Judging by the number of poor people who are still without electricity after Monday morning’s storm, we were really quite lucky. I am surprised that we didn’t have a power cut as we normally have one hereabouts nearly every month!

We kept Max in his stable while the storm was at its height on Monday morning. Sadly for my neighbour’s (and maybe for my new fencing panels), a huge chunky branch off their willow tree crashed down on top of their swing (fortunately no child on it at the time!) and my fence. I have to say that the rest of the tree looks rather dangerous, and, if I was my other neighbour, I would be worried that it would come crashing down on my conservatory!

A casualty of the October storm!

Will this herald the demise of this willow?

Oh dear, and my beans have come crashing to the ground!

Flattened!

Will have to be careful when Alfie and I go down to check the post box, as we do after lunch every day, that no branches drop on our heads – it all looks decidedly dodgey!

As the weather is getting colder, I thought that I had better hop out and start my car up and run it for ten minutes, as it’s about two weeks since Barry, the builder did it for me. Don’t want the battery to go flat on me… Whoops. It’s not just my bean support that’s flat, my car battery is too. Boo hoo. Now, what do I do? Do I ask somebody to put the battery on my charger, or do I wait before I can drive, then charge it up then? Probably the latter is the better idea, as I won’t need to keep turning the engine over regularly for the next few weeks, before I can drive. Wonder when that will be?

This time last week I made my first ever Sainsbury’s online order, tempted by the £15 discount for first orders. As the cost of delivery on Saturday evening is only £2.50 (because Strictly is on TV I wonder?), I went for that. Was most impressed that 24 hours before my delivery slot, they emailed me to say that I could amend my order up to and until 11 pm on Friday night. What a good idea, as ever, you always remember items you’ve forgotten to include in the order. Taking advantage of the chance to amend my order, I followed the instructions in the email, going into my account, where I could see my order, and clicked ‘amend’. Eeeeek the screen went blank, except for the headings. Heeelp! I  yelled when returning to my account only to find that the ordered had completely disappeared!

Not knowing my way around Sainsbury’s online (have done many Tesco online orders) it had taken me over an hour to input my order. All wasted! I was furious, to say the least and banged off three irate emails to their helpline, hoping that somebody could bale me out as the 11 pm deadline was fast approaching and I had nothing to look forward to but an empty fridge!

By 10.40 in desperation I phoned their helpline (don’t know why I hadn’t thought of that in the first place). The young lady was very helpful and talked me through what I had to do, as, indeed, my order hadn’t been lost! (Hurrah!!) After I had clicked on amend, as previously instructed, and the main screen went blank, she told be to click on basket. This took me back to my order where I could include those item I had forgotten, proceeding to check out as normal. Easy peasey…. when you know how!

After several emails from Sainsbury’s apologising for my experience which they thought was because of new programming functionality with their updated website, which was currently being integrated into their current site.

The next day I emailed the helpline again, suggesting that to stop this happening to other customers, all they needed to do was to include some more instructions vis: When you click on ‘amend’ your order will disappear from your account. By clicking on ‘basket’, you will return to your order where you will be able to add the extra items and continue as normal. Crazy that they only give you half of the instructions to get into your order. They said that they would take my suggestions on board, so that’s something I suppose! Oh yes, and they gave me a £10 voucher code to show their good will. Even better I say!

Apparently I should have disconnected my car battery, knowing I wouldn’t be using it for at least six weeks. Why didn’t anybody tell me? Will now have to ask somebody to remove it from the car for me and I’ll put it on charge, hoping that it will take it. If not it’s a new batttery. Not what I want to hear. Oh, I do so hate being reliant on other people to help me. Is this is what it’s going to be like when I’m old? God forbid.

Footnote: News report on TV re Suffolk villages still without power showing a young mother with her baby. She was dressed in a down jacket and long boots, saying she couldn’t keep the baby warm despite layers of clothes and a blanket, as they had no heating. I shouted at the TV “Then put a woolly hat on him you silly girl!!!” Don’t people realise that 30% of heat loss is through the head? Grrrrrr!!

I really can’t believe that it’s been three weeks since I jumped off Max (my horse, er, in case you were wondering!) landing on his foot and breaking my right ankle!

