Almost ready

SO, ONCE again, our bags are packed and we’re waiting to set off on our travels.

Cyprus again. Not one of my favourite holiday destinations and certainly not one I thought we’d be seeing again.

But at least it will get us out from underfoot of the workmen, ripping out our old bathroom and putting in our new wet room.

And although feel as if I’m being compelled to go on this trip rather than being desirous of it, my general sense of not coping too well with our health problems and my moods of despondency that have been surrounding me lately, suggest that perhaps a break away from it all may not be such a bad thing.

My Good Lady tells me that once I’m actually there I shall feel a lot better; I hope she’s right.

Anyhow, we’re more or less ready.

Roaring returns

MY TINNITUS has returned with a vengeance!

Not that it’s ever really gone away, it just became a quiet roaring for a time that I could on the whole ignore.

No ignoring it now, though – it’s driving me potty!

Still, soldiering on… We visit the farmers’ market today and purchase the belly pork for Saturday’s dinner, as well as couple of small pieces of tasty Lancashire cheese.

Surprises me just how the cost of this one-time cheap cut of meat has soared in recent years – reflecting its increasing popularity, I suppose.

I next whisk My Good Lady off for a spot of lunch at our local hostelry; we both opt for jacket potatoes with a tuna/mayo filling. Actually, the place is surprisingly busy with mid-term families, out enjoying today’s bright weather.

Returning home, we wander off for post-lunchtime snooze, before I get down, this evening, with my experimental cook session – a chicken and egg sauté, with potatoes (we’re certainly doing well with the carbohydrates today!) onions and peppers. A tasty treat and something a little novel.

We settle to watch a little telly this evening, viewing a recorded episode of Foyle’s War – one of my favourite detective dramas, and an episode we’d somehow managed to miss when it was first shown in 2004.

But as the evening progresses the tinnitus seems to get worse and worse. By the time I pack MGL into bed, it’s as if my head is bursting with the noise inside it. I feel a little dizzy on account of it.

I put on Question Time (BBC1) but such is the ringing in my ears I simply don’t have the patience to concentrate on the programme.

I close my eyes and put my head back on the sofa, but that just makes things even worse.

I can see if it doesn’t ease up soon, I’m going to need to see the hospital specialist again – I have an appointment with him in a few months time anyway.

A mundane contentment

MUCH AS we enjoy our friends’ company, I always look forward to the weekends and the knowledge that we will not be seeing them for a couple of days.

And this weekend, it’s my experimental cook day tomorrow – my first since the cold –and I’m keen to try a new, one-pot recipe for a Brazilian pork and rice casserole, with its lengthy 3 to 4 hour marinade in a mix of white wine, lemon juice and chilli.

I’m also looking forward to doing my Sunday chores – I’ve let my dusting and vacuuming slip for the last couple of weeks, and the dust is becoming an offense to both my eye and my nose!

Sunday, too, I shall be cooking an old favourite for dinner, a kipper and egg kedgeree – always very welcome.

And then, on Monday, as a bit of a Valentine’s Day treat, we shall be dining out at our favourite Cantonese restaurant, and afterwards, hopefully, returning home to the bottle of champagne we’ll have waiting for us in the fridge door.

No doubt all this sounds a bit mundane – we really are a rather boring couple in our contentment.

But quietly content indeed we are!

Sniffles, sex shops and schooldays

I’M FINALLY thinking that I’ve managed to shake off the worst of this wretched cold; for me it’s been a tedious, uncomfortable week of sniffles and sneezes, of blocked sinuses and a hacking cough.

For My Good Lady it’s been a tiring week, too, trying to balance my demands with her need to keep fairly quiet, not always successfully. There was a point when I feared we might need to call on Social Services for help.

Anyhow, we risk a trip down to the Pub this afternoon and meet up with some of our chums there, including Mr P, the music teacher. He’s busy at the moment rehearsing this year’s school musical, Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret – a rather risqué choice for his youngsters as I point out.

“They’re really enjoying it,” he says. “They’re very bright kids.” And he adds that he’s got to take the girls down to Ann Summers sometime.

“What, the sex shop?” I ask.

“Yes, for their costumes.” He grins at my shocked look. “Seriously. They need thongs and brassieres and things like that. The musical is set in a sleazy German nightclub.”

“I know, but - ” I shake my head, for once stumped for words.

Schooldays have certainly changed since my time!

Bit of an outing

I’VE BEEN somewhat under a cloud just lately, under a heavy, chesty cold.

Necessity today forces me crawl out from under my comfort blanket and go and do some shopping – supplies are running uncomfortably low; the effort almost kills me!

But still, returning home and having a bit of post-shop zizz, I’m feeling quite a bit brighter this evening, well enough to share a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc with My Good Lady, and well enough, even, to come along here to say hello and to apologise for my absence.

I shan’t stay long, though, I’m still feeling a little heady and I’m still coughing up a storm from time to time.

But it’s been nice to have a bit of an outing.