I'm still here.

 I know that I haven't been the most diligent blogger of late. Life has kinda got in the way. 

For the past two weeks I have been battling against a chest infection. I think that I might, at last, have the upper hand. 

That has completely worn me out. 

I am in the midst of creating knitted and crocheted items for Yule presents. I like doing this, but it's time consuming. Mind you, it keeps me out of mischief. 

In the next couple of weeks I have a few appointments, so I will be even busier.  

And thanks to a grant, some of my windows are being upgraded/replaced. That's happening tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday.  So no lie in, as they'll be here around 9-ish. 

Anxiety and other problems

 Before the pandemic started, between Xmas 2018 and December 2019, I had six diagnosed chest infections, and at the start of 2020, I had blood tests after seeing a respitory nurse.  At the start of May I received a text, a phone call, and a letter telling me that I had no pneumonia antibodies.  (I had been given the “once only” vaccine in 2009/2010, but for some reason it hadn’t been put on my vaccine record.)  As I had managed to catch repeated chest infections during the previous year, I was already steering clear of others, so I went out less and less.

Coupled with all the above, there was a new family moved in next door……an extremely noisy one, whose default mode was yell at each other.  Then my neighbour on the other side sold and I will admit that I was a little worried about who might move in, but as it had been bought, it didn’t worry me much.   

However, the family who moved in below me, seemed nice – at first – but I suppose they were just finding their feet.  They were super noisy, taking shouted phone calls outside, smoking weed, almost non-stop.  I felt under attack.  I had liked to potter around in my yard and alleyway, but I felt vulnerable doing this.  If I hung my washing out, it might come in stinking of weed, meaning that through no fault of my own, it needed another wash.  I even asked a like-minded friend what I needed to block negativity coming from them.  I was even pulling  the curtains whilst I ate at the kitchen table, as he would verbally abuse me for looking out of my window.  The remedy turned brown. 

It’s not all bad. The dreadful people moved out in February this year, and the people who moved in on the other side are lovely.  A friend and I are slowly trying to make the alleyway welcoming again, and the man who bought the other  side of me paid to have the rubbish the dreadful people had dumped in the alley shifted.  

But all this left me with anxiety that sometimes goes through the roof.  I’m trying to overcome it, and I know I can, but it could be a long road……but I have taken a few tentative steps on it.  Maybe I will get there. 

Flags would be out, if it wasn't so windy.

 Yesterday the morons from next door moved out! 😊😊

I'm so relieved that they have gone. And I  been told that they've gone back to where they came from.....so no danger of bumping into them in and around Morecambe. 

Almost ever since they moved in my anxiety has been through the roof.  With everything else that is going on I have felt pretty bad. 

Anyway, they managed to pack everything from a three storey Victorian terraced house into a transit type van.  So I reckon they must have left furniture, or didn't have it in the first place.   What staggers me is they have left their cat. It's just short of being completely feral, but I might try to get it used to me, and eventually adopt him.  The first thing he'll need is a visit to the vet, to have his crown jewels removed. 

What a month!

 On Xmas Day, Mum was walking back from my sister's house, with my sister and husband, when she fell. My sister said it was like her legs had just given way on her.  They then spent from 6pm until 3am with Mum in A and E.  Upshot was that she'd broken her hip/femur, right at the hip joint. She had an operation, partial hip replacement.  Then the hospital cancelled visiting due to the number of covid cases escalating. Eventually she came out, but they've confirmed that she has short term memory loss. She also has hearing loss, and has been referred to audiology, but she is unaware of that yet. 

Coupled with that, she seems to be losing lots of weight. When I eventually get hold of her on the phone, she struggles to keep focussed, and breaks calls off without reason other than she's just thought of something and must do it before she forgets. 

I don't have the best relationship with mum, but the changes in her health are distressing. 

Vaccinations.

 Before I put anything else, I want to point out that I am not anti, although it might read as if I am.

There's currently a big push to get all people over a certain age, plus vulnerable people to have a booster jab. The annual flu jab is also being offered. The government angle is, "to avoid further lockdown situations."

However, we are told in the next breath that the uptake of the first and second vaccines is somewhat lower in the younger age groups. (I also suspect that if the younger generation aren't having them, they won't be encouraging their high school aged children to have the vaccines.)

So essentially, older people are being vaccinated so that younger people can just carry on as normal. Or that's how it seems to me.  Maybe the cull didn't take enough and they're hoping for a further rise in the total? 

I'm having mine for personal reasons, and to keep others safe. Plus I still wear a mask in enclosed spaces and avoid going shopping at busy times.  Having disabilities maybe prepared me, and others, to be cautious around others. 

You wouldn't believe it in a TV drama.

 I can hear you scratching your heads from here.

What does she mean?  As you might be aware, there's a climate emergency conference on in Glasgow at the moment.

Earlier  this week, after giving a speech that sounded very earnest, well the bit on the news did, the Scarecrow then took a private jet back to London to attend a dinner at a private club he's a member of.

Why?  Surely that is the definition of hypocrisy? As usual the government are displaying their "do as I say, not as I do" attitude.

And today the education Secretary has issued a plea for school pupils to demonstrate at weekend, so that their parents won't be fined for their non attendance at school.  He's rather missing the point of the demonstration if that's his first reaction. The demonstrations are on school days in order to give some weight to their argument. (Or at least that's how I see it.)

R.E.S.P.E.C.T!

 I was brought up to respect my elders, and not question them.  The adage being that "they knew better".  Presumably, because of the life experience they had gone through. 

However, when you're an adult yourself, do you still have to take an "elder's" opinion as to the way something should be done as the correct way?  When they say things that are hurtful, do you take it on the chin, and say nothing?  

In their eyes reacting would be seen as disrespect. 

I'm torn.  I have brought up my three to be respectful, but also, do what is right, and question anything that doesn't ring true. (In other words, I don't expect them to accept everything I say and do to be the RIGHT way, and everything else is wrong.) 

So, do I tell the person in question, my mum, that some things she says to me are hurtful, or do I continue until there's only one of us left?  Which will make me miserable every time she says something judgemental aimed at me. 

Are you allowed  to tell your parents that they are saying hurtful things, even when you are an adult? 

And surely respect should be a two-way street?