Am finding out just how useful crutches are: for turning on light switches; dragging Alfie’s food bowl towards me; closing doors, etc., as well, of course, keeping me upright, well most of the time anyway!

A couple of days ago, Nicky, my horsey help, brought Max in early because she couldn’t hang around as her partner was coming over for dinner. That’s okay I said, if you could mix up his dinner (Max’s, not her partners, tee hee) and leave it with his hay in the stable next to his, I’ll cope! Instead of mixing his feed in his big plastic manger, I asked her to put it in a feed bucket with a handle as I would have needed to carry the manger with two hands, not leaving any for my crutches. I could hook the feed bucket over my left hand crutch handle, which would help when I needed a free hand to close the stable door behind me!

I have always insisted that Max stand back when I go in with his feed, making him wait until it was in his manger before he started to eat it. I just hate bargey horses! This training really paid off, because he waited for me to hop to his manger and empty his feed in, before he stuck his head in.

Thinking that slinging a haynet over my shoulder would undoubtedly unbalance my precarious hop to his stable, I had asked Nicky  to put his hay in a large, empty plastic feed sack. Then it was just a matter of dragging it into the stable and emptying it under his manger. Brilliant, all sorted! Oh, how lovely it was to stick my nose into his neck and smell his distinct odour, feeling his soft hair on my face! I hadn’t realised just how much I had missed the contact with him!

Clocks changing tomorrow… Spring forward…. Fall (Autumn) back… my way of remembering whether to go forwards or backwards. Simples. This will mean that Max is coming in earlier (because, of course, it’ll get darker earlier) , so I will take over giving him his feed and hay every night. Have got out of the habit, hope I don’t forget!

Just in case you think that I have become a couch potato, supping tea and watching daytime TV all day, yesterday I pushed the hoover around and made a batch of bread. I am afraid I cheat by using a breadmaker these days, having always made it by hand. Don’t know why, but the loaves weren’t as successful as they used to be. The flour I was using maybe.

Everybody on social media was extolling the virtues of Panasonic breadmakers, above all others. So 9 months ago, I decided to push the boat out (they’re not cheap) and buy one.

I adapt the wholemeal loaf recipe using approx 200 g of wholemeal flour, 125 g of malted flour and 75 g of white flour, for the medium size loaf. I add 40 g of chopped walnuts, 15 g each of pumpkin and sunflower seeds, 10 g each of poppy and sesame seeds to the seed compartment, and, 5 hours later I have a superb loaf. Easy peasy.

A wholesome Panasonic breadmaker loaf

Can’t believe that it’s already two weeks since I broke my ankle! My, doesn’t time fly when you’re enjoying yourself!

With my enforced leisure time stretching to six weeks, I was determined not to get caught up with daytime television, but, certainly in the mornings anyway, there are programmes with subjects close to my heart! That’s property development and antiques/bygones. Love seeing the restoration of old cottages, and would love to take on a project as there is really no longer any scope in my present cottage. But while Max is still around, because of the stables and the land, I need to stay here. Restoring a cottage, now that would be a mega-challenge!

My body is telling me (listen to your body, the fractures’ doctor said!) that I can venture outside now, so before Nicky (my wonderful horsey-helper) came to muck him out and let him out in his field, I wandered out (ha, ha, hopped more likely!) to give him a few carrots. I can’t tell you just how lovely it was to touch him again, and to hear him nickering softly to me, especially after he had snubbed me on Sunday evening!

In the above post, I had said that my next challenge was to change my bed. Well…. I’ve put that on the back burner and after coming in from seeing Max, I decided to cook some apples. I don’t eat so much fruit as I should as I hate getting sticky fingers (good job I never had children, eh?!). So below is my recipe for stewed apples.

Stewed apples

Take three or four good-sized cooking apples, peel, core and chop into bite-sized chunks;
Place in a saucepan with a couple of serving spoons of water;
Add two or three teaspoons of ground cinammon, three or four whole cloves, six or seven halved dates and half a teaspoon of nutmeg.

Finish off with two or three dessertspoons of brown sugar, to taste.

Cover and cook on a low heat for 10 minutes or so. I like all my apples mushed up, but you may prefer them with a bit of a ‘bite’ so cook for less time.

