Late in the week I had an appointment to see my GP. Unlike in Wales where I often had a 3-week wait, here, I only had to wait 9 days for a routine appointment. It could have been sooner, however I specified that I wanted to use the surgery within walking distance of my house. I was apprehensive as my GP had a name I can barely pronounce. In the event, she was a lovely Asian woman who spoke perfect English and was easier to understand than quite a few people locally. In fact, my window cleaner (who is getting the push for smearing the dirt around the windows rather than clean them) is barely understandable; the local accent is quite something here. It seems my health records haven’t followed me yet; it’s been over 2 months! She allowed me to have my eye meds, and gave me some painkillers for nerve pain, but can’t do more until my records have caught up with me. I’ve developed a most irritating muscle spasm in my hand which has been going on for 3 months now and is driving me crazy. Once they have my records, they’ll be sending me off to see a neurologist at the local hospital. Thank goodness I didn’t have to pay, as my prescriptions would have cost more than £26.

When we first moved into this house, I flipped a switch thinking it was the boiler, only to blow the electrics. At this point, an alarm sounded – the house alarm, and it wouldn’t stop until I flipped the trip switch on the fuse box. No power, no ability to turn off the alarm. About 2 weeks ago, I rang the agent and reminded them of the incident, and that I was concerned that if we had a power cut, the alarm would go off and I wouldn’t be able to turn it off. They didn’t get back to me, and Thursday night we had a power cut. The house alarm went off, and I couldn’t deactivate it. I was furious! How it works with no power to the house is beyond me by the way. The dog was cowering under the table, and 2 neighbours knocked my door about the noise. Luckily, the power came back on within 20 minutes and I was able to deactivate the damn alarm. I Googled alarms and power cuts, and it seems there is a box in the house with an industrial sized battery, that acts as a backup. If the power goes off, the box is supposed to cut in, and should enable one to turn off the alarm. If not, you need an electrician to replace the battery. Friday, I rang the agent, reminded them of my previous conversation re the alarm, and stated the above. Oh, she said, I’ll get in touch with the landlord. So, she didn’t do this 2 weeks ago? Give me strength!

As mentioned before, I think, my part of the street is a one-way street. I think in part, this is due to the streets being quite narrow here, and of course people, including me, park on the road as there’s nowhere else to park. Recently, I noticed a white car facing the wrong way in our road. Friday, I watched a white car drive up our road, turn around at the top, and park up. I ambled over to the car, motioned that I wanted to talk to the driver, and she wound down her window. I politely asked if she knew this was a one-way street, and that she had driven the wrong way. I also pointed out the back of the ‘no entry’ signs. She was mortified. I pointed out that she could cause an accident and advised her how to get to the top of our street, to come down the right way. She thanked me and was nice about it. No point in any nastiness – she was the one breaking the law. She was blonde LMAO

Friday, we had some very welcome rain, less than an inch, though it has freshened up and the local trees don’t look quite so droopy. It’s been a tad cooler at night too, and Saturday morning, walking the dog, I needed my fleecy as it was very cool. Lovely! More rain is forecast for Saturday night, and a lot of Sunday too. Bring it on.

I had planned to mooch on back to Cardiff later this month, or very early September, but not sure I will after the journey in July. Not sure I can justify spending more than £30 on petrol either or staying over at my sister’s house overnight (she smokes). Earlier in the week there was yet another major accident on the motorway not far from me, involving lorries, and 2 lanes and the slip road were closed. Nightmare! Maybe later in the year? It’s dependent on my son being at home to keep the dog company which is why I’d thought about doing the journey before term starts. Mind you, he’s had early notice of his classes, and so far, he’s only in 3 days a week, for a 3 hour lesson each day. This is full time? Not very good value for money IMO.

I tried to post this earlier on saturday, though had the message 'Fatal Error' when trying to log in, sounds terminal...

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.