Volunteering at Camphill

I've been volunteering at Camphill, as I think I've mentioned in an earlier blog post. I'm working with the drama workshop group, and at the moment I'm doing a few hours on a Tuesday morning. I'm aware that, due to my heart-health issues, I get very tired and by 2 o'clock I am beginning to feel wiped out. I hope to discuss this with my cardiologist when I go for my follow-up appointment on 2nd May, which will be four months after the stent procedure which was done at the John Radcliffe in Oxford. I have got someone from church who will take me. I had considered driving there myself, but  I think it's going to be quite stressful having to drive all the way to Oxford and find a parking space at the hospital. As the appointment is at 11 o'clock there are likely to be no spaces in the carpark, and I had thought perhaps I could park in one of the park-and-ride carparks which ring Oxford and then take the bus to the hospital, but even then it's going to be quite stressful getting to the JR on time for the appointment. So, after this appointment I hope they might either reduce the dosage of some of my medication, such as the atarvostatin which I take at night. I have a feeling it's this particular medication which makes me feel so tired and it causes some side effects, such a stomach and muscle cramps. There again, they might change some of my other medications. Just have to wait and see. It's somewhat annoying that I have to go all the way to Oxford, because the Milton Keynes Hospital Cardiology department is a mere 10-minute walk from this house.

Camphill are going going to do a disclosure because I am working with a vulnerable group of adults with learning disabilities. I have taken all the identification material with me so that the disclosure paperwork can be sent in.

We were discussing various things before we did several hour's of rehearsal for the 'Stranger Danger' play and planning for the next production which is going to be loosely based on Robert Louis Stephenson's 'Treasure Island,' which is one of my all-time favourite books and has to probably be one of the best children's adventure stories ever written. I can't wait to see how this develops, as we were discussing having songs in it, so it's likely to be more like a mini musical than a straight play.

Later. Goodness! The weather has changed. For the worse it would appear. As I write this,  at 5.20 p.m.it's raining. I couldn't believe how hard it's raining.  It's running down the road outside in a torrent, almost like a mountain stream. It has been clear and bright most of the day, although it was quite mild earlier. No frost on the car windscreen first thing when I went out with Alfie at around 6.20. But it clouded over during the afternoon and I thought it was going to rain and it got colder so I put the central heating back on. I have 'Pointless' on television as I write this. It has to be one of the more intelligent of the current crop of television gameshows. Gets you thinking.

I'm amazed. Twice in one blog post. Is this a record? Probably not. But the Christmas tree, which we bought a good three years ago from Dobbies and was potted in a rather splendid pot we got in Homebase (I think it was called something else at the time, but has since returned to being Homebase. How odd is that?) Anyway, it's started showing signs of growth, lots of little green shoots. It appeared as if it had died, probably due to the heatwave we had last summer. It has what look like scorch marks on some of the branches, but it has obviously decided to perk up and continue to grow. It was intended that it could be moved indoors for the Christmas period, but didn't last year due to the passing of my lovely Carol. I wasn't here for the festive period. I spent nearly two weeks with my daughter, Chloe, and her ever-growing family, in Worcester. But to have this Christmas tree growing again is somewhat good news. I kept it fed with plant food and it obviously paid off.

Watching the 2018 Winter Olympics

If you read my blog posts regularly you will have discovered that I'm not a great sports fan. To me football must be about the most boring sport ever invented. I can see nothing particularly interesting in watching a load of men running around on a piece of grass and chasing after a leather ball, with the intention of kicking it into a net. Just does not do it for me, I'm afraid. Rugby might possibly be another matter, as it's fast, dangerous and like some epic medieval battle. Far more of a skill in kicking a ball which isn't round, getting it to go over a bar at quite some height is definitely a skill. Even managing to get it to go in a straight line is an art in itself. Not just football as being boring to me, but cricket is another dumb sport. I think it's because I was put off the whole thing when I was at school, having to participate in something that I wasn't particularly good at. Most likely, totally hopeless. Having a leather ball flung at you for a start, and trying to hit it with a wooden bat, just not going to happen somehow. Standing about on a piece of grass, on a hot summer's day, waiting to bat or field and also having to field, as far from the centre of action as possible, not my idea of fun in the slightest. Footballers paid telephone numbers for doing very little. Who on earth is worth something like £400,000 a week? Crazy.

