Sunday, April 18, 2010

 

Keep on buying and running.

Sunday evening - it must be time for The Antiques Roadshow and falling asleep!
Yes, that is how it has just been.
We were in Dorking at about 7 o'clock.
At first the early start seemed pointless....we met Monika who commented exactly that.
And then we found the one elusive stall - the one that made it all worth while.
Old kitchenware is very popular - old being anything that is 1950s and earlier. So, therefore there is much that is being thrown out by grieving relatives after the death of an elderly Granny or Great Aunt.
But the previous owner of a lot of interesting kitchen items that I found today was very much alive; she was just clearing out.
And she was clearing out very cheaply.
I bought loads and loads and paid her £30.
It is just as well that I also bought a wooden book shelf that I have space for, which I can use to display an enlarged kitchenalia section.
There was also stuff that is for us to keep - CDs, DVDs, books for Ecky, a table cloth, a Past Times night shirt.
We were home for breakfast by 9 o'clock.
There was not time for sorting out my purchases.
We were due at the track for an athletics meeting in lovely warm sunshine.
I feel rather cut off from life at the club now - but that is our choosing, as we fill our lives with other things.
But I do enjoy doing a useful job and meeting up with old friends.
Today there were all too few old friends acting as officials.
I played with my camera whilst sitting up on the timekeeper's steps.
It is a good vantage point for people watching.


A general view of the track as athletes began to get ready for the start of the 400 metres.

Jim the starter.
Last year I was referring to him as Jim the plumber.
He fitted our new bathroom for us.

I had been showing the other timekeepers why the pull out screen on a camera is so important to me.
I took some pictures of the team, using that screen.
I held the camera pointing behind me, but could see what the lens was was seeing in the screen in front of me.
Here is Bill and Don.
Don has been a very good competitive distance runner in his time.


Gerry engrossed in his statistics.
We had electric timekeeping today and that gives the timekeepers a chance to work out just how accurate they have been - very important to some.
Maybe it is a good thing that it is not very important to me any more.
I don't think I was very good at all today.
When I say not very good, I mean that my error against the electric timing was, on average, more than 5 hundredths of a second. It is still good enough. But I do expect better!


This is Donna - always smiling and so willing to help. And so good to have somebody younger coming through.
When we first met we compared medical history.
Normally I can outdo most people in the medical history stakes - but I felt that Donna beat me hollow - though we both have had major problems.
Donna has had a liver transplant.
She told me today of a difficult winter with some long spells in hospital.
There have been attacks of jaundice and bad chemical imbalances in her body.
She is being monitored all the time of course. She was waiting for test results - she said if she has heard nothing by tomorrow evening then all is well until next time.
But during the afternoon her phone rang - it was Kings College Hospital in London.
They want her in hospital again and hoped to have a bed today or tomorrow.
Bless her - after a brief spell off the stand to talk with her daughter, she returned to work alongside me again.
She likes playing with cameras too.


Having got pictures of the other timekeepers - I decided there should be one of me too.
So, I took one of myself!


Here 2 track judges check the runners each lap during the 3Km race.
John is on the left and Ken is on the right.
Ken is amazing - aged well over 80, and catches trains all round Kent, Sussex and Surrey to be a track judge.

I also enjoyed people watching....
Here a mother and father wait at the finish for their lad to come in.

This toddler had been strutting around and playing for much of the afternoon and looking pretty. Then, suddenly it all got too much and she nodded off to sleep.
I know the feeling!
I think we both caught the sun just a little today. Bill is looking very rosy cheeked this evening.
I am just grateful that the sunshine is lending me a hand and wanting to help me boost my Vitamin D levels quite naturally.
The websites say that a good dose of sun for about half an hour on bare arms and face 3 times a week is a very valuable source of the elusive vitamin.
Nevertheless I shall be happy to accept an artificial boost on Wednesday.
I did look at the web sites again to see if Vitamin D deficiency might cause things like extremely sore tongue.
No - that is not the cause of a very draining sort of soreness that I have.
It is all along one edge of the tongue.
But coeliac disease can be a cause - amongst many causes.
But we know I only have a tendency not to tolerate wheat rather than a complete allergy or coeliac disease.
But as some other side effects of wheat are also apparent I think I must have another wheat free spell.
I will talk to Dr O about it on Wednesday.
Well, its off to Dorking again tomorrow.
It seems ages since we have been there on a Monday - we missed the last 2, firstly for Easter Monday and then Bill's hospital appointment.
I must pack a box with things in the morning for my shelves.

Keep on buying and running.
posted by Grandma P on Sunday, April 18, 2010