I appreciate the NHS!

Posted on November 14, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged general practitioner, health service, Leg, Long day, NHS, podiatry, taxes, Travel, walk in centre2 Comments

What a day!

Showered, then out for my podiatry appointment. I’d stubbed my toe last week and had a blood blister on my big toe.

Whilst being examined I told the podiatrist about my left leg. I have problems with the skin and when I showered it got very red and sore.

The podiatrist sent me off to my General Practitioner and said she would email them photos of my leg.

I got to the GPS, but they had no appointments, so they sent me off to a Walk in Centre that looks after more serious patients. When I got there I was triaged, then seen. By then my blood pressure was skyrocketing. We are going through a severe storm and it was very frightening, no wonder I was worked up.

They decided I needed to see a doctor but as the Walk in Centre was nurse led I would have to go to Accident and Emergency. That is near where I live, and I know the parking situation is terrible!

I was just getting in my car when the phone rang. The GP has given me an appointment in the morning. I didn’t need to go to A+E.

What I’m explaining is that all this was done in one day. I didn’t have to pay, because we all contribute to the health services in out general taxes. No massive premiums to be treated. Yes there is some private medicine, and there are sometimes problems, but we are very lucky to have the NHS!

Roofing

Posted on November 13, 2025 Posted in UncategorizedTagged agreed, con, Concerned, Ivy, replacement tiles, Roof, rushed, Work, WorriedLeave a comment

I just had someone who is working next door offer to clear the gutter. He went up to have a look and bought down two tiles which he said were in the gutter I had a look and they are from about a third of the way up. He said he would have to batten and refelt it and do four rows of tiles. I asked for a quote and he said £6000. I don’t have that kind of money and told him. According to his figures the whole roof would cost tens of thousands!
Then, a roofer who came round a few days ago came back and said he would clear the gutters, replace the few loose tiles, remove the ivy and point the ridge tiles for £800..im letting them do it… Am I making a mistake?

He says it will take a couple of hours. I think I’m being conned, maybe the other offer came round to scare me into having the work done today. But they are getting rid of a lot of ivy that’s got up to the roof…

Oh hell….

What does space smell of?

Posted on November 13, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Blank verse, Fun, Humour, imagining, Poem, Poetry, Scents, smells, Space, Thinking3 Comments

They say space smells of gunpowder..

But is that gunpowder tea?

Or gunpowder from cannons..

Why not burnt toast?

Or overcooked omlettes?

Could it smell of wet lemons.

Frozen peas?

Creosote on a fence..

Sugared Almonds?

Cat pee.

Sour yoghurt?

Old oak woods

Field mushrooms?

Who knows..

I never will!

Quarter of a large ammonite on a beach

Posted on November 13, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged ammonite, ancient fossil, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2121, Holiday, North East Yorkshire, Whitby2 Comments

What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever found (and kept)?

The blue lias cliffs near Whitby in North East Yorkshire are full of fossils. The cliffs are very crumbly and made of a grey clay peppered with rocks and stones and things like Whitby Jet (fossilised Monkey Puzzle Tree).

One year we were on holiday and decided to walk along the pebbly beach. But parts of the cliffs had crumbled following winter storms and the debris was about 10 foot high and had fallen in large piles onto the stone and rock below.

On the first pile slightly embedded in the clay was a large rock about a12 to 18 inches across. It was roughly the size of a large quarter of a pie, and on its surface was the ribbed outline of a large ammonite.

We hid it under a bush and headed along the beach over the temporary headlands of clay. Walking up and over the landslips we managed to go about half a mile when we decided to climb up onto the coastal path because the tide was coming in!

I was quite scared, I’m not a climber, and as I looked down into the cracked surface I could see down into the interior of the material. Some cracks went all the way down to the beach. But I slowly got up the the top and then we walked back.

We found the ammonite again undisturbed. I took it home. I have other fossils but this is my favourite.

Roadworks

Posted on November 12, 2025 Posted in UncategorizedTagged 500 yards, inaccessible, Parking, Parkinsons, road closed, Roadworks, Stuck, TiredLeave a comment

It took me half an hour to drive 500 yards and park near my house tonight.

