Phone broken

Can’t ring in, can’t ring out – call guardian is blocking all our calls…we had an engineer out who checked the phone lines. As soon as he plugged his own phone in it worked, but when he plugged ours back in. No luck. He rang our phone supplier and asked them what we could do (engineers only work on phone lines, not phones), the woman he spoke to needed to verify us. Could I say when we had the last bill? I didn’t know as hubby pays it. So she went through a low quality verification and asked the engineer his details. Then she said that we should check the settings.? How? There’s a manual on line… I explained I wasn’t happy to go through lots of pages. We finally convinced her the phone needed replacing…. Then she checked the Argos website. We could get a big button phone. I don’t want that, I want the same as we have. I could get three of the right phones from Argos for £125! No we just want one.. We only live in a small house. OK they have the phone for £39.99. We ordered it. The engineer was great but I thought the advisor on the phone was a bit more interested in her own assumptions and didn’t really want to listen to me….

Stuck!

Thank you to my hubby for rescuing me this morning. I was trying to get out of bed. I swung my legs out but ended up floundering on the edge. Half in and half out. My hubby came round and assisted me. I felt my bum sliding off the edge of the bed. I think. I was short of oxygen. I feel weak as a kitten. I hope this doesn’t get worse.

Positively Negative!

Feeling a bit happier this morning. I couldn’t sleep because when I lay down I started to cough. If I sit up I can breathe. I think I have a touch of bronchitis. Thankfully there is no sign of a positive result on my lateral flow test. I spoke to my pharmacy and they said they have test kits in but they will cost £2 each. That’s a bit much to pay but I guess I need some as I’m running out. Oh for the days when I could get them for free. Anyway symptoms are the cough, aches and a very sore throat which I have sugar free lozenges but I need paracetamol to get on top of it. Bleugh! I feel rotten…

Masks

I went into a shop tonight, but I’d forgotten to take a mask with me. I felt naked as I walked around. Every cough or sneeze made me jump! The trouble is for the last few nights I’ve been at rehersals and I’ve trusted everyone is covid free. Now I’ve started with a bit of a cough and a sore throat. I will do a covid test in the morning and check. I have to say I’m quite worried. I hope it’s just a sniffle. I’ve had all my jabs, so I hope if it is I will be OK.

Ragged Urchins

I have painted two urchin figures for out production of a Christmas Carol. They are meant to represent the boy and the girl clinging to the Christmas Present character. I’ve painted the on a brownish background to be pinned or taped to the brown trousers that my hubby will be wearing when he plays the part. I’m still trying to learn my lines, but he has a scroll to help him remember… In the book the boy is ignorance and has the word doom on his head, the girl is want.

Ten years ago

This came up on my memories today. I remember this was a cold and sunny day just like today. I was taking part in a craft fair outside Stoke Market. Things were better then, people had a bit more money. I think I sold a few paintings. I have to say they were a bit random… I think I had done a all exhibition earlier in the year so I’d painted all sorts of things, some better than others. I’m trying to be a bit more selective in what I paint these days. I’m also not keen on sitting outside in the cold as much!

It’s cold outside (and in)

The sun is actually shining today. But its freezing cold again. Its about 15°C in here. We had a gas engineer out yesterday because one of our radiators isn’t working. He’s a lovely man and comes round every year to service the boiler, which he also did yesterday. He checked the radiator and its actually seized up in the closed position (we probably shut it off one summer), he didn’t dare try and fix it because of the risk the valve might break and leak. So we are going to have to get a new one. Thankfully that’s included in the yearly maintenance contract.

The poor man was rushed off his feet, he’d been working till 8pm the previous night. He said many people don’t get their central heating system serviced until it breaks down. Then they struggle to find a firm that can fix them. Sometimes it’s just a small problem, but it can stop the system working. I know it costs money, but I think it was worth having it regularly checked.

Victorian stove?

This is the Cratchetts stove, a bit of painting I’ve done for the ‘a Christmas Carol’ performance this weekend. It’s a little bit splodgy, but the surface of the foam board was strange to paint on. Plus I’m very tired after not sleeping last night then getting up early because the gas engineer was coming round to service out gas boiler. Weird that I’m painting an old heating system at the same time as getting ours checked out. Serendipity? Maybe.