Is there First Aid for Everything?

I had a go at using the dice, as I talked about last week, to decide which food mixer to buy. It was supposed to be a simple thing - odd numbers for one, even numbers for the other but for some reason it didn't work.  I just didn't like either one and it was back to the drawing board.
Sometime later I decided to spend the same amount of money on updating my 'Dragon'. Now most of you will know I am referring to the best voice recognition software on the market. I have used it for years and it has helped me a lot. When Anita is writing up a storm, it can be incredibly hard to keep up with her and  do everything else I need to do. Talking to my PC is a wonderful way to put thousands of words on the screen, and the more you do it the cleverer  it gets! Now both of us are writing I need even more help, plus typing is getting more and more difficult for these old fingers, not to mention the eyesight!

So I have been toying with the idea of getting a digital recorder, so I don't even have to be in the same room as my PC. Somehow this idea was triggered by the traumatic realisation that my PC might have a problem. (I didn't really get the connection either!) I went to turn it on on Saturday and nothing happened. Talk about panic stations!

The problem seemed to be the on-off switch on the stack, so I am bypassing that part thereby allowing said PC to go into sleep mode all by itself. This seems to work, although I suppose it will have to be fixed sooner or later, so I'm afraid the food mixer I will have to wait. I'm too busy to do much cooking anyway, which is a shame. (but something has to go, right?) 
I have since discovered that parts of Hampshire (where I live) were also having some kind of PC malfunction that day too, that forced some airports to stop planes taking off. I am not about to turn my PC off to see if it works now but I wonder if there was some kind of connection?


  I can't believe I'm nearly 70. How on earth did that happen? I certainly don't feel that old,  at least I didn't until my hip started complaining recently. I don't like getting pain for no particular reason, and usually know only too well why my knees, elbows or back hurt. If I have just spent the day in the garden, digging,  mowing the lawn or clipping the 40 foot hedge, I know I'm going to be in trouble the next day and I am never wrong!But just lately my hip has been complaining like hell and I don't know why. Doctor doesn't think it's  my hip but the sacro iliac joint. (whatever that is) Something about wear and tear and that I will have to live with it. Unfortunately the strong pain pills he gave me made me very giddy, so it looks like I really will have to live with it!

I find myself checking the age whenever I read about someone dying, checking whether I have beaten them (or not!)  What does that say about me? But I have always cherished the thought that I could go on forever, but maybe that is not a good idea after all and perhaps I will change my mind. Why on earth would you want to if you can't move around much any more?
Plus, I have a sneaky feeling that it's all going to be down hill from here.
  On a lighter note, I am reading Val Poore's book  'How to Breed Sheep, Geese and English Eccentrics' at the moment, and it is like a welcome burst of fresh air. Just when I needed to get away from PC malfunctions, pain, Christmas preparations and the eternal to-do list!
I started to read and suddenly the whole world shifted. It is pure unadulterated fun and you read with a smile on your face,  punctuated by a laugh a minute.

The adventure that Maisie, the main character is hell bent on having a go at, is something I have always wanted to do. Just to be given a list of all the possibilities she has always dreamed off would be a dream come true!
Is it possible that this story is autobiographical? It certainly reads like it.
Thank you Valerie for transporting me to the Elysium Fields of glorious writing!

How are all the Christmas preparations going? See you all next week...

Jay