Busy & Important...

... well busy anyway.  In London yesterday for "Unlocking the SCS" which pretty much convinced me that I don't want to be in the SCS!  I don't think that was the idea though.   Left the house at 0530 in the morning and didn't get home until 2145.  Bloody nightmare public transport.  Lifts out, trains delayed and seat reservations cancelled... God!  And then off to Manchester Metropolitan University (new building) today to sort out this bloody accreditation thing.  To be honest though I feel like I'm making some real progress which is pleasing.  Hopefully others will agree (but what's the chances of that?).  Will be back down to London to present my findings to the great and the good on 18/07.  Which means they need my "paper" by 11/07 which means not much time at all.... oh its all a bloody treadmill.

Anyway, a weekend off this weekend and out for a curry with DD & friends tomorrow night.  Hurrah.  Also, have Italy in the sweep at work so reckon I'm in line for some dosh anyway... That's all for now.  J x

Congrats...

... to my mate Karen for getting through the Grade 7 gateway (or whatever its called now).  And good luck to her for the upcoming interview.

Mrs T is another year older which just makes her another year more adorable.  Happy Birthday hon.  Sorry we haven't talked for a while but as you can see from the blog there's been a lot going on recently.  I'll be on to you soon.  The Aged Ps and me were hoping to make it up to Edinburgh soon but not sure when that will happen now what with all t'trouble at home at the moment.  Trust me that once I have any dates I'll be straight onto the phone to you.

That's all.  J x

Night Out

So it was off to Number One First Street tonight for Manchester Lines.  Can't say I was a big fan.  Performers were great and it was a great idea but it wasn't written terribly well I felt.  Bryn and Michelle seemed to agree with me whereas Denise and Lesley disagreed.  Hey ho, I like what I like.

Then off to (a quiet) Felicinis for food.  Nice in the way that Felicinis is nice.  Off to B&M's tomorrow night to discuss New York.

Bryn seems to be doing OK but he has a lung biopsy due in two weeks or so.  We need to wait and see the outcome from that before we make any firm plans though.  He seems a lot better than he was (see earlier blog) but he is on quite a high steroid dose at the moment.  Finger's crossed its an easily treatable thing.  He must be really scared though.  I know I would be.  I'll let you know more when I do.  That's all.  J x

Come on Italy

(I've got them in the office sweep).  Obviously I want England to do well too... J x

Now Back In Manc

Good journey home, dry and roads weren't too crowded.  Ageds are OK.  Dad saw the nurse this afternoon and his blood pressure and stuff are all OK.  I'm back down in 4 week and so will be able to check on their progress then.  But I'm sure they'll do just fine... J x

Talk About Slave LAbour...

So I've been out doing gardening this afternoon.  Phew, I'm exhausted.  I must have been out there in the sweltering sun for... oooooh... half an hour at least.  And then I had to get my dad a glass of water.  Honestly they don't know how lucky they are to have me.  Which pretty much goes for HMRC too as I spent a couple of hours on work as well once I'd finished all the running around after the Aged Ps.

Definitely back up North tomorrow though and the forecast isn't too bad for the weather so the journey should be OK.  That's all.  J x

Sunday Morning

HappyFather's Day to any fathers out there. Dad seemed happy with his book on the olympics that I posted to him at great expense and helped him open this morning...

Everything seems better in Swansea today.  The sun is shining (yes, really - but only temporarily) and Dad seems much more together.  Both he and Mum slept well (they didn't get up until gone 0800 which is unheard of)and he managed to get most of his breakfast himself.  Doesn't seem confused or anything either which I'm really relieved about.  And of course the pain doesn't seem too bad.


Plan is to return to Manchester tomorrow.  That's all for now.  May update later today.  J x

Now Home

Dad looks dreadful. He bashed some of his face when he fell and his face now has that "pushed out of a taxi by Denise" look i.e. badly bruised down one side (in much the same way as mine was when I was so cruelly pushed out of that taxi by Denise a number of New Years Eves ago). He's also quite unsteady on his feet and appears a little confused at times. I suspect this is the shock though and he will recover from both these symptoms in a short time. He needs to keep his arm in a cast for about 6 weeks but they will re-evaluate the situation next week at the Fracture Clinic. His fingers (and especially his thumb) poking out of the end of the cast appear quite bruised too. Mum seems to be doing OK. Coping as usual. I'm proud of her and proud of my Dad too for being so stoical about all this. They're great parents. I just hope I'm a good son. And honestly that isn't a cue for lots of nice comments. But that's all for tonight. I'll update again as the weekend goes on. J x

