Saturday 16-10-01 Soaked

We did another Park Run, despite the rain. It wasn't supposed to rain between 9am - 10am, but apparently the forecast was wrong. And it was torrential. Some of the runners were squealing because the rain was coming down so hard. It was bouncing up off the tarmac to knee-height, it was coming down so hard. At one point, and then for the remainder of the race, I felt like I was running in a corset because my top had absorbed so much rainwater. I did think at one point I would be better off taking it off and dumping it in the hedge, and recovering it after the run (but I didn't do that). Nevertheless, I was only 45 secs slower than my time last week. I'm quite happy to have run through the deluge, and I am happy that the deluge didn't slow me down - noticeably. I did predict that PBs would tumble, and I was wrong, but there is always next Saturday morning.

I spent a long time moving and alphabetising my CDs, so they are now arranged nicely in the living room. I realised that I have a couple of CDs missing, and I also have a couple of duplicates, most notably Circlesquare by The Wonder Stuff and Comforts of Madness by Pale Saints - they will probably go on eBay. 
I think I will have to prune my collection; they should fit into two of these units. I will digitise as much of it as I can (I've digitised a lot of it already, but I find it hard to let go of the physical discs) and there are some CDs that I've never listened to, so I can probably get rid of those without too much of a problem. I do find though, that when I get rid of CDs I always want to listen to them the following day/week/month, even if I haven't listened to them in years. So I don't want to sell or bin discs completely so that I don't have them at all, but it would be nice if they were stored tidily across the two units. 

In the afternoon we went to see the GiL, who seemed to be in good spirits. She had been out to The Spotted Cow for lunch, as is her habit most days. For a 97-year old, she is doing well. I think she could do better if she accepted help, but that's not in her nature. Her short-term memory is shot; she kept asking if she'd given the girls money, and she asked me several times how my job was going: "any sign of promotion, Rob?" We'd bought her a few bites to eat, some pork pies and a quiche, and some biscuits. And a bottle of wine, of course. We stayed for a while and then headed home. 

TW went out in the evening, and I caught up with the last episode of Banshee, a really good, enjoyable gangster/criminal/satanic thriller. I don't think I've ever seen such a relentlessly bloody, vicious series. I also watched a bit of Kate Tempest on BBC2, which was great. I'd heard a lot about Kate before, I know that Scroobius Pip is a fan, and I was interested to hear her stuff. I was blown away, and now I'll need to go out and get another CD or two... :(

And that was Saturday. 

Sunday 16-04-17

Yesterday was a bit of a funny day; TW was away at a Younique "share best practice to increase sales" day from early doors, so I was left in charge of the kids.
We only had two here, as the street had gone sleepover crazy, but those two each had a guest. We got up, I hung out some washing, offered to make the girls breakfast. I was considering pancakes but we were out of syrup (as a condiment) so offered bacon and egg sandwiches. Of course my two said yes, but the odd thing was that *both* our houseguests said they weren't hungry. A weird coincidence. So they ended up not eating.
Then the girls played happily for the rest of the morning while I followed the IPL on the laptop.
I had put a small bet on KXIP (King's XI Punjab) to win, and they weren't favourites, so I was a bit nervous, but as it turned out it was a good choice, as they won. I'd also picked Royal Challengers Bangalore to win the next match, and was fairly confident because they were favourites and scored 191 in their innings. However, Delhi Daredevils matched their rate and thwarted my plans - that put paid to my accumulator.
In the middle of the day we had to pop and see the GiL as her phone wasn't working. The MiL had called to say she thought that Joan had left it off the hook, but that wasn't the case - she had a dead line. So I called Carol who logged out with BT and we left.
I did ask the girls what they wanted for dinner but didn't get a proper response, so in the end I gave them three lasagne ready meals, which they liked. It was a bit of a cheat from me; well it was a complete acknowledgement of my lack of cooking prowess and inability to get the girls to agree on a single meal.
Then TW got back just in time for the bath and bed routine, and things returned to a semblance of normality.
I had some gnocchi and pesto later on, and watched an episode of Limitless. And then it was bedtime...

Monday 14-08-25 - The GiL

Yesterday we headed to a big Sainsbury's nearby, to buy school uniform for the girls. On the way we stopped in to see the GiL. We'd phoned ahead and warned her that we were coming. When we got there we rang the bell, and waited for her to answer the door. Then we rang the bell again. And then a third time. At that point TW headed into the garden and through the back door, to check that everything was alright - after all, she is 96.
GiL was sitting in front of the TV, apparently watching F1, and was oblivious to the doorbell, and TW shouting "Grandma!" as she entered the house. It quickly became apparent that she was absolutely stocious, she was on a Gin bender. She had drunk herself into a stupor. She had to gather her thoughts before she  spoke, and every time she did speak, she had to speak slowly to enunciate her words properly.
I know that she's 96, and probably bored, but it seems like she's removing herself from living. She had drunk herself into a place where she didn't need to think or worry about time passing. If she had been an 18-year old on a Friday evening, she would have been saluted as a drinking hero. However, as a 96-year old on a Sunday lunchtime, she's a cause for concern. Still, I'm not sure that there's anything we can do about it. She's 96 and that's all  there is.