Bee Orchid's articles

…On a wet and windy Sunday morning. Now and again, I open YouTube and just see what’s available. I’ve been listening to Gerry Rafferty – Get it right next time, it really speaks to me – when I noticed an ‘ad’ for Enigma. Man, that took me back, and I spent half hour or so listening to various Enigma tracks before bed. It left me feeling very mellow, and Saturday night, in spite of the rain lashing against the windows, I slept well. Although I like Enigma, and more contemporary music too, my favo…

Wow is it Monday again? This past week has flown by. Despite my cold finally coming up for air, and an upset stomach to boot, I’ve had some good rest this week and even slept in 3 mornings. By sleeping in, I mean I’ve slept past my usual 5 or 6am wake up. Despite being windy and wet here, the temperatures have been quite mild. The Ship has been tossed about a little, in the high winds, though swinging gently in my hammock has been restful. One night, I slept for almost 9 hours. My leg was hurtin…

Now that my new GP surgery has my medical records, finally, I decided to bite the bullet and ask for a referral to Neurology. I saw my GP Monday, described my symptoms, the fact that I’d seen a neurologist, however briefly, in Wales and that far from getting better, my symptoms have recently worsened. Last week I stumbled up the stairs, twice, and recently banged my head on the sizeable fridge door handle after misjudging where it was – I’d dropped something, picked it up, and brought tears to m…

My kid sister is a hoarder. I’m talking big time here. Furniture, books, material, statues – what’s that about? Seriously, she could open a mausoleum with the creepy-arse statues she has in her home. I love her to bits, like her too, but her house never feels comfortable to me due to so much stuff in it. What got me thinking about this? I had to renew the house insurance ready for next month, and although I have some nice furniture here, nothing I own is of significant value. Whilst I like my…

Since moving to the Midlands, England, some months ago, I’ve been called some names. They range from chick, hen, chook, duck, and darl which I assume is short for darling. They’re obsessed with fowl! Lol. Mind you, I feel it’s preferable to what they call people in South Wales which is: my love. I’m not sure if that’s a Valleys thing or that general area of Wales. I think I prefer the fowl, and yes, the title was a play on words. After our Chinese food attempts, we’d cut back on the meat for…

Over the weekend I phoned my kid sister; we both have ‘free’ calls on the weekend if we natter for under an hour. Is it Saturday already she asked? No, I truthfully replied; it’s Sunday. It was her turn to call, and somehow, she’d lost a day. She’s not working, medically retired, however her partner works so he must know what day it is. How can one lose a day? A whole day? It got me thinking about time. When we natter, I have to keep an eye on the time because if we go over the hour, we get char…

Early this week, the Deckhand was taken outside, tied to the main mast, and summarily flailed with the cat o’ nine tails. His crime? He was using my cast iron pan, and it cracked on the cooker top. I’ve been using this pan, on and off, for the past 15-odd years. The second time he uses it, he breaks it! In fairness, it could just be that it was old, it could be the cooker; glass ceramic hob, or as I suspect, he left the pan on the heat too long with some oil in it and it got too hot. The base cr…

As regular readers will know, I like food, like to eat out on occasion, and am invariably disappointed. To this end, the Deckhand and I decided to make our own Chinese meal on Saturday. He prepared a simple marinade for ribs, I coated them, then left them to marinade for hours. After lunch, I made a marinade for the tangerine beef, and the sauce, and asked him to make the marinade for sesame chicken. We had the laptop open in the galley, and 2 word documents where I’d copied the recipes from the…

It’s turned cold here, as forecast, and no mistake. We had some rain, then a few nice sunny days, and now we’ve had a hard frost the past two mornings and even some flurries of snow on Saturday. In October. Good grief! According to Yahoo, the UK has had one of the coldest October days in a decade. I believe it. Saturday, I put the heating on low and left it on all day. The Deckhand and I are ‘manfully’ fighting off a cold, and despite both wearing 3 layers indoors, we were feeling the chill. Cup…

This month the Ship has been beset by crawlers (ladybirds outside) fliers (tiny little flies outside) and now slithering sea beasties. The beasties have somehow found their way into the downstairs loo, and so far, this month, I’ve had to slash and burn (and even flush) 4 sea beasties. One was in the toilet pan! Okay, in reality we’re talking slugs here, but how they’re getting in is beyond me. If we keep seeing them, someone from the agents will need to see if there’s a hole or gap in the outsid…

After a hiccup, I finally had my NHS health test. Some 9 years late lol, though maybe my previous health centre in Wales didn’t run them, who knows. Mostly all is good, and my heart attack risk is low, although my blood sugar levels are borderline not good at all. I had hoped the nurse and I could discuss diet and why my levels could possibly be higher than is normal considering I rarely eat sugar in any form, but all she was able to do was point me to some websites. Normally, the check-up is do…

Since being told 3 weeks ago, that we were due a House Inspection, I’ve been walking slowly through the house trying to clean or paint over any marks left on the walls by the removal firm; nothing major, just the odd small mark here and there. It only cost me two match pots and a little time. With the inspection due Monday gone, I spent the weekend dusting, vacuuming, and putting anything away in a cupboard that might make the place look untidy; my son wouldn’t fit, nor the dog LMAO. I washed th…

This week we’ve had a small invasion of ladybirds in the garden. Not hordes, but more than I’ve seen in a good many years and Thursday I had to shut all the windows as they were crawling up the windows, the kitchen wall, and the back door. Weird. Only one landed on me as I was hanging out washing and I was able to encourage it to fly off. They’re pretty enough, and harmless (I think) though it’s slightly creepy to see them crawling up the windows. One time, whilst staying at a Tai Chi retreat…

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…

The weather here has certainly been ‘exciting’ in that we’ve had high winds though not as bad as some parts of the UK (yet) and serious amounts of rain. It rained all day Thursday, in between the rain it poured it down, and over a 24-hour period, we’ve had 3 inches of rain. There are no drains in my half of the street, no idea why, and looking out of the bedroom window, it was like looking at a river running through our street. My car is partly on the kerb to allow traffic to pass easily, and I…

After recently having a credit to my bank account, and not knowing why, I asked my previous landlord to forward mail addressed to myself. I offered to reimburse him for costs. If it were me, I’d collect up the mail, put it into a large envelope, and mail it. He has taken the ‘trouble’ to print sticky labels with my address and has forwarded ALL the mail from the old place including ones clearly marked ‘Current Occupier’ that are obviously from the energy supplier, and mail from the TV licencing…

The weekend didn’t go quite as planned. The plan, was to travel down to my sisters on Saturday, go shopping in the city with her, then stay overnight. We would then pop over into England in my car, about 50 miles, attend a large country fair, and meet up with my brother. He would then take my sister home, whereas I’d have a 102-mile journey home on a very straightforward route. So much for plans. It’s not his fault, a friend of theirs had died recently, and understandably they didn’t feel like g…

…Or over the top? As regular readers will know, I recently moved to England from Wales. In that short time, I’ve had a check-up from the practice nurse – a necessity when joining the practice apparently, been invited to have my boobs squashed (already done this year) and now I have an invitation to have a ‘Health Check.’ This entails a 20 to 30-minute health check. What did I already have with the practice nurse? She already checked my BP, my heart rate, weight, and sugar levels. She was more th…