Oh! What A Day!

Hello Friends!

I was absolutely gutted yesterday to be unable to do a walk, but I nearly ended up calling a doctor.  I had a very nasty time of nightmares the night before, waking up screaming several times through the night, and yesterday morning I was still very shaken and not feeling at all well. Exhausted, I slept all day, and by evening was feeling much better, but decided not to push it and possibly make myself ill again, so I decided I will make it up by doing two consecutive laps at some point before the end of the challenge.  I had intended to do so today, but is it bitterly cold and very windy, and rain is threatening to arrive at any moment.

Seeing what is happening with the weather, I did today's walk quite early on this morning.  Today, as well as a few photos, I thought I'd also share some video clips so you can see how bouncy the wind is today.

This one is especially for my friend Caroline of Ragged Robin's Nature Notes, because it is her favourite plant {and one of mine too} I hope you like it, my friend!

and a couple more that I took for my WhatsApp group for the WWHM course

The weather couldn't make up it's mind, would it, wouldn't it rain or blow over.  I went no further, I didn't have a coat so didn't want to risk being caught out in a sudden sharp shower.  I came home and tried to putter in the garden a little.  I can't do much, but I am able to do a few small things if I take my time and apply the Laws of Physics!  Yesterday, a good friend, Tetiana, very kindly brought me some lovely, healthy tomato plants as she knew I had been looking for some but had not found any.  I have made, like Baldrick, a Cunning Plan!  I have a four tier, twelve section stacking tower that I bought a while back for strawberries.  The strawberries went long ago as slug fodder, so earlier this year I decided I would make a small tower of herbs to keep by the front door.  I bought some "growing herbs" from the supermarket, having found they do very well and at £1.25 each are a fraction of similar ones at the garden centres at £4.95 each.  I'm not going to say too much more as I think that might be a subject for a future blog.  Suffice to say, it all has relevance to my Cunning Plan.  

Then came the surprise of the day.  

Actually, no.  Then came the surprise of the week.  

Rather, then came the surprise of the year.

Are you sitting down?

I did something that I haven't done for a very long time.  I gathered all my courage and resolve and went up into the "village" {city} and went shopping!!!  

I will give you a moment.

Due in the most part to the attitude of some people toward me since I have become ill, I stopped going out some time ago and had become housebound.  Other factors that have stopped me venturing out are that I am slow{and in our weather, slow is not good}, I struggle to open the outward opening front door against the strong wind that prevails, and it is difficult trying to keep the door open while pushing my rollator through.  I am unable to have a proper ramp to aid access. The wind picks up my rollator like a sail and I can topple over very easily.  Due to the physical stiffness of joints that is one of the many symptoms of Parkinson's, I cannot put my coat on without help. Whichever route I take, I will have to navigate hills, narrow pavements, potholes, badly parked vehicles, etc. and there are very few shops with a good disabled access entrance. 

Last Friday I started the fundraiser activity Walk For Parkinson's 100 mile challenge, please see previous blogs for more information, and since then I can already see a big improvement in my mobility and well being! In just a week, I am a different person.  It's not going to cure my condition, but it is most certainly help me improve my quality of life.  Here's what happened.

I had a prescription to collect.  I thought, "I can do this" it's no further than the walks I've done this week.  So, I planned to go mid to late afternoon.  That way, I would hopefully find that most of the visitors were either still out in the wilds and not milling about waiting to go out for dinner, and most of the locals would be watching the football or Women's Six Nations Rugby.  I was right, the streets were deserted! I went to the Chemist, then got some {very overpriced} local new potatoes at the butcher's shop, stopped in to a local shop that supports women's enterprises in Nepal and bought some incense, and then a bar of chocolate {which I am currently nibbling} in a local deli.  Here's the photographic evidence

Tonight, I am tired but very pleased with myself.  It will take time, but a corner may have been turned! And all because I decided to try to do some good for charity!

Until next time