Well, you all know that Mo and I went to the hospital the other day.  Mo’s appointment was at the chest clinic.  When you enter the waiting area you are faced with large oxygen cylinders strategically place around the room, in case a patient needs help breathing.  It’s a CHEST clinic, so it’s not surprising.

What is surprising is what we found outside.

This sign made us chuckle.  You would think that it wouldn’t be needed for a chest clinic.  I had visions of somebody taking a quick drag on a cigarette, followed be a sharp intake from the oxygen cylinder, a quick drag on….. You get my drift.

While I was pacing up and down outside I noticed something else.  A shingle bed runs along the front of the clinic.  On taking a closer look at it I was mortified!   These are patients with chest problems of all kinds, and here, outside the clinic waiting room, lay dozens and dozens of cigarette butts!  What is this telling us?

20 Comments Stumble it!

Today we had good news.  We saw Mo’s specialist, who confirmed that the form of Asbestosis Mo has will cause her no future problems.  It is the ‘END’ result of exposure of over 40 years ago, and will not progress!  The other problem, for which she had the ultrasound, proved to be as suspected,  just cysts.  One he couldn’t be sure of (where she’s had a kidney removed) because it couldn’t be seen very clearly.  He said it is very likely nothing but he would like a kidney specialist to just take a look, for a thorough closure to her case!  He has discharged her!

We decided it would be nice to celebrate with a little treat, so Mo popped into the shop and bought some strawberries and cream to have after dinner tonight.

Mo went into the kitchen while I sent an email, about the results, to waiting family.  Suddenly I heard “Oh nooooo!” coming from the kitchen.  It looks like we won’t be having strawberries and cream tonight!

THIS IS SO TYPICAL OF MO!!

24 Comments Stumble it!

Mo and I would like to thank all of you that left such kind and caring comments on the last two posts. It means a great deal to us both.  Unfortunately we are still waiting for the results. I have never known results take this long and we are hoping that it’s a case of ‘No news is good news’.

Meanwhile, I thought I would post a bit of a rant.  Today Mo bought a tiny fold up foot stool. You can see that it had a very over-sized label on it.

Mo is one of those people that never removes labels, not even from cookware! Hmmm….it reminds me of a blogger I know.  Anyway, I  decided to whip this one off quickly.

Who was I kidding? It was stuck so fast that the surface of the label came away when I tried to remove it.  Nothing will budge that label.  I know that if I tried I would end up with a sticky, torn up mess all over the stool, so now we have to use a little white stool with a horrible black label on it! Why on earth do they do this?  Is it their idea of a practical joke?  Did someone in the factory say “I know, let’s make GREAT BIG labels and then stick them on with Araldite so no-one can remove them”, and were they all laughing as they did this?  Was it the highlight of the week in their otherwise monotonous job?  Whatever their reasons, it makes me SO mad!

If any of you know of a way to remove it without leaving behind a sticky mess I would love to hear it.

29 Comments Stumble it!

I was going to post about our return visit from the mass of mushrooms we had last year.  Unfortunately the sun came out and killed them all before they could really get started! That was the end of that idea.

We are still waiting for results from Mo’s ultrasound which, it turns out, was not for what we thought, but for a lump the cat scan showed up where she had a kidney removed some years ago. As this is something new, we are a bit nervous again.

The last three weeks have not been good for us, and I am totally blank with regard to blogging.  So please forgive me for not posting much.  I hope I’ll soon get back to normal - well normal I’ve never been!!

24 Comments Stumble it!

Mo and I went to a birthday celebration the other night and as we entered the room I was stopped in my tracks when I saw one of the guests.  Had he flown all the way from the US, just to be here? If he had, then why didn’t he speak to me?  Not one word!  I had to sneakily take these photos from across the room.  He looks a lot older than the photo on his blog and Facebook though.  Has he been cheating, and posting old photos, pretending they are current?  Maybe his recent worrying has taken it’s toll.

Is this Jeff of ‘The Receders’ fame and  View from the Clouds?  Well, obviously it isn’t or he would have said hello!

At least you know what you’ll look like in twenty five years Jeff!!

23 Comments Stumble it!

You will probably have noticed that I haven’t posted for a while, and that I haven’t commented as much on posts - although I have been reading them!  Mo and I have had a bad ten days, but today we are totally relieved.

Mo had an X-ray that showed some shadows on her lungs.  She had an emergency cat scan and we then spent 7 days waiting for the results, which we finally got today.   They had suspected cancer, but it turned out not to be cancer but Asbestosis.  She had been exposed to considerable amount of asbestos back in the sixties, when the dangers of asbestos hadn’t been realized.  Fortunately, it seems that she won’t suffer any more symptoms from it than she already has been, without knowing she had it!