Mmm, nom, nom, looking forward to eating some at supper time, topped with some wonderful Woodland’s Dairy sheeps’ yoghurt (available at Waitrose). *slurps*

Oh dear, here comes the rain again. Glad I am happily ensconced in my armchair in the warm! Time for some lunch I think. Cheese on toast, with mayonnaise underneath? Sounds like a good idea and sounds awful, but I assure you it is absolutely delicious!

Did you say cheese on toast mum?

Poor little chap. He had the last of his tinned dog food this morning. Most of my doggie friends, and apparently the RNIB, say that a dry complete dog food is better than the tinned variety. It’s better for their teeth apparently. He wasn’t too happy with biscuits for breakfast… When I’m back on my feet, will try another brand of dried dog food. He doesn’t seem to like Wainright’s (think that’s Pets at Home own-brand) or Baker’s complete. Does anybody have any recommendations please?

We arrived at the Fracture Clinic on Tuesday at 8.45 am in good time for my appointment at 9.30.

After the nurse took off the temporary plaster cast, I told the doctor examining me what I had told the doctor at casualty in the wee small hours of Saturday morning. I have this bad pain in my  calf (which by now, was far worse than it had been on Saturday).

He didn’t hesitate and referred me immediately to the, now what was it called, VNT clinic I think.  After some time waiting, then answering lots of questions, they sent me down for an ultra sound.

We had a long wait there, because of course, I had no appointment. While sitting there chatting to Mel, I suddenly felt faint, so I stuck my head between my legs (was sitting in a wheelchair). The kind receptionist noticed and called a nurse who came to see me and took my blood pressure which had plummeted…. Then there was another nurse, and I was wheeled around into Ultra sound, hoicked, a little ungainly, onto a trolley, head lower than my body and oxygen. Never had that before. Ooh, very exciting!

After a little while, my blood pressure came up and I felt better. What was that all about? I wondered. Perhaps the shock of it all.

Many thanks to the doctor who referred me to have an ultrasound as it showed that I had a blood clot in my calf, as I had glibly suggested to the A&E doctor three days earlier!

Then back to VNT dept., or whatever it was called, for bloods to be taken to check that I had normal  liver and kidney function, as I would need anticoagulants to disperse the clot and to stop another one forming in the next weeks of inactivity.

Then back to wait in the fractures’ clinic, for what seemed like ages. Finally, I saw the doctor who said that I wouldn’t be going back into a plaster, but would be fitted for a boot, which would allow me to put my heel to the floor. This would make life much easier.

Then back to the, what was it called, the VNT clinic to see a video, which I didn’t see (!), on DVTs and anticoagulants, and to be talked through the different medicines available and to be given a lovely, lovely, ham sandwich and ginger biscuits (which Mel ate). I had my first tablet too. Have to take two a day for 21 days and then one a day for 21 days. (Didn’t op for Wolferin or Heparin as they both involved injections!)

We left the hospital at 3.45 p.m after quite an adventurous day, having met many, lovely, kind nurses and doctors. Thank you NHS, I certainly have no complaints!

Losing the plaster and getting the ‘moon boot’ on Tuesday made life much easier. It’s bliss, so much easier, but I still haven’t ventured outside. Haven’t seen or touched Max, my horse, for a week. Am missing him terribly, but don’t want to put too much stress on parts of my body that are unaccustomed to it, too soon. Slowly, slowly I think is the best.

Another reason for not going outside, especially at the moment, as it is wet and slippery, is how do I clean the bottom of my moon boot? As I sleep in it, I don’t want, obviously,  to get my sheets dirty (nor my lovely ‘new’ sitting room carpet). The doctor did say that I could take my boot off, but didn’t say under what circumstances. As I live alone, I feel very vulnerable and don’t want to bash my ankle bone – on the outside – as that is where it’s fractured. Another thing on which to ponder…

Happily, each day the pain is less (thank goodness that pain in my calf has all but gone – does that mean that the clot has dispersed, I wonder?) and I am getting around easier. Yippee, no painkillers today. I always hate taking them as I feel that if you don’t feel the pain, you can overdo things.

I’ll solve it, slowly, slowly. There’s no rush, I’ve another five weeks at least, to take things easy. Bliss really all that time to relax!

