I hate the sound of

Apparently there are people - 1 in 5 in fact - who cannot abide the sound of other people's eating. The sound of chewing, slurping, sniffing, even breathing, can drive them into a rage. It's not just finding it annoying; it's having to leave a room, or being scared to catch a train in case the person who takes the seat next to you is 'noisy'.

It's called misophonia, this hatred of particular noises. 

If Husband and I have three children, and statistically it's 1 in 5 that should mean one of us could be a sufferer. I've never knowingly met anyone with  it. Have you?

Hmm, also apparently sufferers aren't taken seriously, and others treat their condition as a joke, deliberately slurping extra noisily.

How have I lived so long and never heard of this before?

And now Husband is blaming me because his suggested reads on google feature parsnip recipes. It's a cunning ploy by those fiendishly cunning Welsh parsnip growers, I tell you.

Oh yes, I knew there was something else.

Mini has different modes of driving settings. You can have normal, exciting, and green. I've been using the Green one recently. The main difference is that it encourages me to change up a gear sooner than I would normally. I think it's a petrol-saving plan but I wouldn't swear to that.

Anyway if I'm not driving in a green way it puts little pictures on the dashboard. Hang on and I'll draw them for you. The top one, I suppose, is self-explanatory. I'll leave you to work out what the other one means. I have no idea.

Not defeated

I have finally arranged for a carpet fitter to come and measure up the stairs and landing, and to bring some of the samples I chose as well. Husband has been nagging me for a change!

I visited the local carpet shop this morning and was overwhelmed as usual. I have no clear idea and I'm not that fussy about carpets, which means I see hundreds - literally - that I like. In which case it should be easy to chose one, shouldn't it?

While I was in Mumbles Husband took the winter cover off the swimming pool, and has started cleaning it ready for summer - whenever that comes. The water is currently 12 degrees. Way too cold for me. Did you know that when people say that cold water swimming is good for your health they mean temperatures below 5 degrees. Which quickly wipes from my mind any lingering idea that it might be a good thing to do.

We managed to time our walk so it coincided with a light shower of rain. I put up my hood but Husband does love his brolly - and kept poking me with it. George decided he wasn't wet enough and cooled himself down a bit more.

Guess who won't be going in the lounge today?

But the rain has not deterred the first of the wild roses on the tip. battered but not beaten.

A bit like buses

Nothing for ages then two come at once. In this case two posts on my website blog. In the latest one I'm doing a bit of book reviewing.

Find out:

why I stopped reading Queenie;

what annoys me about the Fethering mysteries;

which book, that I highly recommend this week, is also recommended by Malala Yousafzai and Dolly Parton.

An old ruin and Granny

I finally have a new post on my author website blog. I have been shockingly lax about writing and I'm trying to pull my self together. Or should that be myself?

Yesterday would have been my mother's 100th birthday and my post commemorates that.

In other news, yesterday we took two of the grandchildren to Gnoll (pronounced Noll) Country Park. It's a large area with a lake, woods, old ruins, playgrounds and café. I don't think I've ever seen so many tadpoles all together as we saw on the edges of the lake. It's a bit late for them as well.

The playground for younger children has specially adapted swings and roundabouts for wheelchair users. I've not seen them anywhere else locally. It also has pipes for banging, although they did seem more attractive to the grown-ups than the children.

A bit like these only bigger

Last night Swansea City Football Club managed to play their way into the Play-offs final at Wembley next weekend. If successful they will be promoted to the Premier League with the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea. It means a huge increase in income (mostly from television rights I think) but they've struggled a bit this season, so promotion might prove a bit embarrassing.

Sadly the current owners of the club seem more interested in making a profit from their investment than they are in doing the best for the club i.e. investing more money in players and development. Okay, that's the limit of my football knowledge, but I thought I should record this possibly exciting event for our city.

On to something I know more about: grandchildren. The other local ones called in this afternoon. It's always lovely to see them though GrandDaughter1, at eleven, now comes up to my eyebrows. They grow up so/too quickly.

And that's about it. I have bolognese sauce bubbling away on the stove ready for dinner, while Husband simmers away in the bath. 

Oh yes, I nearly forgot: this last week saw Swansea have its first riot! At least it's the only one I recall in my lifetime. It wasn't on the scale of big city rioting but it made the BBC news. I'm not sure of the details, but apparently it was supposed to be a vigil for a recently deceased young man, that somehow was waylaid by troublemakers. But I could have got that wrong.

The good thing was the way the neighbourhood turned out to clean up, and all the offers of help on social media the following day. There are still many more good people than bad in the world.

Don't lose your parsnips

After a period of forcing myself to persevere with learning Welsh I have picked it up with enthusiasm again. I think it's because I seem to be getting the hang of it. Not the mutations of course. I keep telling myself they'll become automatic in time, but currently it's largely vocabulary I'm learning. Or forgetting if you prefer.

Now I might have mentioned this before but I am convinced the Duolingo Welsh course is sponsored by the Welsh Parsnip Growers Association. I can think of no other reason for their preoccupation with the vegetable that is an acquired taste I think.

The course is a mixture of listening, reading and translating. I'm better at reading than listening so when I struggle to translate a spoken sentence I try to work out logically, from my known vocabulary, what a word might be.

So I listened to this sentence being read - Mae Owen wedi colli'r pannas mewn gem - and tried to work out what it might be that Owen would have lost in a game. I did not think for one minute that he would have lost the parsnips. 

Similarly I didn't expect the Welsh rugby team to eat Owen's parsnips before the game.

In future, if in doubt, I will guess at parsnips.

