Tree

I took this photo yesterday morning for I did not know whether the Men would come and remove the tree. Actually they did not arrive but this morning around 9.30.am. they arrived. I half expected them not to be here for it had begun to rain about 9.00.am. it was also cold 8c. very cold for late April.
 When they began I went down to see them and said to them that the rain was not great but the Head Guy told me he didn't bother with the rain but the wind. He did inform me that the tree might fall in my garden and do a little damage but he had decided to lop the top off 3' at a time therefore reducing the tree from falling in my garden. Actually all went very well and within 3 hours they had removed the tree including the branches and left as I was having my dinner. I have not been down to look at the result for it is cold and very wet. The forecast for the next 4 or 5 days is also dreadful, needless to say my garden is naturally waterlogged. I begin to wonder if the water table will ever reduce to where it was 3 years ago.
 My mate called to see me yesterday, it was nice to see him. He did say to me that he was getting fed up of not being able to get on with his work, which means him crawling in his loft. I did ask him about his leg and although it is improving it is not good enough just yet for him to get on with his work. All he and I want is some prolonged decent weather but it does not look as if we will get any of that soon. More soon.

Hail

Today my Mate called to see me, he bought a few things that I needed and I was grateful for that. We had a nice dinner but soon after 1.30.pm. I told him that he would have to go because I had to rest  my legs. He had only gone an hour or so when the cloud built up and about 3.00.pm we had a terrific storm, thunder and lightning with heavy rain which turned to hail.
 I have just been down to water my polytunnel and greenhouse and noticed that in several areas there was still plenty of hail standing.
 On Sunday the guy from next door but one decided to have an evergreen tree removed and I was surprised for yesterday the Man from next door came to see me. He asked if it was possible to come into my garden for they had decided to cut down an evergreen tree. I personally am delighted for it to me was an eyesore dropping pine needles all over my garden.
 I will take a photo of the tree before it is cut down. He did tell me that they planned to take it down either tomorrow or Friday, as far as I am concerned the sooner the better.
 On Monday my Best Pal called to see me he stayed for about 2 hours 30 minutes so it was late before I go my tea. He told me that next time his Wife will come to visit me also. Earlier my Sister had rung me to confirm that one of my other Sisters had definitely got Dementia and could not even remember her Birthday let alone us. I have 3 Sisters two are younger than me but my eldest Sister is by far the eldest she is 85 years old
 My youngest  Sister rung me up again today saying that her and my eldest Sister have pencilled in a visit next Wednesday to see me. It will be the first time my eldest Sister will have seen my home and I have lived here foe over 25 years. It will be nice to see them both. More soon.

Bank

Yesterday I had news that the bank I use is closing not only in Mablethorpe but Alford too and the nearest Lloyds Bank is some 20 miles away.
 At first I thought about closing my Accounts and moving somewhere else but it is too much of an upheaval so I have decided to use the post Office to deposit the odd cheque and cash I accrue.
 I originally moved to TSB in the late 70s or early 80s. As you probably know it was originally called Trustee Savings Bank but it was privatised and us with an Account had preferential treatment but it was over subscribed and the maximum shares we bought was 200.
 I think I told you the story ages ago that when it was TSB plc. my late father had an account there. He died in 1975 and there was about £90 in his account. As my Mother had moved back to Grantham she asked me to go to see the Manager and see if I could get the money so off I went to make an appointment but there was no need the manager saw me straight away.
 I went into his Private Office and immediately informed me that he knew about me because his Son had worked for me. When he told me his name I just said to him that on asking what his father did all he said was that he worked in a Bank not the Manager of the Bank. He told me to call him by his Christian name and suggested we have a Sherry, all I can remember is that he had to open the bottle but it was not a cheap variety. We talked for quite some time and eventually I got round to asking him about my late Fathers Account. He asked for details and rung his bell, in came a teller and he asked the teller to get the Account for him to see. When he saw it I was surprised at his reply. He
immediately told me there was no problem. His exact words were " It is not a large amount so I have no trouble in closing the account and giving you the money now."
 My Mother was pleased because he was a few days away from drawing his State Pension, he actually died a week or so before his 65th. Birthday, she was worried that the funeral would be on his Birthday but it happened a couple of days before his Birthday.
 I joined TSB as I said in the late 70s or early 80s. I think it was in the 90s that Lloyds bought TSB out and it was called LLoydsTSB for several years eventually selling several TSB Banks but in Mablethorpe it was now called Lloyds changing the logo and cheque books paying in slips etc. but you could use the old cheque boob and paying in book and when you needed a replacement it was Lloyds Bank .
 I only go to the Bank about 4 times a year but whenever I go there are loads waiting. they originally had 3  cash points but they reduced it to 2 and you could hear some moan that there was only 2 positions maximum and sometimes there was only 1 manned so it was obvious that they had every intention of closing several Banks in the Lincolnshire area but at my time of life I will put up with the inconvenience.
 When I next go to the Post Office I will enquire if it is possible to deposit cheques and cash using the Lloyds paying in slips. I do believe you can. If that is so, I will NEVER visit the Louth Branch of Lloyds. I do have a few months grace because Lloyds do not close the Mablethorpe and Alford Branches until October. More soon.

