Wednesday Witter

The council planted Daffodils did their best to imitate Spring but all around dreichness remained. I was venturing out for the second time.  The supermarket had been blessed by my presence, not that Mr Sainsbury would be enriched by that over much today, and once I had returned home I cogitated  on spending money. 
My sister is in hospital, she felt rough, went to excellent doctor, who dumped her in an ambulance to hospital. A type of heart attack was upon her and now she lies complaining, unlike me, while being tested and manipulated by nurses. I suspect she will be home soon with a box of aspirin and a handful of coloured tablets to take.  I hope so, travelling up for a funeral is expensive!
However knowledge of what is happening there is limited.  I canny phone her man as he is too deaf to hear me, so I relay on daughter, who is not as efficient in informing me as she ought.  I therefore spoke, via facebook, to her daughter for facts.
During this I was called a 'technophobe' for not having a mobile phone and being unable to text. Although I indicated I have no friends and do not need one I was left feeling guilty about this so off I trooped to Argos, the shop not the ancient city, and spent money on a fancy phone.
Starting it up was complicated and eventually we are set. 
Now however I have switched it on and it wants the Pin number for the 'fingerprint' to let me in.
A dozen times I have put in four numbers, all wrong!!!
So now I have a phone I canny use!
I hate my life! 

Much later, after a lot of strange words, some online help, a video or two, and tea I managed to reset things and get the phone going.  Having never used a fancy phone, I struggled with that one that had a dial, and reading instructions that take it for granted you are 13 I worked my way through the encircling mists and succeeded to obtain a working mobile.  
Of course it would not make phone calls.
It took me a moment to realise I had to verify the Simm, so that can be done tomorrow.  My 'technophobe' hat is very much on and my head is spinning with jargon I do not comprehend.  That said I think it will be working by tomorrow, maybe.

Much of tonight was therefore spent glaring at the phone I hoped to use to contact my sister's phone why she lay in hospital.  My normal phone could not contact her either as her phone was switched off.  The reason, she was back home!
At the moment I gave up she called me.
That saved me a fortune, not that I mentioned it.
She has been coming home on the bus, found herself shaking, feeling a bit tight, and as the bus stopped at the surgery she went in.
The nurse practitioner, like all staff there, understood quickly, the doctor also and soon she was in an ambulance waiting at the hospital.  An accident got in before her but after tests, more tests and more proddings the doctor decided she had a small 'blip' interfering with the heart.  It had passed, she could go and take lots of tablets with her.
She was quite happy with the well cared for experience, her grandchildren, all adults (they say) were a wee bit shaken however.  So was I for a minute.  The cost of travelling up there for a funeral is enormous!  
That phone might leave me shaking soon also.

Up on the Roof.

The need for fresh air and sunshine forced me out today.  This was good as the light was bright and the townsfolks were meandering about, some showing off their new bikes, scooters and clothes, others seeking shiny things in the shops now open.  

I soon found myself on the top floor of the large car park from where I thought I may get a picture or two of the town.  Here I noticed windows dirtier than mine existed though to be fair it is difficult cleaning windows through those bars.  

    
Old cottages in the distance once used by weavers they say.  Narrow houses now but large windows for the time.  The attic, now divided, once ran all along the roof space allowing for long bales of cloth to be laid out.  A good example of the craft that once flourished in this area for hundreds of years.

I was much taken with the sign saying "Pedestrians: Way Out" and pointing to either direction.  There are no stairs and this means the only way out is through the 'window' on either side.  I went on further myself...

 
The low lying sun leaving a kind of blue haze in the distance caught my attention.  Such a sun is wonderful, bright, cheery and blinding at times.  So bright that my sister a few days ago left a shop, was blinded by such sun and walked into the closed door!   This left her flat on her back being attended to by the staff who it must be said treated her well, this was in Livingstone.  They fussed while she just wanted to go home.  At home everyone laughed, I laughed, and at the doctors he laughed, she just suffered a bruise or two and hurt pride, but she is used to that.  

In among the Victorian and mock Victorian chimney pieces on show we can see the benefits of being a country town, the masses of trees in the distance.  These lie among the farmland that developers are desperate to turn into concrete and mass money in offshore accounts.  Most of the populace are not so keen.  The town has grown from 30,000 to 40,000 in the 20 years I have been here and lost some of its innocence with the introduction of 'London overspill' and the like.  A type of less friendly person is appearing and this affects us all.  People are less likely to speak in passing as they used to do though many still do and 'old folks' constantly complain about the changes, as they do.

 
The mist does create colour changes which I love.  Darker nearby and lightening with each item in view as it heads off into the distance.  Some were complaining tonight that driving was difficult with the mist, I suspect it will be worse first thing in the morning.  Not too much traffic just now mind.  Next Wednesday I suspect before life as normal returns.

While standing there on this near deserted open top floor of the car park I noticed the pigeons suddenly take flight as if aware of a predator of some sort.  Two flocks took off in different directions, joined immediately by all other hangers on, yet remarkably quickly settled down once again.  I could see no obvious enemy so it may have been a false alarm.  It does show however that being a bird is not an easy life.  The weather, lack of food and predators mean you are forever looking around for danger.  We are much safer that we realise, a bird is constantly afraid.  

 
Pointing a camera at a bright sun offers a dark picture.  I could have fiddled with it but could not be bothered decided this was a decent enough image.  I found it strange having come from Edinburgh and having lived 20 or so years in London finding the town so flat.  This was one of the few high places from which to see the town, the Town Hall roof is another and one day I will get up there, but being able to look south and see a few roofs fading off gently into the distance was strange to me.  It still is to some extent. 

