Note to readers : This may seem post as it’s intended twin – and it is. The way I write now is that I often approach a subject from several different angles and then only at the end store some in the delete folder and use parts of the other to create a more cohesive post. With this post you’ll get the idea except in this one I had to use the posts to work it all out and it seemed better to run with the two posts rather than combining them. I take something from the work of psychologist Dr Jordan Peterson when he says that writing helps you think – or in my case to see what my thoughts are doing as I don’t always know until I sit and write them out so……….
In blog mode/writing time, it’s late August 2026 ( i realize that it’s a lot later now) and this morning we had our first real burst of rain just as went to do our weekly shop. In between supermarket and car door I got wet through and then of course the rain cleared away. So maybe normal service has resumed in that a moany old bloke is moaning about the weather ; to be honest though i’m glad that it rained and i’m hoping for a lot more in the next few days.
In workshop blog mode i’m crosser than a cross thing this morning because one of the neighborhood cats managed to get in over the temporary door board and peed in the corner – I could tell that it was cat instantly and now that it knows it can get in there it’s likely to do it again – hence the tallest temporary door board that I can find. This week I should have been showing off my shiny new sliding doors but that wonderful company (Amazon) got my door parts order wrong for the second time so I used the initially wrong kit to build the beginning of a sliding door storage system. I’ll show that in a future post as more things are going on that will add up to a useful post length : today, for example the excellent scrap guys turned up and heaved away at the piles of waste materials and scrap that i’d accumulated.
The physical work has moved forward a couple of notches in that the sliding doors are now on so the place can be locked and inside I used one of the Amazon mistake kits to build a sliding storage rack – something iv’e always wanted so that more things are to hand instead of searching through several crates for things. The Dutch style carpenters chest got more work this week but i’ll definitely be writing about that in it’s own post.
I had a bit of a personal insight regarding the workshop as I was finishing this post ; while I really enjoy the space and i’m glad that I took on the project I wonder now if it could become a bit of a trap in the way that men in sheds, sheds, often become. Recently I was asked about what kind of things are going to be made in there and I was pleased to be able to say that it’s first project is the Dutch style carpenters chest. One of the other projects is to build a model railway cum diorama and maybe even what is called a micro layout which could be both set up and stored out there. The problem with that is that it’s the kind of thing I could easily become immersed in for hours : although enormously engaging for my slightly weird mind it’s in a way not about life – it would be me and me only that enjoys it – and that I find would be extremely selfish and self containing.
In my health and fitness blog mode i’m really glad to say that iv’e dropped off the plateau of weight where my numbers hadn’t changed since our holiday in June. This morning, when I weighed I was below my best June number my a comfortable enough margin to panic less and not keep looking for a cause outside of the obvious. There’s a lot that iv’e learned from this episode and I know that iv’e got to clean things up a bit but with the basics I seem to still be on the right track and that’s a great relief. In this period my weight has hardly changed but I noticed this morning that my belt snuck into it’s last notch inwards for the first time, my legs look and feel leaner and harder and my arms more vascular : all signs that i’m still losing fat.
In potential next/last boat blog mode I wrote recently about deciding what I want, what I really really want, is another boat and I almost had my heart set on another Hunter Liberty in need of a refit. Luckily, iv’e had more time to think and created even more time in my plan to be able to leave the plan until certain of my preconditions to buying and ownership are in place. Most of those preconditions I won’t talk about as that’s also getting a whole post and potentially it’s own new thread if all works out : see my twin post for that.
What i’d like to mention today is one precondition that pertains to my health and more importantly one that relates to my partner Jackie’s health. With me it’s simple enough : I reckon to be listed for surgery some time within the next 8 – 10 weeks as iv’e had my surgical pre assessment and come home with the pack of goodies that i’ll need – surgical scrub solution as pre surgical body wash and cream to squirt up my nose…..all fun. The major precondition for me is that I come through surgery in one piece and in good condition.
Iv’e left the important part until last so here goes : This coming week Jackie has an appointment at the hospital to get the results of various blood tests and the bone biopsy that she had done a few weeks ago. In short, we don’t know what we don’t know and being a former nurse (me) and a still serving one (Jackie) we can easily scare ourselves silly about what the outcome might be or at least we will know what the course of the next few months might include. Everything hangs on that appointment this week and until then there’s no point in planning anything
.The crucial edit.
It’s done : Jackie has had her appointment and we now know what we need to know. It’s one of those times that it’s a good news/bad news time in that Jackie does have a problem which requires treatment – the good news being that the problem is said to be eminently treatable but does mean a lot of driving back and forth to the hospital. It would be unfair of me to say anything more and anyway it’s personal to her and private too. It’s also one of those times when I have to be steady eddy rather than getting my head stuck up my ass : as I said – it’s best if we don’t go postal at the same moment.
My conclusion is that Jackie will need a good 3 months off and might be a lot nearer the point that she calls it a day with her job ; that’s not just about her health but a load of changes within her unit within the NHS. If it were me right now I would definitely knock it on the head as the stress and staffing have all got worse in the hospital’s blind rush to introduce another system (EPIC) which takes even more time than paperwork ever did and seems to detract from patient care even more than the increasing load of paperwork and clipboard modern matrons ever did. In brief, it’s all a mess and I say that it’s time for her to leave.
My final thoughts for now are that we need to use this time in our lives to create new memories and my best solution to that is to have a boat that we can live aboard for at least weeks at a time and travel in the same way as we did in Brittany.
Best wishes Y’awl.
Dirty Wet Dog, the great adventure. 