Bluehook's Diary

I started doing this diary in June. If you haven't been following have a look at the Cast of Characters which gives a quick low down on the essential day to day characters who are mentioned here...it will make more sense if you do.

International Women's Day

Last night I talked to Lisa on the phone and she wanted to come to Swansea with me if it turned out that I was going today so she said she would give me a wake up call at 9.30 am. I told her to just keep talking till I got out of bed and that she might have to tell me a story. As it turned out I was already up and messing about with the fire when the convoluted story about the three bears who all ate differently healthy breakfast with different outcomes began to come through the answering machine. I did pick it up after a while, I could have waited to find out what Goldilocks had for breakfast but I wasn't paying for the call. Anyway after the fire was going properly I phoned the artificial limb centre to find out if I could go down and have my electrodes swapped around. It was ok so I got the horses fed and packed up some lettuce and sprouts and dressing and some more raw sweeties and went to pick up Lisa. She had more food and we set off for Swansea.

I managed to arrive at the artificial limb centre at exactly 1.00 pm, i.e. lunchtime. I was told that the technician I wanted had just gone to lunch and wouldn't be back for an hour. I really didn't want to wait an hour so I went off in search of Peter the prosthetist. I kind of goaded him into doing it even though it's not really what he does by telling him it was so easy I could do it myself if I only had the right tool to get the rivets out so he took me into the workshop and we looked for the key. Eventually he found one in the other workshop and took it apart. Unfortunately the wires had been taped into the inner socket so when he pulled it out the plugs at the bottom came loose. That was a problem because his hand was too big to get in there to reattach them and because although there are two wires to attach there are three possible points to attach them to. My hand does fit inside and I managed to get one of the wires attached by sheer fluke and the electrode then operated then closing signal. The other one was not so simple, in the end Peter went off with it and came back with a couple of paper clips and with these and a long pair of tweezers managed to get it on. But it was one the wrong one, it didn't work. The other option did work and we then had the electrodes operating correctly and it was just a matter of putting the sockets back together again. The technician was back from lunch by then, but at least I didn't have to hang around in the waiting room.

The point of Lisa coming with me was not so that she could visit the hospital but so that we could go to the Gower coast afterwards because she'd never seen it and have lunch and walk. We headed down to the Mumbles first, parked up and made our salads and sat in the car and ate it. I swore I'd never sit in a car and eat lunch looking at the view but it was far too cold to do anything else. The Mumbles wasn't looking all that nice for a walk so we headed off then to Port Enyion. It was less freezing there and we walked along the beach and climbed over rocks and looked into rock pools and picked up the prettiest shells and smelt the sea. It was 5.30 pm by the time we came off the beach and she had arranged for her kids to be looked after until 6.00 pm and we were two hours away from home so it was time to leave. I managed to delay matters somewhat by going for a "quick pee". It was quick enough but when I went to open the cubicle door, it wouldn't open. This was not exactly a busy seaside resort and the height of the season, in fact there was no-one within shouting distance as Lisa had gone off to the car park and would be in the car by then. There was nothing to do but wait until her curiosity got the better of her and she came to find out what I was up to. That took about twenty minutes and another half an hour before she could stop laughing.

I don't know how we got back, what with a hysterical and self confessed incompetent map reader but we did and then picked up Lisa's kids and dropped them all off back home and Lisa gave me some of her seed and nut cheese to take home with me. I was knackered by then and just wanted to lie in front of the fire which was miraculously, still going when I got home and roared up nicely. No-one was in when I got back so I had a remarkably peaceful evening, I gave myself half an hour to lie down and then watched the news, made dinner, watched a new sitcom and had a bath. By then Irene and Lorna were back and we all had a cup of tea together and now it's bedtime.


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