Tag: rest day

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Staying Productive at Home: Bedding, Tech, and Gardening

We did consider going out today, but then we changed our minds and decided to stay at home and get some jobs done.

It’s bedding day today. Everything. Bottom sheet, pillowcases, duvet, mattress protector, the whole nine yards. We’ve ordered some new pillows too, and thrown away some old ones.

On the computer front, I’ve bought a new monitor. My old Widescreen ASUS still works fine, but I’ve had it for at least a decade, and it doesn’t do 4K or HDR, which I really need for photography editing and any video work I do. I’ve changed DACs too. My Topping DX! does a decent job, but there’s no balanced output, so until I decide what I want to get next, I’ve swapped it with a FiiO KA13, which does have a 4.4mm option. I’m using a Kiwi Ears Allegro Pro with my iPhone now.

Gardening: I’ve put some nets over the strawberry plants, and topped up the compost in the potato grow bags. Looking forward to those new potatoes in a few weeks. Runner beans, peas, marrows, and tomatoes are coming along nicely. 

Now, I’m sitting in the back garden with a coffee, on my MacBook, enjoying the sunshine for a while. There’s a nice cool breeze. Next I need to get a new umbrella for the patio, as this one has seen much better day

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Daily Life Updates: Coffee, Weather and Gas Works

I’m off today and tomorrow. I woke up a couple of times in the night, but I didn’t sleep too badly. I got up with Kathy and made her coffee and saw her off to work, but I’ve got a bad pain in my lower right back this morning when I move, it hurts, and I’ve had this pain there for some time on and off, but it’s particularly painful this morning and keeps giving me sharp Twins when I twist or move around. I’m sitting quietly at the computer at the moment, making some updates, writing in this journal, and thinking about doing some gardening later if my back feels better and the weather warms up a little.

Somehow, my main glasses ended up in the bed overnight, and one of the arms is broken, so I’ve had to tape them up. I’m going to be going to the optician before too many more months have gone by anyway, as I’ll be due for my annual eyesight check by the end of the year, and I like to get those done and sorted, new glasses, before my license renewal for my birthday.

Talking about the weather it’s a bright sunny morning outside the temperature at the moment is 47 Fahrenheit so it’s not too cold but it’s supposed to be in the low 60s this afternoon so I think I’ll wait for it to warm up a little and the sun goes round the back as well in the afternoon, so it’s likely to be a little warmer out there. I know I’m being a big softy, but so what?

I’m on my second mug of coffee, and I should think about having something to eat before too much longer, probably a bacon sandwich.

The gas people are working outside the little way up the street towards the small green at the moment, so they’re not right outside, but I can hear them backwards and forwards. They connected our new piping to the house. We had the gas off earlier last week, and that side of it is done, but they’ve got the work to do out in the street now, so we’re getting on with that. I spoke to the guy who came and put our gas back on, and he told me that the new plastic pipes that they were installing are guaranteed for 100 years, so let’s hope they last that long.

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A Chill Day

I’m not one for lying in bed all day, even on a day off. I feel that’s wasting precious time off! I got up around 8.45, although I had been awake for a while before that.

I finished the coffee and made another pot

Coffee from Pact

This coffee from Pact is rather good. We’ve been having deliveries from them now for a few years and they never disappoint. It’s great that we can regulate the deliveries to suit our needs.

I got on with responding to some emails and then ended up having a few, sometimes heated, discussions on social media about the coronavirus situation which is worrying most people to some degree in one way or another.

During the morning I got a bit peckish. I’m never one for wanting to eat breakfast as soon as I am awake but by eleven I was ready. I made some bacon sandwiches. They filled the gap!

More reading and writing in the early afternoon and then I got dinner ready. I made a chicken casserole with some thighs and added onions, garlic and tomatoes. Served up when Kathy got home and had with some left over rice

Watched some programmes on Sky Arts in the evening. Joni Mitchell’s 75th birthday concert from 2018; The story of Fairport Convention and then ‘I’ll Be Me’ about Glen Campbell’s right with Alzheimer’s. That was a rather sad end to the evening. After that, just before 11pm, we went to bed.

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Hospital Appointment

I was awake this morning around 7.20. I toyed with the idea of trying to go back to sleep but by the time I had made the obligatory bathroom visit I was too alert.

Time to go to the kitchen and make a pot of coffee. That done, I went back to bed for another hour, sipped my coffee and read the morning’s news on my iPad. News has changed over the past few days; Brexit has given way to coronavirus or Covid-19 to give it its official title. We’ve had four deaths so far in the UK. All four were reported to have established underlying health issues before their demise. It’s still a bit concerning of course, as I’m in one of the higher risk groups myself, being in my sixties.

Had a quiet morning and a bacon sandwich for lunch before heading out to go to the hospital for an appointment regarding my hernia. We got there in good time and waited quite a while as they were running about 45 minutes late.

I’ve got to have a colonoscopy and endoscopy to check everything is OK before they do anything else, so I just have to wait for an appointment for those to come through.

As we left the consultant’s office disaster struck. As I put my shoulder bag back on, my mobile phone fell out and hit the floor. It broke the screen protector and also the screen itself. Now the selfie camera doesn’t work so I have no Face ID. Everything else seems to be working though.

Cracked iPhone XS Max Screen

We decided to get a new phone so we’ve ordered an iPhone 11 Pro Max from Apple and it should be here in about 4-5 days.

Kathy is making dinner right now. We had some rather tasty fried rice and left over ham, along with some steamed cauliflower and runner beans.

Sat and watched three episodes of The Coastal Path with Paul Rose on BBC2, followed by University Challenge and Miriam Margoyle’s Fat Adventure.

Went to bed around 10pm.