This week has been glorious so far, and more forecast to follow. The nights haven’t been too bad, the mornings a tad chilly, then plenty of sunshine and a nice breeze. Perfect for drying laundry on the limited rigging, and for dog walking. We may be landlocked now, but there’s still plenty to do on the Ship and I’ve been cleaning and have touched up the paintwork in places. There was a small mark on the Deckhand’s wall, so I rubbed it with a clean cloth, and wiped the paint off! Thankfully, it’s magnolia, same as the kitchen, and I was able to paint the wall using a ‘match pot’ so that it doesn’t show at all where I ‘damaged’ it. Must have been really cheap paint.

Twice recently, we’ve had an ‘incident’ in the nearby supermarket. The first time I was trying to reach a loaf of bread, and the Deckhand advised me to be careful as a young man had pushed his way into the same area as me. I moved our trolley out of his way, and apologised, however he just blanked us out. He then waited for his bread to be sliced and proceeded to stare at both of us. Whenever we passed in the aisles, he stared at us. Weird or what? Another time I accidentally knocked a woman’s bag with my trolley whilst waiting at the checkout. Man, if looks could kill, I’d be dead by now. I apologised and moved my trolley back and stayed out of her way however she kept giving me the evil eye. I think next time I go shopping I’ll take my sturdy cutlass and pistols with me and will have to give the locals a good punishing. It’s that or wear a badge saying I’m unsteady on my feet sometimes and to grant me some slack LMAO.

I’ve had my blood tests back and have been advised that my blood sugar levels are a little elevated. I’m not diabetic (I knew that already) however they suggest I speak to the nurse about diet, and that I have further tests in a year and not 5 years as is standard. Hmmm. I don’t get it; I rarely eat sweets (unlike my kid sister who also has elevated blood sugar levels) rarely have sugar in coffee, never in tea, eat vegetarian meals 3 or 4 times a week (it’s cheaper than meat meals) love my vegetables, eat brown rice and brown pasta more often than white, rarely eat white bread, and make most meals from scratch so I know what goes into them. I even dropped a couple of pounds since moving in. My appointment is next week, and I’m sure we’ll have a good chat about what I can do to lower my levels.

The Deckhand was out with friends last Friday night, and despite saying he’d be home late, he was home before 9pm. He had a nice time, apparently, but by 8pm he’d had enough and so had many of his friends. He’s back in classes now, though only 3 days a week. He’s had 2 classes this week and has over 9 hours of ‘homework’ to do. It keeps him happy and out of mischief.

On the home front, my middle sister is insisting on seeing our parent’s will. I can understand where she’s coming from, and we only have my kid sister’s word that the house has been left to our niece who was their carer. If the house has been left to her, then I’m fine with that and won’t contest it, but I doubt our middle sister will accept it without a battle.

Finally, I had an email from my ex’s wife last month and frankly didn’t feel like replying to it. It’s my Birthday next month, and for the first time in almost 60 years, I won’t have a card or phone call from my Mother on my Birthday. Ok, if we’re going to nit-pick she never phoned me when I was a baby, but you get my drift. She would have been 80 next month and had always stated she wanted a ‘surprise’ Birthday party for her 80th. I’ve been feeling a tad maudlin about both Birthdays. I know I shouldn’t. Anyway, I never bothered to reply to the email. Yesterday she sent another saying she assumes I don’t want to keep in touch, and she understands why I wouldn’t want to keep in touch with a man I left 13 years ago, nor his (new) wife but that they hoped our son would have done. She appreciates he’s an adult and is choosing not to communicate so she wished us well for the future. I feel a real heal for not replying, and it seems rude too, but I hold a lot of resentment towards him so maybe this is for the best. I advised the Deckhand of the above, and he said Good, maybe now they’ll leave us alone. Families… Can’t live with them, can’t kill them…