I went out at 6pm and everything was fine. Three hours later I drove down my hill, only to find a toad closed sign about 200 yards from my house. At the bottom of the hill a large truck was parked across the junction preventing any entrance or exit from the street.

So I turned down a rutted unadopted road to get into the next street on along from mine. There was a road closed sign there too. But at least my house was only 50 yards away now.

I decided to ask one of the, workmen, but all he could say was sorry for the inconvenience. I walked a bit further and asked another workman. He, was much more sympathetic. If I went back and got my car he would move one of the cones that were in my way.

I finally managed to drive round, I couldn’t park directly in front of my house, but now I’m only about 10 yards away. If anyone moves I’ll try and shift my car later. The roadworks are going for another two days!

Arthur Berry

Posted on November 12, 2025 Posted in Fine Art, Memories, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Arthur Berry, Artist, Charcoal, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2119, famous, Fine Art, Local, Mixed media, Oils, Painter, Pastels, playwright, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

Who is the most famous or infamous person you have ever met?

Arthur Berry was an artist, author, poet and playwright from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England.

Arthur was also one of my tutors at college and I was really happy when he said my paintings had a bit of something about them. He always seemed to wear a flat cap and tweed jacket. He was a well built man but had a withered arm. His voice sometimes boomed with emotion and joy.

His art is distinctive, charcoal and pastels, oils, mixed media. Often called the Potteries Lowry, he depicted local people and the interior and exterior landscape of the industrial north Midlands city of Stoke-on-Trent.

The works are semi abstract and strongly atmospheric. The portraits show emotions and feelings, aging couples kissing. The titles are often amusing.

Arthur wrote a series of intriguing plays, darkly comic. Set in old libraries or local pubs. They depict everyday life in the 6 towns of potteries, Grit, Grime and Clay. I saw several of them in the Victoria Theatre in Hartshill. This was replaced by the New Victoria Theatre in Newcastle under Lyme.

Arthur’s poems were funny and about his life and surroundings. His “ode to the oatcake” celebrating a local food delicacy which he once described as the potteries papadum

He really was someone worth knowing.

Cats calm me

Posted on November 11, 2025 Posted in Cat, Memories, UncategorizedTagged Black and white cat, Cat, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2118, Funny, Habits, Happy, hazard, Memories, peculiar, Poem, Poetry, Tuxedo cat2 Comments

What is good about having a pet?

Cats calm me,

Relax me..

But they trip me up

Knead my stomach

Paw my face

Insist on tasting my food…

But they make me laugh

Purr at me

But then they jump up

On cupboards

Climb up trees

Lie on the stairs

Entertain me,

Keep me company

Cost too much at the vets

Give me love. X

I forgot to post!

Posted on November 11, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Aging, Autumn, Blogging, Busy, continuity, Forgotten, Life, Memory, Poem, Post, Tired, WritingLeave a comment

My brain must be decaying.

Or I’m getting very old?

I forgot my manners

And didn’t even post

Lacking sleep and busy

I just realised

No words were written down

No thoughts discussed,

No post forthcoming

I simply slept

And forgot.

An old doodle

Posted on November 9, 2025 Posted in Cat, Memories, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Cat, Doodle, frowns, ginger cat, Painting, splashes, Stripes, tabby cat, WatercolourLeave a comment

I did this years ago. I still love this little watercolour doodle. I splashed blue paint onto the paper then I think I added the cat… I loved adding his frowny face. Poor cat, getting soaked. X

Annual Orme exhibition

Posted on November 8, 2025 Posted in Fine Art, Memories, UncategorizedTagged Art, Exhibition, Jewellery, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Orme Art, Paintings, Sculpture, StaffordshireLeave a comment

Our Orme group continues to meet and create new art.

We are holding our annual exhibition, with paintings, sculpture, jewellery and other art and crafts available. There will be festive refreshments available.

We have new artists who have joined this year so there will be different work amongst the art on display. If you are in the area of Newcastle under Lyme, Staffordshire, on 23rd November 2025 why not come along?