This week I had a trial for the new post. It was supposed to be 3 shifts however after just one shift I knew it wasn’t the job for me; far too much responsibility, and too much to learn. Now, I like to keep my brain active as much as the next person; I keep abreast of the news, play Sudoku, do crosswords and so on, but as far as work is concerned, I’m only there to earn money to add to my reduced occupational pension. At my age, I want an easy life, no exams, and no responsibilities other than ensuring the customer gets what they need. After the trial shift, I alerted the senior manager that it wasn’t for me, and I high tailed it back to picking. It’s physically hard some days, especially with the pain in my arm, however it doesn’t require too much mental agility and that’s what I want.

Sunday, I had an email from my ex’s new wife advising that they’ve both been very poorly over Christmas with Covid. Thankfully both ok and making a good recovery. Within 48 hours of telling my son, he’s gone down with ‘something’ hmmm. Wednesday, I came home from work, and he was still feeling poorly. He hadn’t let the dog out, at all, and he’d p*ssed in his bed to punish me – the dog that is, so I had to wash all his bedding and throw out the newspapers under his bed protecting the carpet. Later, the dog was standing in the kitchen doorway looking meaningfully at his bowl. I called up to my son, and he confirmed he hadn’t fed him. Seriously? I don’t mind that he didn’t feel well enough to walk the dog, but to not let him outside, or feed him either? I did not hide my displeasure! I did my duties as a good owner and walked him too.

After that, I set about making marmalade. It’s arduous, and very time consuming, but always nicer, I think, than the shop bought stuff. As always, it’s a lovely colour, set well, and I’ve already enjoyed some of it on my morning toast.

Whilst busy in the kitchen I popped to the downstairs loo. We don’t use this room aften as it’s very small and cold too. We have a wall heater which is always left on the frost setting so it comes on automatically if the room gets too cold. Anyway, it has a small, double-glazed window, and it was broken. The outside pane is intact, the inside one has shattered. WTF? In all my years, I’ve never had a unit shatter like this. No idea what’s caused this, and I’ve reported it to the new landlord, and sent a photo too. Weird!

A highlight of the week was both of us making pancake rolls and Chinese dumplings. Now, you can buy both from various supermarkets, but the pancake rolls are very subpar, and the dumplings smell and taste like each one has a whole clove of garlic in it. Disgusting! Anyway, our own were fantastic, and were served with a pineapple fried rice. Delicious! Even better, we’d made enough to freeze. It was hard work, a lot of prep and washing up, and though a success, I doubt we’ll do it again.

Our local hospital, where I should be going for an X-ray, has now drafted in the army due to so many staff off sick. I’d love to know how many of these are unvaccinated. Frankly, I doubt I’ll ever get one now. I’ve bought a homeopathic anti-inflammatory, and whilst it won’t cure whatever the issue is, after almost a week of using it, it is helping. It’s a cooling gel, smells wonderful, and anything that helps is fine with me.

Cold here with frost almost every morning; getting old now...

Take care, keep warm and safe.