Mablethorpe.

I don't know if I mentioned this before but in the early 70s Mablethorpe more or less closed down in the winter.
 As I had the youngsters in my place I sold quite a few bottles of coca-cola(coke). The delivery man told me he would get me a coke fridge because I sold a lot more than the guy who had it on his site and true to his word the next delivery I had, he also delivered the coke fridge. It did boost my sales up also. I used to sell coke to the locals cheaper than to the Holidaymakers.
 Coke had a strict pricing policy. I will use it in old pence to put you in the picture. A case was 24 bottles of Coke and you got a discount depending on how many you bought at a time. The pricing policy was thus 3d.  for 10 to 19 cases or more 6d. for 20 cases or moe 9d. 30 cases or more 1/-(a shilling) for 40 cases or more and 1/3d.  for 50 cases or more. That was the maximum discount you could get as a retailer. They had a further 3d. discount for independent wholesalers that sold their own products but carried coke as an extra but they had to order 200 cases. By the way, the price of a case was 12/- so it made a bottle of Coke 6d each. I sold to the locals for 10d each and to others 1/-. It must be borne in mind that there was no VAT for it had not been thought of.There was a Depot at Lincoln and the Manager came to see me, obviously I was one of their better customers. I asked him about the pricing policy of restricting me to a maximum discount and he was sympathetic to me and told me he would see what he could do.
 I didn't think too much about it but suddenly I had a phone call, it was the Manager at Lincoln Coke Depot informing me that if I wished to order 200 cases he would give me the same discount as the Wholesalers would get.
 I don't know if he was swayed but I did tell him that a rival Company had offered me incentives to sell their products but I declined mainly because I knew they would not sell as well as Coke.
 Several weeks later the Manager came to see me giving me the information that he had been hauled over the coals for allowing me to purchase 200 cases of coke for the same price as those Wholesalers selling to the public. He also added that there had been a meeting and decided to allow ALL who wished to purchase 200 cases in one drop  to pay the same as Wholesalers so I did make some sort of History by being the first person to get the maximum discount.
 This is also true, in the Summer months from Easter until late september the Coke wagon would call at Mablethorpe every 2 weeks but in the Winter months it was every 4 weeks. On more than one occasion I had a phone call from Lincoln Depot asking me if I would like any Coke. If I told them I was alright the answer would be. "Then we will give Mablethorpe a miss this month then." Some years later they came out with syrup so that one could dispense Coke themselves.  Please remember this was 1970 time and things were a lot cheaper in those days. I sold a 2 course lunch for 6/-. More soon.

Flowers

Despite the cold cloudy weather the flowers in the garden don't look too bad.
I had another delivery of LPG today and the Driver told me he has been delivering for 30 years and has never known a start to the year like this one. I can quite believe it.
 This morning I once again had to visit the surgery for Blood Pressure checks, unfortunately they don't seem to be able to control the BP. Last time it was very low so the doctor knocked off one of my tablets, this time it was high so they are issuing me with some more medication but I must go back in 3 weeks time.
 My mate contacted me today, to be honest I thought he had talked his Partner into going for a short break but no such luck. His leg is improving and with luck we have a date for him to visit me, towards the end of April. He also mentioned that the Easter break had been very disappointing for most of the traders. I can certainly understand their plight for it is the first time of the year that they had a chance to take money but the weather did it's best to ruin their plans.
 They are talking of the weather getting a little warmer but looking at the weather map it seems to me that the east Coast will not fare as well as some parts of the Country.
 I still have no idea as to when I will be able to get my first early seed potatoes in for the ground is still under water in places. The trouble has been the lack of sun for here it has been very misty and very cold. I do however have have a few runner beans sown yesterday in pots in the extension ready to go out when they grow. I did notice today that the broccoli is showing signs of producing florets but not for about a week or so. The trouble is that in recent years Spring has been early this year it is late so it seems as if it will never arrive but of course it will.
 The Farmers will be having a tottering time for the land is still very wet so Spring sowing will be late. Let us hope that we get some warm drying weather. More soon.