“You’ll get so bored”, somebody said, but I don’t think so. So many books/newspapers to read; visitors to chat with; people to catch up with on Twitter; rug-making to get on with; house to keep clean (ha ha, I  never, normally, do housework); TV to watch; radio  to listen to; crosswords to do; Candy Crush to finish and hopefully, after a few weeks, haynets to fill and horse feeds to mix up. Then the dog needs a brush, de-fleaing, food to prepare, washing to do, etc. etc.

I really have to thank my neighbours who have happily taken little Alfie for walks with their dogs, collected the post and shut up the hens, and Nicky who has stoically taken over caring for Max, letting out and feeding the hens, de-dog-poop-ing the garden, taking my wheelie bin down to the end of the drive  and a zillion other things. Thanks too, to my dear friends, especially Myf, who have kept me supplied with chocolates, cakes, flowers, provisions and best wishes. Where would we be without them? Thanks everybody for all your kindness and help,’ tis much appreciated!

Never let it be said that I shy away from a challenge. In fact, I would say that I thrive on them.

So, living for the next six weeks on crutches is my next challenge. Well, certainly getting up the step onto the landing, last Saturday morning after only three hours sleep, caused me a bit of a problem. Yes, I did have my five minute lesson on how to walk on crutches, but those who have been unfortunate enough to spend some time on the flippin’ things know only too well that walking in straight lines is the easiest bit! Getting up a step is a different kettle of fish. I didn’t get it right and crashed down on the wooden floor on my back.. Ouch! Then, of course you have to  work out how to get up. Not like getting up from a fall when skiing, when you just put your poles behind you and push yourself up…. can’t do that with your crutches, as you only have one foot to put weight on! Ho hum.

I soon learned to use the wall when going up, or down, a step. Just lean against a wall, with your weight bearing leg next to the step, then with one crutch up the step and the other one where you are standing, just push down on your crutches lifting yourself up, but still leaning against the wall. You can then put your good foot down on the next level up. Easy when you know how. There is a technique for everything, it’s just finding how to do it without breaking any more limbs!

Because of nightly trips to the loo (mustn’t get dehydrated, so have to keep liquids topped up during the day!) I felt that the best course of action would be to get a bed down into my dining room so that I wouldn’t have an assault course to negotiate during my nightly perambulations.

Responding quickly to my SOS phone call, my ex arrived immediately and set about turning my dining room into a bedroom, just the job! Thanks Mel.

After he had gone, it  occurred to me that I wouldn’t be able to carry a cup of tea into the sitting room, nor a plate of food to the table. Oh dear, was I destined to the kitchen stool on which I would have to drink tea and eat my meals for the next six weeks? After musing on the subject for a while, I realised I needed a bag to carry food, drink, whatever into the other rooms, from the kitchen.

Not having a small rucksack, the only bag I could come up with was the peg bag! An old cotton bag left over from the sixties (hippy days). I can hang this around my neck when going anywhere in the cottage: going upstairs (on my bottom) to get clean clothes; bringing drinks, or food in a plastic box, into the sitting room. Great, that’s settled. I carry my tea in a very old Addis plastic container with a lid and pouring hole, but because that leaked onto the other contents in my bag, I’ve now purchased a super-duper travel mug, with had great Amazon reviews saying that it was leak proof. So I sincerely hope that the reviewers are to be trusted!

My galley kitchen

I’m really lucky because my cottage kitchen is like a galley and I can hop up and down holding onto work surfaces either side without using the crutches. Always good to remember though, to park your crutches against the work surface behind you so that when you hop off to get something you don’t have to negotiate passing them, with the risk that you get tangled up and crash to the floor! Similarly, my bathroom is easy to get around, bidet, bath, loo and wash basin. The latter is in a vanity unit so I can lean against it while carrying out my ablutions!

By Sunday evening my left hip joint, wrists, and, strangely, my stomach muscles, were all aching badly due to the unaccustomed strain on them.So as not to waste valuable energy and put more strain on your body by hopping backwards and forwards from sitting room to kitchen to bathroom, (crutches are rather tiring), it is best to plan in advance where you are going and what you need. It’s no good getting up and hopping to the kitchen to make a cup of tea, only to find that you have left your bag on the floor by your armchair! Take everything you need in your bag to cut down on your journeys and save time and energy.

I was hoping that I would be fitted with a boot, not another plaster caste, when I kept my appointment at the fractures’ clinic on Tuesday which I’m sure would be easier to cope with!