Dusk Phone Calls

With the dark blue sky at dusk, such a change from the fifty shades of gray that have covered us for days, I was strongly tempted to find a 'night' view somewhere.  The only one suitable was 'The Bull.' I admit this is not a picture I would take later in the evening, especially at the weekends, as the crowds leaving the premises are not always as sober as wisdom would hope.  There is something attractive about deep blue sky and bright lights.

Sadly after I wrote that I returned to watching Southampton play Manchester United and forgot to finish it.  I blame late nights and weak head.  The weak head gets many votes around here, just ask the man who brought an old fellow in a wheel chair into the museum today.  I made it clear the way to do it was charge the disabled one £1:50 and the carer goes free, other wise he pays £ and the chap goes free. This is the best way so I took his money and gave him change of £3.   It was as he questioned this I realised I had got it wrong.  I explained as I gave him the proper change that in this manner we often made money.  
I expected to be busier as Christmas is approaching and while some browsed and bought nowt I did manage to collect a good sale from one of the town's well known respectable gents.  I did my best to avoid the rest of the staff as they all suffered colds and I did not wish to add another to my year.  
I came home, ate and slept!  That indicates how hard I work, doesn't it...?

I almost forgot this again!
I just spent an eternity listening to my sister on the phone, how women talk! There is of course regular chat between us, I called only last July, and she dropped a note not long ago to me.  The communication would be better as she now has one of those 'Tablet' things but cannot connect it to anything.  If I receive an email she does not receive the answer, now he aged computer has died and her daughters husband is attempting to rectify the situation I reckon she will be computerless for a while yet.  He being a mere welder will know little about the gentle art of making computers work. 
The purpose of the call was to inform her her the huge parcel will be posted tomorrow, that is if I get it wrapped up tonight, and now the football has come on, what will I do I wonder......

Being bored at one time during this morning I attempted to capture the interesting sky in the distance by picturing the butterfly sticker on the window. All it shows it that the window requires cleaning!  I just remembered my back is aching, I'd better leave that to another....

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Musing Wasted.

I sat in the early morning freshness the park offered this morning and mused. This resulted in a wonderful post concerning friendly people, dogs, crows and daisies.  The east wind caused a wee bit of a chill and at eight in the morning the sun had not removed the cloud cover yet leaving what to me was a perfect Edinburgh Summer afternoon.  Up there the folks would be taking their shirts off, putting on dark glasses and asking for sun cream!  Here they wrap up in large coats and mutter about the cold!  Tsk!
Sadly however while I enjoyed the fresh air, especially as I had not really got out yesterday, and I was intending to hide my face behind the laptop today, first to remove the glitch that has arrived and them seek out dead soldiers, things did not turn out right.  The thing is I did manage to work out how to fix the Windows Live Mail, it would not send photos and IE came up by itself and that would not work.  It appears something has been switching things off.  The 'proxy' setting was on, but it ought not to be on! That fixed Windows Live sent pics again.  Little things have been arriving, a strange new 'Google' page for one, yet the defenders claim all is well.  Bah!  The search for dead men got somewhere, a better picture emerges, yet there is such a long way to go, and now I have to meet someone on Saturday to offer information we don't have! Tsk!

The things started well, but after lunch all fell apart.  I fell asleep, diner took for ever, I sauntered out, and once the muck I called dinner was over my sister phoned.  You will of course realise that as she is a woman and has not been on for months she had lots to say!  She did!  Lovely it may be, informative, enjoyable, but my ear burns now!  This means my wonderful erudite post fell from my brain and once again, late, unready, I am filling space waffling contacting the real world via the internet, which may not be wise after all.  Why does the brain function so well at different times. My body gets weary yet my brain offers deep thought late at night, however before that, around now, it is befuddled.  Early in the morning I am either still asleep or desperate to get going, but the brain is not always as sharp as it is late at night, why?  Who knows what state it will be in if I wake at three in the morning.  Bah!

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Sunday

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Today is 'Mothering Sunday' in the UK.  'Mothers Day' is one of those 'Days' that are inventions of the florists and card manufacturers who line their pockets from our guilt. Valentines day is another excuse to keep small, and large, businesses busy during otherwise quiet times. Brave people ignore such money grabbing excuses and are free to inform the world that they do not require special 'Days' to show their care and gratitude to their 'loved ones.'  Most of us obey as we know that 'she' will remember! 

As it is almost two years since my mother died I am spared the need for cards or chocolates, an expense I can do without.  It is strange how often I think about my mother however. Not just the fact that she is not there but when something happens on TV or in the media I can often 'hear; her response. What makes this more intriguing is that yesterday was the sixth anniversary of my sisters untimely death. I often hear her in a similar manner as we used the same expressions (usually complaining about something) and I suspect this is an attitude that goes back many generations in our family!  I have heard from Australia a namesake giving evidence of this. That is frightening if we ever have a family get together! I don't wish to be there!    

One thing needles me about Mothers Day is that I can only regret not doing anything for her. Since she died I have come to a much better realisation of just what she gave up for us, how she endured the difficulties of raising a family of four on a tight budget, dad struggled to get good work, and yet at her funeral a large number of people turned up, people who genuinely missed her.  Mothers Day gives me that 'if only' feeling, and as I have it often enough I do not wish anyone else to endure it.  If your Mother, or even your sister, is still around then I urge you to make the most of them.  The 'if only' emotion is one of the worst to endure.