Lad

Today I had promised the ;ad that we, together would sow the onion sets, also I would get him to transplant the brussel sprouts into pots ready for when they are large enough to plant them in their final position.
 As my hand was gradually improving, I went to see the G.P. on Monday and she gave it a good going over informing me that I had done everything that she would have suggested but concurred with me that as we get older we can not do the same as we did a few years ago.
 the lad came round early, well before 10.00.am. which suited me but to be honest it was bitter cold and it did my hand no favours. For a start I got him to transplant the brussels then we looked for some more netting, I made him get the garden rake also the cage which wanted top be assembled then it was off round to his little garden. I got him to dig the little bit which had not bee dug, I raked it smooth so it was ready to sow the onion sets. I told him I had to go back home to take the meat out of the oven but was soon round again. I did get the frame fitted so that all is required is some small netting to protect the sprouts and eventually cabbage from the butterflies. I of course had to show him where to sow the onion sets, it would have been a lot quicker to do it myself but I made sure he set them himself. I was perished, the weather men keep saying that it is warm but added that on the east Coast it is cold. I have never known such a cold wet winter and Spring, everything is a few weeks behind normal and several weeks behind last year.
 We eventually finished just before 11.30.am. it must have been very cold outside because when we both entered my home our glasses steamed up. The first thing we had was a coffee then he told me he wanted to use the Steam Mop and I told him that first I would sweep the Kitchen and bathroom taking all off the laminate flooring. I just switched on and it took about a minute for the mop to steam up, he enjoyed running the mop over the floor and while he was doing that I took the stuff out of the Bathroom and swept the floor. It was then to the bathroom and I put the table and runners back and got the dinner on. It didn't take him long to finish the Bathroom but the floor took a lot longer to dry. he went on the computer whilst I got the dinner ready, just before dinner the doorbell rang, it was the Carer informing me that they were going to buy a later model of the mobile phone and gave me the keys to give to the lad.
 About 10 minutes later the dinner was ready, we had loin of pork with roast and boiled potatoes, carrots and peas. For afters I made a rhubarb crumble, I had just about enough rhubarb in the garden. I washed the pots and pans and suggested that he did the Port and Lemon, he loves that then we went into the T.V. room where the computer is, he played a few games and one was Who wants to be a Millionaire. I surprised myself by getting to $16.000 but failed on the next question.
 A little after 2.30.pm. he decided to go back home, to be honest I was not sorry for I was very tired. I thought I must write this blog for leaving it would mean no blog.
 Let us hope the weather improves before too long, we have not seen the sun since last Thursday. Needless to say I have had to order some more LPG. I guess they are busy for I ran out last Friday and they can't deliver until this Friday. As I have an appointment with the Surgery on Friday I decided to pay by debit card. More soon.

Hand trouble.

