicken from The Ethical Butcher.

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Zoom? More Like Crawl!

A typical Tuesday at work. Checking the workplace and participating in interviews during the day.

When I got home I made some dinner. Nothing fancy; chipolatas with carrots, leeks and a new (to us) vegetable called Oca. It’s a tuber, like potatoes, and can be cooked in much the same way. Boiled, mashed, roasted or fried. It’s got a citrusy flavour. Kathy wasn’t too keen, but I said I would roast the rest of them and see how they turned out. Still, if you don’t try new things, you never know do you?

A delivery turned up. It’s from an online butcher. They specialise in grass-fed organic meat. I ordered a chicken, some topside of beef, and some lamb neck fillets.

Grass-fed Organic Meat

After dinner it was time for the regular Tuesday Virtual LOI. Mind you, it’s really just time to have a chat with some of the boys from the lodge. It’s always fun, although the free version of Zoom limits you to about 40 minutes. However, we spend about fifteen minutes trying to get it all to connect this evening. It was up and down like a toilet seat in the rush hour! Eventually though, it settled down and we all had a decent chat.

That took the time around to a little after nine pm, and it wasn’t long after that I decided to call it a night and settle down in bed for a read. I’m trying to get through a few Kindle books on my iPhone, and I tend to read several pages and then fall asleep, which I surely must have again.

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Monday, Monday

Monday was a strange day in strange times. Most days seem the same by and large. However, I think many of us have got a bit fed up with the Covid-19 lockdown and for various reasons. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been working all the way through this, and except that I’ve not been able to go out and about on days off, life has, by and large, remained the same.

Yesterday the news was totally dominated by Boris Johnson’s advisor’s northern dash to visit his parents during the lockdown and after he had displayed symptoms of the virus. This was totally against Government guidelines. a row has divided the country into two camps; one camp excusing his behaviour, the other baying for his blood, or well at least his job.

Although it was a Spring Bank Holiday here in the UK, I was at work. It was rather a quiet day.

When I got home Kathy had cooked some ham, along with asparagus and a rather good butter bean salad.

Dinner time

After a short while sunbathing, I went to the computer and got on with some web work and emails. Around 9.30pm I called it a night and headed for bed.

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The Weekend Went

These days I often get the weekends off. In normal times it doesn’t matter much to me about Saturday as Kathy usually works. I do like to have Sunday off when possible though as we can have some time together. Right now, with the Covid-19 lockdown still pretty much in place, it hasn’t mattered much as Kathy has been at home on furlough.

That’s changing though as she goes back to work, albeit on part-time hours, from Tuesday. I think she might find that a bit difficult in that she’s gotten used to sitting up half the night watching movies on TV and sleeping in late. I’ve not really changed my habits, as I’ve been going to work all through the lockdown period in any case.

We really haven’t been out at all, except to the stores at the end of the street; for me it’s just been to work and back and that’s it. We’ve been lucky with the weather and been able to sit outside. I’ve also taken advantage of online deliveries when possible. Some, like coffee beans, weren’t really affected, save for slightly longer shipping times. Others, like supermarket deliveries, stopped altogether for a while. I’ve also sourced cask ale from a local micropub and cheese from a cheesemonger. I do feel it’s important to support these local businesses as they’re surely likely to be less able to weather the storm than some of the larger operations.

This past weekend was a typical lockdown weekend for us. Just got up and pottered around the house and garden. I had some strawberry plants in pots arrive; also planted some runner beans and took delivery of a lime tree, that is able to be repotted into something bigger. The theory is that it won’t grow too large and we can bring it inside during the winter. The roses are blooming well and we’ve had blooms from all three bushes. The scent is rather delightful in the living room!

Didn’t watch any actual TV over the weekend, but found some interesting YouTube videos to watch. Some old railway, some travel documentaries. Mostly stuff you don’t see on the TV. One I found very interesting was a tour around the Admundsen-Scott base station at the South Pole.

As always though, the days off (and it makes no difference what days of the week they are) soon went and it’s back to the grind.

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Loosening A Bit

The lockdown has started to loosen. There are more people about, but nowhere near normal amounts. I think the buses will start getting back to normal soon. Front door opening will return, after drivers’ cabs have been sealed more firmly. Nothing can be made 100% of course.

There’s a debate now going on at work about air-conditioning. Some buses have an airflow that goes around the passenger area and the drivers cab. Some of these buses can be modified, but some can’t. Those that can’t will be turned off. This is causing complaints about overheating in the warm weather. It’s not an easy situation.

Most of the staff that were off work have now returned although we do have staff furloughed and some still off sick, but nowhere near the amount we had just a few weeks ago.

It’s been a lovely day here today. Sunny and warm with afternoon temperatures reaching 82°F (27°C). It’s a warm dry evening too.

Getting some web work done this evening before turning in for the night.

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That Was Tuesday

I had a few issues to deal with as soon as I got to work today. Got everything sorted though. Waded through some emails, answering some, and finding out more information about others.

I had some random drug tests to witness around lunchtime, and then I eventually got to sit down and have a sandwich and a coffee or two. As there’s nowhere open at work to get coffee, I take a flask in with me each day.

I got home just after 5pm, and had leftovers from yesterday for dinner; sliced roasted pork and bean salad which was tasty.

I then did some web site work, before settling down for the night.

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Sunny Sunday

Got up a bit late, so breakfast was really brunch. Simply done, it was chipolatas, fried eggs, tomatoes and toast. With coffee of course.

Watched a few more music shows on the TV, and then in the late afternoon, I cooked some chicken in the sunshine.

Chicken

In the evening, we started watching a new series. James May in Japan, on Amazon Prime. Very interesting and with James’ dry sense of humour, quite entertaining too.

Headed off to bed around ten.