Bee Orchid's articles

Yesterday was my first day back and it turned into quite a busy day with rooms being left in a mess, and equipment failures. I had my hospital check-up in the afternoon and it didn’t go that well. The clinic was running almost an hour late and it goads me that they post notes stating if you’re more than 10 minutes late they may not see you, yet the doctor’s first appointment was at 1:40 and he didn’t even turn up until 2:30; he was stuck in traffic. We have to allow for travel time and traffic,…

Yesterday, after a very bumpy bus ride, I walked through our local town. I saw any number of takeaways, a couple of Polish shops, a Polish butcher, a Thai restaurant, a Turkish restaurant, (I know of a Russian restaurant nearby) a Sari shop, an Immigration Information office, and so on. There were people hanging about speaking Farsi, Polish, Italian, and goodness only knows what else. Nowhere did I hear Welsh being spoken, and very little English either! I know we're expected to integrate and to…

This week has been mostly spent in the hospital waiting room, or doctor’s surgery. At least, that’s what it feels like. My hospital check-up was at 1.30 on Monday. I’d removed the dressing like my leaflet said that I could, but couldn’t get it all off. The nurse removed the ‘stuck’ dressing and I waited for the surgeon to check out his work. 30 minutes past my appointment time, news came that he was at another hospital and was on his way though he was at least 40 minutes away. Eventually, the cl…

On Friday I had my ‘minor’ surgery though quite frankly when you’re lying on the table, fully awake, and they’re tugging at your face it doesn’t feel very minor! My sister (the one who hasn’t had surgery recently) took me to the hospital, sat with me and kept me distracted, and then took me home again. My BP was quite high which is unusual for me though I did tell them I was very anxious. I have a ‘hole’ in my forehead which was initially bigger than 1.5cm though he’s done some ‘purse string su…

My sister and I had a nice day out at the agricultural fair. The weather was sunny with a light breeze, and I was glad I’d taken my sun hat and a long sleeved shirt so that I could cover up. Coats were left in the car. We arrived just after 9am and joined a queue waiting to get into the car park. It was marshalled well and we didn’t wait too long before we were into the showground. They had all manner of agricultural vehicles on show, a farmer’s market, and lots of tents with everything from…

My ‘friend’ went out last night to a big family party; his Dad’s Birthday, and I confess I’m ‘put out.’ Months ago he asked if I’d like to go to the party. Work was crazy busy and I said, ask me nearer the time. These past few weeks he’s mentioned how busy he’s been helping to organise the party, but never once asked if I’d like to go. He never even told me when the party was. Thursday, he let slip that the party was on Saturday and that he had relatives staying over so they could attend. Again,…

Ok, this is not strictly bartering, though it comes close. Yesterday I went to see my sister who’s had the surgery. I put the vacuum round the house – she can’t manage it, put away the groceries for her, tidied off the table, dug up some potatoes she was growing, and played with the dogs. She made me a lovely salad lunch, gave me some ginger biscuits she didn’t like, and lent me a dressing gown for when I have my surgery. Today (Thursday) I visited my other sister. She drinks very so so wine…

I’m off work this week, and this morning it was nice and cool so I decided to weed the front garden. I dead headed some low growing shrubs – no idea what they are, weeded in between the hydrangeas, and cut down the leaves from the mini blue irises. I’ve tried to get a fork in and lift some of the bulbs to transplant them, but no luck. I’ll have to wait for some rain. Originally I planted 7 bulbs and they’ve spread like you wouldn’t believe! I also threw out some of the fennel that I tried to gro…

Today I am being driven mad by scurvy dogs with leaf blowers. Honestly, what is the frelling point of blowing leaves around? (frelling – ‘swear’ word from Babylon 5). If they blew the leaves into a pile and then collected them, I’d understand but to just blow them off the paths? Hello! The wind is just going to blow them back again! It’s like men and their power tools in general. No offence guys but give a man a power tool… Not so long ago I took offence at the stair carpet and decided to rem…

My ex sent me a frantic email this morning. No idea how, but he’s managed to accidentally credit my bank account with £8,000! Now, if I was the ‘mean’ sort, and not afraid of a little trouble, I could deduct what he still owes me, then transfer the remainder back to him. I confess, I briefly toyed with this option but it’s really not worth the trouble and bad feeling it will cause. It’s a shame that my account pays little or no interest as I could have earned a little money from his error. Oh we…

Yesterday I was involved in student exams. It was set to be a busy week, with exams being doubled up on despite my informing staff that I was on my own due to other staff on leave. The morning went relatively well though I despair of people who can’t follow a simple instruction written in black and white, and also verbally informed. Needless to say, I was strict with them lol. The problem came after the exams whereby I should have been able to access the results for the tutor. My colleague negle…

Work is proving to be a real drag as of late, and I seem to spend more time waiting for staff or engineers to be free, than actually doing something useful! The next 2 weeks I’ll be pretty busy away from my desk so that’ll make the time pass quickly at least. My sister is home and doing quite well now, physically. She was seeing a Macmillan nurse, and she had a ‘regular’ nurse call often, and of course her GP was available. She was also getting some assistance from her local council. Now thou…

Yesterday I took the day off to help my sister with some housework. Now, let me get this straight; I offered, and I was happy to help her out, however when I got there I found her daughter, who is 20, was also home that day. She still lives at home. Why she couldn’t have helped her Mother with the housework is quite beyond me! I put out the recycling, emptied the bins around the house, vacuumed the whole house except for my niece’s bedroom, took my sister out food shopping, helped make lunch, an…

There has been much walking of the plank this week, and souls set adrift, and now we’re down to 2 in our ship. There has been some after-hours partying, and some tears too. I haven’t attended any parties as I genuinely can’t afford it; some have been in restaurants wanting £15 minimum a head! I can buy a lot of food for that money. The other staff member regularly sets off in the life boat for calmer waters so I’ll occasionally have the place to myself. Ha ha I’ll have to see who’s around to mak…

Forget the three R’s of reading, writing, and arithmetic – whoever came up with that one needs their head looking at - I prefer the ‘new’ three r’s of: reduce, reuse, and recycle. Let me just say; I’ve been recycling for many years courtesy of education from my Grandfather. He was a big believer in reduce. If he could, he would reuse something. If he couldn’t reuse something, he would do his best to recycle it. He taught me well. Locally we have a kerb pickup of recycling which is great, h…

That irritate the cr4p out of me. Yesterday I walked down to the car park in work, which is almost empty, only to find someone blocking me in. What the hell? I got into my car, put it into reverse and started to slowly back out of my parking space before the moron in the white van decided he’d better move. If the car park was full I’d understand, but there’s barely anyone in! In our office we have a sack for confidential waste that is first shredded, and then recycled. We also have a box for…

Early hours of Tuesday we had a tremendous storm. The lightning woke me at 3am and I stood at the window watching it for about 30 minutes. I’ve never seen so much lightning! The thunder was tremendous and even woke my son – he could sleep through a bomb blast. I swear the storm settled almost over my house and didn’t move for the next 3 hours. Sadly, we had very little rain and when I walked the dog it was like a Turkish Bath – hot, steamy, damp, and very muggy. The ground has already dried out…

I visited my sister in hospital today and she did not look good. Apparently she was up and walking around yesterday (Wednesday) but it looks like she may have overdone it; she had a bad night. This morning I phoned and asked if she’d like me to visit, she said yes, however when I arrived she was doped up on pain meds and was barely conscious. She looked really bad, and it made me quite sad to see her that way. I stayed less than half an hour, then left. I had my own appointment on Wednesday a…