Bee Orchid's most appreciated articles

Recently, a family member was bemoaning the fact that due to changes in benefits, they would no longer receive any help with their mortgage. They were able to buy their council house at well below market value, and in their own words, are sitting on more than £70k in equity. Now, I don’t begrudge them their home, however it does make my blood boil when they complain like this, constantly. I’m in the situation of having to pay over £200 in fees to an estate agent for them to check if I’m a ‘g…

Friday was an auspicious day; it was/would have been my dad’s Birthday, it was the longest day or Summer Solstice, and I had an interview for an admin job. I’ve been somewhat distracted of late mostly by the latter, but also by the first a little, and I’ll phone my kid sister this weekend to check on her; she was closer to Dad. So, an interview. The post was in a local hospital, an admin role that also involved answering phone calls to the department. I’d done my research, had a little noteb…

It’s been a long week, and it’s only Wednesday. Monday, I did quite a bit of housework. Due to snow and ice, I didn’t go out except to walk the dog. Tuesday, the weather was better, and I met up with my kid sister and we visited with Mum. I was feeling inept and had trouble parking the car that day. The lifts at the hospital are pretty useless and we walked up one flight of stairs. These flights are almost twice as many steps as an average house by the way. We then took the lift up one flight, t…

Friday, I travelled back to South Wales for Mum’s funeral. I’d set the alarm for 5am, woke at 4.30, so got up and got on with it. I was on the road by 5.30, hoping to have a leisurely drive, and be able to fill up with petrol and a coffee once I got to Cardiff (capital city of Wales). My only concern, was maybe being a lone car at that time of day on the motorway. No danger of that! I’d just got onto the motorway and was immediately stuck in traffic. After an hour, I’d gone about 12 miles. It to…

Once again, the new year is upon us. Last year contained some slow days, some good days, some bad days; but overall the year seems to have flown by. No matter what happened in any given year, I’m always glad to see the back of it, and always welcome in the New Year with open arms and hopes for a better year. Long ago I gave up New Year resolutions as they seem trite and people rarely keep them. If you plan to change something in your life just do it, if you can, regardless of the time of yea…

After snow flurries and ice on Tuesday, I wrapped up warm and braved the weather to attend an eye appointment on Wednesday. I came away after 90 minutes with a sinking heart, and another appointment for Monday next week. In the last 3 weeks I’ve noticed a marked reduction of vision in one eye. I’ve had my eyeballs photographed – looking good, the layers in my eye too – looking good also, however my eye test showed a huge reduction in vision in the one eye. I also have a lot of new ‘floaters’ in…

The rain has gone, for now at least, and surprisingly for a Bank Holiday weekend (UK), it’s forecast to be very warm and sunny. I popped out Saturday around 10am, and it was already 19C. The next few days are set to be sunny, as mentioned, though by Tuesday we could have more rain. By then, I think we’ll need some, just not copious amounts thank you very much. After providing my financial details, I had a small reduction in my Council Tax. Not much, but anything helps. I have £20 in grocery v…

Thursday: I popped out to the supermarket before 8am to get some much-needed groceries. It was already 19C. It was forecast to be the hottest day so far this year, so an early shop was in order. I bought most of what I needed in one store, though needed a few things still, so popped along to the local store only to find there were no salad items at all, and none of the chilled items I wanted either. Apparently, they had issues with the weather, and a number of their fridges had stopped working.…

After the initial euphoria of seeing family and my friend, my health took a downward spiral. Nothing major, really, however I suspect I’m suffering some mild withdrawal. At my request my meds were halved; I’m not happy with their reclassification in the UK, and I really don’t like one or two of the side-effects, so I determined to come off them which has to be done gradually. Within days of halving the medication I came down with a bad cold that I’m still not over, and anything I eat, and I mean…

Sunday morning, I was awake at 3.30am, for the second morning in a row. Also, for the second morning in a row, I couldn’t get back to sleep. Feeling maudlin I lay there in my hammock, having a good cry. I’ve often felt tearful since Dad passed, however this is only the second time that I’ve had a really good cry. I spent the rest of the day on the sofa, braindead, watching old Star Trek episodes, eating supermarket pizza and drinking wine. I had an afternoon nap which was good and went to bed ea…

…As a sack of cats. Well, I take back everything good I’ve ever said about our NHS. As regular readers will know, my eye appointment was brought forward 5 weeks, which obviously is good news. Days later, I’ve received a letter saying the appointment has been cancelled, and my new appointment is now 3 weeks later than my original one! I’m so angry and feel totally frustrated and vexed by this. I’ve written asking for an explanation for the cancellation as none has been given. If this farce car…

This past week, I was held 'prisoner' in the Big Ship for an extra 6 hours. Well, I did say I wanted more hours lol. A pirate has surrendered their Sunday shift, and a scurvy dog has managed to jump ship due to not enough hours on his contract. Shame really, as he was a good pirate to have around. Short term, this has led to more overtime, and I already have 3 hours extra planned for this coming weekend. The Big Ship was open to the public and many scurvy dogs attended with their squealing ki…

Late in the week I had an appointment to see my GP. Unlike in Wales where I often had a 3-week wait, here, I only had to wait 9 days for a routine appointment. It could have been sooner, however I specified that I wanted to use the surgery within walking distance of my house. I was apprehensive as my GP had a name I can barely pronounce. In the event, she was a lovely Asian woman who spoke perfect English and was easier to understand than quite a few people locally. In fact, my window cleaner (w…

…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…

This past week we’ve had snow and ice. The one day, we had almost 3 inches of snow fall, which then melted slightly, then froze. The council didn’t collect our rubbish on the designated day, stating icy and dangerous driving conditions on side roads as the cause. Now, who grits the roads? Oh yes, the local council. Oh, the irony… Priceless! Meanwhile, three of us in the street work in retail, and as far as I know, if the store is open, and we don’t attend, then we don’t get paid. The young man i…

Yet again wind and rain have rocked the Ship although despite the weather, I’ve had a few good nights recently. By good, I mean around 4 hours uninterrupted sleep, followed by snatches of an hour here, half hour there; it all adds up. After last week’s debacle with not being able to park in my street, let alone outside my house, today (Thursday) the street is almost empty, and I guess the poor weather put many off walking the short distance into town. I’ve done my shopping, parked outside the…

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…

To be clear, this isn’t a blog about what if’s, or regrets, just a bit of fun and remembering good times. If I… was rich, I’d have a Turkish Bath and jacuzzi in my home. My son and I have emptied the attic ready for the move. We made 3 trips to the city dump for recycling, donated good items to the shop for re-sell, and binned the rest. I was staggered at how much was in the attic, and by the end of the day, had some serious aches and pains; a Turkish bath and jacuzzi would have gone down a t…

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…

Recently, I opened a new jar of coffee. We have coffee bags here – ground coffee in a bag much like tea in a tea bag. Also ground coffee for the espresso maker. However, day to day, we drink instant espresso, powdered coffee, from a jar. It’s very good IMO and certainly does the trick if one is in a hurry. Opening a fresh jar always smells so good and I’ve been known to breathe it in, deeply. Love that aroma. Another nice thing to open is… look away all you marmite haters… a fresh jar of mar…