Home Again, Home Again

Clippety Clop. So, father has taken a tumble and broken his left wrist. It happened yesterday morning and he went to casualty where they put him in plaster and gave him paracetomol. Bloody bloody nurses. What the f is wrong with them? A broken wrist and you're given paracetomol? Of course its not quite as simple as it sounds as he's on warfarin which means there are many painkillers he's not allowed to take. But even so. He's on co-codomol now which they gave him at the fracture clinic this morning. He sounds OK and the pain has eased from yesterday. I'm off home tomorrow and have taken Monday off. I'll update you when I've seen him. He has to be in plaster for 6 weeks. Luckily its his left wrist but its a huge inconvenience all the same. It means their trip to London os off as is their trip to Devon. Luckily Mum has finished her chemotherapy so she's able to look after him. But then if she was still on chemotherapy they wouldn't have gone shopping so he wouldn't have slipped. Swings and slides etc. In other news I did some training at the helpline yesterday evening on tackling calls from boys and men who have been sexually assaulted. Not a bundle of laughs I can tell you but I feel a lot better about taking that sort of call now. Luckily I've only ever had one call on that topic but it upset me for days. Still the trip home will mean I'm with Dad for Father's Day on Sunday and can help him open the present I spent a fortune sending through the post... That's all. J x

A Bit of Culture

So off to Liverpool last night (yes really, for culture) to see the Liverpool Philharmonic. Beethoven's 9th was stunning. Peter Maxwell-Davies's 9th was a little more challenging but not wholly unpleasant. Plus it was a premiere for his piece and the composer himself was there and took a bow. Sadly Beethoven couldn't make it. But the Philharmonic concert hall is lovely and the orchestra and chorus very good. The conductor is Russian and really quite cute although he does wear quite cheap clothes.. Really old fashioned venue though and in a nice up and coming part of Liverpool. Plenty of bars and restaurants in the area. And then we went to the Philharmonic pub afterwards which is just the most glorious Victorian pub with what appears to be all its original features still in place. And then the train home. Luckily not the last train home and so not completely filled with drunks and the like. Manchester Day Parade today but the barbecue has been cancelled. Probably for the best given the weather. In other news, mother has been told that she won't be getting any more chemotherapy but before we all get too giddy about this, its because it may be affecting the nerves in her leg. On the one hand this is good news - her cancer markers are low enough that they feel they can safely do this. But on the other hand she needs to see a specialist for her leg so we're not sure what the outcome of that will be. She has also been referred back to the surgeon (if you remember she originally had surgery but they couldn't remove the tumour because of its size and where it was). It may be that it has now shrunk enough for them to do the surgery again. A prospect that does not fill my mother with glee. Anyway, I'll let you all know how things develop. For the moment she feels quite well though and my Dad seems to be doing OK too. Hurrah!. In other, other news, Bryn has been diagnosed with ILD. Some sort of lung disease (you may remember that I said he sounded terrible he other week when DD and I went round for dinner). The good news is that it is treatable with steroids. Again, I'll let you know how things develop. That's all for now. J x

Day Three

So this morning we went to Aberglasny. Lovely gardens with a lovely little restaurant. Unfortunately because the weather was so nice everyone else had the same idea so the restaurant was full to bursting. So we just did the gardens and then stopped off at a pub on the way home for lunch. Once back it was out into the garden to a) take down the bird box - as suspected, a dead chick inside which explained why the parents hadn't been back, b) plunder my mother's plant stock for some acquilega, honesty and something else whose name I've forgotten but its quite pretty. We also needed to watch Andy Murray's game against that French geezer who should be prettier than he is. Andy won much to the distaste of the French crowd. Am setting off early tomorrow as we're expecting everyone who was on the road coming down to Swansea to be on the road going back too! In other news - it's Karen's birthday (happy f*cking birthday darling), the walkers have reached the end of Hadrian's Wall (congratulations one and all) and the boys on the Warrington food market have sold out of chilli (well done). And that's all.

Day Two

So off to Clyne Gardens in the rain this morning. We've missed the best of the rhododendrons but they're still lovely gardens anyway. And it didn't rain too hard. And the rain meant they weren't too busy either. Mum and Dad managed the winding pathways and sometimes steep climbs well too so I was happy about that. Will be watching the boat thing this afternoon. That's all. J x

Home Again, Home Again

So hello once more Swansea. Journey here was horrible - so much traffic and many many roadworks. The Ageds are doing OK. Weather forecast is rubbish though so don't know how much we'll be doing. Do fancy a trip to Aberglasny though whilst I'm here. That's all. J x