Hooray for DSE

DSE: another NHS acronym!  I've just had a display screen equipment assessment as I have been talking about having back and neck pain prior to a lovely much appreciated holiday.  I waded through 6 pages of nonsense and my supervisor and I have concluded 1) I have very short legs (!!) so I need a footrest and 2) I have the worst chair in the world - no surprise, I am the last in....

So I stealthily carried out a chair raid in the IT room next door and have a battered but serviceable one with a proper back and a seat that is actually level! We laughed that the form asks if the floor is solid and stable - it bounces and shakes as anyone walks across the room. The walls are strawberry icecream pink and splattered with ex blue tack stains. Delightful!  Frankly the whole building is hardly fit for purpose but the trees in the grounds are worth the location. 

I have just listened to radio 4 with breakfast and the scandal that is PIP assessments was highlighted. It seems typical of our government to target the most vulnerable instead of providing support.  It was an interesting way to start a rainy day whilst eating banana oat pancakes with blueberries. I am not a politician but surely there are better targets?

 It's raining so hard that the winter pansies are standing up and cheering!  I haven't the heart to wonder if they will still be around later or a bit too damp and wilted! I am writing to put off the thought of going out for a swim and a flu jab later - exciting stuff.  It's a good "domestic goddess" day as my friend calls it.  And there's more than enough work for the proverbial domestic goddess to do.  If she wants to come round that would be fantastic - otherwise sadly it will need to be me!

Ice Cream days

It's a good photography technique I think, to add an object to give an idea of scale and majesty.  So here's the half eaten banana and toffee icecream against cirrus streaked blue Derbyshire sky.  It was really cold up there - a windy spot for a picnic on our first walking day.  A day that really called for hot chocolate I guess.  But it's the back end of Summer shading into Autumn proper and holidays call for ice cream.

Ice cream days fade when I come back home to the stink of broccoli as I'd forgotten to take the bin out before leaving for the holiday.  And although it was a beautiful holiday, I always feel a bit lost afterwards.  Several of us on the holiday were either long time single/divorced or widowed - though not all.  And that sense of not wanting to come home echoed.

I love my home, but next time, I think I will make a welcome home box with a bar of chocolate, library rented DVD and a beer..I actually came home to a card from a lovely friend with a note saying "go have coffee and cake" She knows me too well.  So I did. Next time I will remember to leave the house tidier and take painkillers before a four hour cramped seat on a train, huddled with my rucksack.  We diverted via Newport but at least I got home.  A couple of swims and the tedious back exercises are stretching out the cramps and a return to work will help with the transitory feeling which a week of company for breakfast and walking group banter leaves.  I am grateful for many things but singleness is my choice so I will find ways to carry it - at least it means that I can save viciously because I want to book another ramblers holiday next year!