On Thursday although the garden was very wet I decided to loosen and lift the soggy soil to help get rid of a little water. I worked on and off for about 4 hours. I did finish soon after 4.00.pm. About 4.30.pm. I had my evening meal as normal then settled down to watch T.V. mainly golf.
 About 7.30.pm. my left hand began to throb and swell also it was painful. I thought it was an attack of arthritis so I rubbed in some Ibuprofen gel but it made no difference. It was painful when I went to bed and to be honest didn't sleep a wink all night. About 4.30.am. I got up and took a couple of Paracetamols but that didn't alleviate the pain either. I got up at about 6.00.am. and couldn't use my left hand but I did manage to have a wash down and wash my hair, had a shave, electric shaver so that was alright. Had porridge and a coffee and settled down waiting for the Surgery to open. It turned out to be a waste of time because they didn't have any slots available to see a G.P. In fact they had nothing but did say if I wished to travel to Mablethorpe I could join the queue waiting to see a G.P. This i declined as driving was most difficult using mainly one arm, so off I went back home.
 It would be a few hours later when I thought about the Chemist, they have a Pharmacist there so off I went and asked if I could see the Pharmacist. A positive response was given and immediately the Pharmacist came, she suggested we go to her consulting room.
 I explained what had happened and she was concerned, as I have my prescription delivered from there to my home she had all the details of the medication I was on. She looked at my hand, it was the thumb and part of the palm that was most affected, she remarked how swollen and inflamed it was. I suggested that I had a hot water bottle on the hand so that perhaps that made it red. I then asked her if she could provide me with a stronger medication for the paracetamols that I had taken did not relieve the pain. She looked at my medication and told me that I had done the right thing with the Ibuprofen and that the medication I was on did not allow me to take Ibuprofen tablets but I must only apply the gel 3 times a day. She then told me she would let me have a stronger tablet and that she was going to write a letter and asked me if I was prepared to wait. I told her I would and thanked her for being so friendly she told me she also had enjoyed the meeting.
 Whilst I was waiting there are 2 seats available for those waiting for prescriptions I sat next to a Gentleman and we got talking, first I said to him that it was a cold wind despite the weathermen saying it was a beautiful day. He admitted telling me that he had a long haired Daschund that he took for a walk along the beach every day. I looked at him and suggested that it was not a cheap dog. He proffered £600 that was the cost but he told me it was just a pet to him and his Wife.
 Eventually I was called to the counter I was offered some tablets, I think the cost was £2.60 but she told me that I must only take them for 3 days only. So it was off to the Surgery with the letter, I gave the letter to the receptionist and immediately had an appointment for the first thing Monday morning.
 When I arrived back home my thoughts went to my Mother who well over 50 years ago fell down, she was disabled so didn't have a great balance. She put her left hand out to break the fall, unfortunately her had swelled up badly. Off she was taken to the Outpatients department where a Doctor saw her and let her know that it was painful but although it would be a lengthy process all would be well in the end. He gave her a little foam ball and told her that it would be painful to start but told her to squeeze it in the palm of her hand as often as she could, also adding that she keep her swollen hand on her shoulder because if she lowered her hand it would remain swollen. He also added that an appointment would be made for physiotherapy.
  The outcome was that it did take some time but eventually her hand was back to normal.
  I decided to try this out and, yes it was painful for a start only doing a dozen or so squeezing of the hand, I did notice that after it did seem to be a little less painful. I took my first tablet at 2.00.pm. and again at 4 hourly intervals until I went to bed.
 To be honest, I don't know if it is the tablets or the therapy I am doing that makes it far less painful. The swelling is still there though but if I lift it high the swelling does in fact go down a little.
 All in all, I am delighted that the pain has more or less gone, but it is telling me that we are mortal and we can't do what we used to do several years ago. More soon.

Washout.

As you can see, we have had rain from Good Friday until today, not constant rain but rain on and off for most of Saturday some rain but very cold for Sunday and on Monday even colder with the temperature not reaching 4c with heavy rain for most of the day. A lot of local football matches were postponed due to waterlogged pitches. Yesterday and today we have had showers.
 Even today in places my garden is still standing in water but tomorrow it has promised sunshine so hopefully it will give the garden to dry. It used to be a guide that on Good Friday the men would get into the garden or allotment and set the first early seed potatoes but this year it is not possible and I guess that the soil will not be ready for at least 2 weeks.
 yesterday I went to get my weekly T. V. listing and I was surprised to see that a local Caravan Site had quite a few touring caravans on their site. different to my Best Pal, he rung me up last wednesday asking me if I was in because he and his wife had arrived at the site the day before but they were going back home the following day. It had rained more or less all the time they were on site. I didn't ask him if it was a quagmire at his site.
 I do feel sorry for those Businessman who are at the Seaside for easter is the first opportunity for them to get some money in but this year it has been so very poor and the forecast did say it was going to be generally cold and wet.
 The lad shouted to me, I was in the garden, asking me if I would like to go round to the Carer's for a coffee . I went and let him in and showed him the results of the seeds he had set remarking that I would show him how to transplant them into pots for they are in a deep tray. He was surprised how much they had grown. I told him I would be round about 10.30.am. so off he went. I did change out of my working overalls and went round. The lad made me a coffee which was very nice, he knows how to make it for I make him make the coffee at mine. The Postman called whilst I was there and it turned out that her daughter in Australia had sent her some photos of then while she was there visiting. They were nice photos. Eventually the conversation turned to the garden and she told me her Husband had got some netting and proposed some more netting for the lad's bit of garden. I told her we would go and look at the netting, I was sure it was not suitable for stopping the butterflies from getting to the brussel and cabbage plants. Unfortunately I was correct, I did show her some fine netting that I had given to the lad and immediately she noticed the difference.
 Pigeon racing should start the weekend but she told me they would not be entering any birds because they had not been able to get the pigeons ready  in time. More soon.