But this morning we've got the television on and watching the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics from Pyeonchang, South Korea. (Goodness, I did manage to spell it!) I have to say, having a larger-screen HD television does make watching this sort of thing far more, how shall I describe it, immersive. How on earth anyone can strap on a pair of skis and fling themselves down a mountainside I can hardly imagine, or lay on what is little more than a sort of tin tray and hurtle as I have no idea how many miles per hour down a sort of icey railway track (not a very good way to describe it I'm afraid.) with no visible sort of protection, I can never comprehend. All these sports people at the Olympics doing something they love, to represent their country, but doing it without being paid a bean. And generally doing it exceptionally well.

The actual opening ceremony includes a rather amazing snow leopard or lion, not a real one of course, but a sort of large puppet. Also some, what look like mythical creatures, a dragon and some sort of bird, being operated by several puppeteers. A bit like how the puppets were operated in the show we saw at the Derngate last May. A phoenix we're told by the commentator. Amazing lighting, lots of dancers and quite spectacular. Almost on a par with the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics. I think that has to be the sort of standard these ceremonies have to now be compared with.
All participants are wearing what look like white dressing gowns with furry edging and brightly-coloured flower-pot hats with sort of Christmassy decorations on them. Well, I'm sure they're not in the least connected to the festive period, but that's what they look like to me. How on earth they manage to coordinate so many people is quite beyond my comprehension. Having worked in stage management for a few years I have some idea of the huge logistics of dealing with that many people, not just off stage but on, and in such a huge space.

Later. Carol had to go to the Oncology Suite for 11.30 this morning for a blood test before the fifth chemotherapy cycle to begin on Monday morning. The carpark entrance was being repaired (or assume it was.) because when we arrived at the barrier their was a mechanic there with the cover off the machinery and handed us a ticket as we drove in. Fortunately we were able to find a parking space and then walked into the hospital as we usually do through the cardiology department.

Carol's colleague from Milton Keynes Academy, Sandy, who used to work as a technician in the science department, was in the oncology unit with her husband when we arrived so there was someone to talk to before the nurses came to do the blood test and check out Carol's weight and blood pressure. There was a television on in the unit with the Winter Olympics opening ceremony on. Each team was being lead into the arena with a lady dressed in what might have been Christmas characters, but obviously wasn't. A very good display of the various types of jacket and suits worn by all the participating country's teams as they walked through the arena.

It seemed that the oncology unit was somewhat short staffed as there didn't appear to be the full number of nurses on duty as there usually was, meaning that only a couple of nurses were doing several people's jobs. Which is probably why we had to wait for some time before Carol was seen to. It didn't matter too much as we had plenty to keep us occupied, chatting to Sandy and her husband.

By the time everything was complete we were beginning to get hungry. It was a good hour or more later when we left than when we usually have something to eat for our lunch, so we drove to Dobbie's at Bletchley to go to their restaurant. As we drove along Chaffron Way we were followed by a small car with a young man and a girl in it. The driver insisted on driving very close behind. Nothing unusual about this as it's happened many times before. He attempted to get me to drive faster but I wasn't going to drive any faster than is safe or at least within the speed limit. As a result he hooted at me, which made me jump. I continued driving on towards the roundabout and on to Grafton Street. Again the driver honked me. I ignored him and continued on. Eventually the driver turned off into Coffee Hall near the Shell petrol station. Just another ill-mannered individual more concerned with his selfish ways than any respect for other people on the road. We drove on and got on the A5 and continued on to Dobbie's. I had cottage pie and chips and Carol had egg mayonnaise baguette. Good-sized portions and just what we needed. It was surprisingly busy, considering it was a Friday. Having eaten, we went to buy some bird feeders and some food as the bird feeder in the garden was empty and it was well and truly time to fill it up. We also had a browse in the food hall and bought some cakes and fudge and then went back to the car to drive home.