Incidentally, yesterday, being unable to settle to what I wanted to do, I continued the never-ending job of filing photos. All my filing system was lost at some point so all I have is the Google collection of photos by date. Every time I want to find an old photo I have to go through hundreds. So yesterday afternoon I carried on copying, naming, and deleting photos. All afternoon - and I only managed to do 2004 and 2005.

However it is rather nice to find an old glamorous photo when you're feeling older, fatter, and rather less gorgeous!

From 2005

Answering PipeTobacco's question

Sunday went fine as did Tuesday when I was leading bible study. The day after I've led a study or something I sort of flop, in relief. Basically prepping and flopping is pretty much all I've been doing for the last few days. 

Except exercise class and cooking cakes yesterday, and having grandchildren for tea. Yum yum.

But today I've already delivered food and cake to Zac's, and written a letter to the Health Secretary questioning him about money allegedly spent on PPE that was useless. Yes, I'm impressed too.

I was also thinking about a number of other things that I need/want to do, but, at this moment, feeling I need a good shake to get myself doing them. And I can't be bothered.

The weather isn't helping. It is, as the weatherman forecast, wild and windy today. I wonder what has happened to summer. We are usually approaching the end by late June but this year it hasn't begun at all. Really hope this means the school holidays in August will have good weather for a change.

Oh yes, PipeTobacco asked about Zac's and the sort of church it is. Christian, obviously, like Linden, but neither fit into any denomination.

Let me think.

Linden Church, congregation probably about one hundred, main meeting Sunday mornings, also has meetings in houses during the week, and prayer meetings. Also has a community arm, which includes dementia choir, prison work, youth work, and refugee support. Main Sunday meeting takes the form of  worship (singing), prayers, speaker. That's a very loose explanation.

Church at Zac's. A small group of people who meet on a Tuesday evening for bible study, prayer, and mutual support. Some of those who attend also belong to other churches. Others have been damaged by their previous church experience or just wouldn't fit in with an 'ordinary' church for one reason or another. Currently Zac's covers Thursday and Friday in the city rota for providing lunch for the vulnerable. In non-Covid times, breakfast is served every day for the homeless, and there is coffee bar on Thursdays. Plus a second-hand clothes and essentials (toiletries) bank. 

A Big Day

Tomorrow I'm going to be reading a piece I wrote about Zac's during the Linden Church zoom service.

Although I've been sitting in on the zoom meetings for a few months it's the first time I'll have been actually involved so it's quite a big thing for me. Jared who's speaking asked me to read my piece to tie in with what he's saying and I was honoured and delighted to say yes.

But. There is history.

I went to Linden Church for many years. I worked as Administrator there for a number of years. But then I wrote to the leadership team saying I was taking time out. They read that as me leaving, so I did.

The reason I gave in my letter was that I wanted to concentrate on Zac's but the truth was that each Sunday morning I was looking for an excuse not to go. Not a healthy place to be, but I've enjoyed going to the zoom meetings for a number of reasons. If it gets boring I can go on FaceBook or just leave. At the end I don't have to stay and chat I can just leave. Are you starting to get the picture?

Before the funeral last week I was talking to someone who said how much they'd missed being with people since lockdown; I said it had made me realise that I wasn't awfully keen on people in general.  

It was never the people as such that drove me away from Linden. One or two people maybe but on the whole they're very lovely people. It's not them, it's me.

So, anyway, that's why tomorrow is going to be quite a big day for me. Not exactly back in the fold but a step closer maybe.

 

Giddy-up horsey

So this week, Alfie Porsche (30 years old) failed his MOT and needed welding (and more bodywork needs doing.

Husband's bike (30 years old) needs parts and there's a worldwide shortage - plus there is more wrong than he realised, and a new one might be cheaper.

Plumber got hot water working again but pointed out that spares are no longer available for our boiler (only 20 years old) and we need to think about getting a new boiler before winter.

Woman who wanted the pushchair didn't turn up. (She said she'd forgotten.)

It's been one of those weeks.

But on the plus side we had a lovely walk yesterday in Clyne with one lot of grandchildren. (Photos focus on the greenness of the park.)

And today we had another lovely walk with another lot of grandchildren up a big hill, with lots of bluebells, and down a golf course. GrandSon4 used my scarf as reins for his horse (me) and we galloped across the greens. Or rather around the edge: we didn't want to get by flying golf balls.

A little bit of rain didn't deter us.

Unusual happenings

1. Husband reports that there's no hot water. I am not worried because Husband can always fix things. Soon after he comes in and says the plumber is coming later today. I am amazed that a) Husband cannot fix it; and b) he can get hold of a plumber who is actually available. 

2. I put a pushchair on FaceBook marketplace, asking £45. The only respondent is keen but offers £30. My usual response would be to say, 'Okay,' but I barter, '£35?' She agrees. I never ever barter.

Today is a day of surprises.

P.S. Plumber has arrived maybe an hour after being phoned. I don't think I can cope with any more of these happenings.

A necessity of life

Spent a lovely half hour in the library this morning. So much choice - and all free*! I don't understand why the library isn't always packed. Although I'm glad it's not.

I apologise to authors whose books were on the bottom two shelves: my thighs hurt to much to crouch down and peruse.

After I'd saying I'd just pick two or three, I came home with five. A mix of favourites and try-outs.

Have you read any of them?

After the library I went to the Post Office where I was served by a lovely gentleman. He looked as though he might have been a retired postmaster who was just doing the odd day as he was very careful and slow, and making sure he was getting everything right. He was lovely and quite a change from PO counter assistants of old who all seemed to have attended the same training school as doctor's receptionists.

Grandchildren coming for tea (in the garden - let's hope the rain holds off) this afternoon so will make a lemon drizzle cake now I think.

* I know libraries aren't actually free: we pay for them with our rates. But really if we're paying for them that's all the more reason to use them.