Who’s a happy bunny? …….. We both are!

Mo after getting her results!

34 Comments Stumble it!

When you are a passenger in a car sometimes the driver asks you to help out a little, and rightfully so.  After all, you are being chauffeured around.

This is how it often goes in our car…..

Mo, who is the driver, is just approaching a T-Junction and wants to turn right.  As you may be aware, in the UK the driver is on the right, so their left side view is often not good with a passenger blocking their view.

Mo: “What’s it like your way?”
Babs: “Oh, it’s very pretty”

Mo bursts into uncontrollable laughter.  Not good when trying to turn right at a T-Junction, and still not knowing what it was like my way!

I was actually joking there, and my aim was to make Mo laugh, but this next one was for real!

Again Mo was wanting to turn right.  A nice, polite driver had stopped to let her out.

Mo: “Give him a wave”
Babs, assuming Mo knew the person, waved frantically as they pulled out in front of him and drove off up the road!!!

I can just imagine that for the next half hour he was probably saying to himself “Who was that woman?”…..” Maybe I should have waved back”…..”I must know her from somewhere”….. “She’ll probably think I’m rude”…….

Maybe she was just an idiot!  Mo and I were in fits of laughter again!

WELL!!  Why do they say ‘wave’?  Why don’t they just say put your hand up if that’s what they mean?

28 Comments Stumble it!

OK, I LOVE some of you, well most of you really.

Here are the winners of the ‘Guess the year and my age’ competition……

The person who guessed the year of the photo correctly is Ivanhoe @ From Ohio With Love.  It was 1979. I had just moved into my new house in Kent, and it was a year before I hit the ‘Disco’ scene!  A Magnabeetle will be on it’s way as soon as you mail me your details.

Nobody guessed my age correctly so I will give a Magnabeetle to the person who came the closest.  This one goes to Ana of Chica & Pumuckle for her guess of 35.  I was, in fact, 33 in the photo.  I will send it out to you soon Ana.

Now for the people I love for their guesses. Ruth @ Synch-ro-ni-zing thought I was 16, Barb @ WillThink4Wine and Jenn @ Of Cabbages & Kings thought I was 15 and Swubird @ Swubird’s Nest thought 12!!

I think Lauren needs to explain herself.  Lauren, you thought I was 43 when that photo was taken?  That would make me 73 now.

Thank you all for taking part, it was fun.

21 Comments Stumble it!

Sorry to keep on this theme but I’m sure you’ll forgive me when you read on.

Now you will laugh at this photo!  What a top!  I never knew I wore such collars either!  I always thought I was a little miss fashion icon!  Maybe I was, though I can’t for the life of me remember looking so dorky.

OK, OK get all the laughing out of the way, because I want you to answer a question for me and I need you to be composed.

When I saw this photo I had three reactions.

1.  My jaw dropped open (because I’d never seen it before).

2.  I fell off my chair laughing.

3.  I got very confused.

I thought I’d ask my blogging pals to help me out, so here goes.   Are you composed? Good.

I need you to put a date on it. When was it taken?  How old am I?

If it’s any help, the top was just below the hips and had a tie belt that was loosely tied just below the waist.  It was worn over jeans or trousers.  That much I remember!

I can’t ask a guessing question without a reward, so the person to guess my age correctly will receive a ‘Magnabeetle’ fridge magnet.  In the event of nobody guessing correctly, it will go the the person who’s guess is the closest.  There are plenty of clues around on my blog to help you.

Happy guessing!

UPDATE

OK somebody has guessed the year correctly but nobody has guessed my correct age.  I’ve decided to give two prizes.  One for the year and one for my age.  A second guess is allowed for my age :O)

22 Comments Stumble it!

This video took me ages to do, so I hope it’s worth it.  It was hard to find photos at the right ages and there may be a few years missing.  I don’t think there are any in my late 40’s there.  It’s hard to tell as I didn’t change much until I hit my 50’s.  Then it was all downhill - literally!

I can’t put it on YouTube as it is, so will have to do it again with a karaoke track.  They were very nice about telling me I may be infringing copyright with the music, and aren’t they quick?  No sooner had I uploaded it, they blocked it!  Anyway here it is.  My life in three minutes.  Hope you enjoy it.

Oh and feel free to laugh at the bows!

free video player & video platform - interactive video, online video solution: video player, video editor - kaltura
wordpress video - wordpress plugin for integrated video on video blogs, and video tools

It may take a while to fully load.  If it keeps stopping, just pause it and wait for the bar to fill up.

44 Comments Stumble it!