Diary summary 6th July 2025

[louisa maud]

What a difference in the weather, all we need now is rain

I have been to the local hospice  anniversary  fete today,  what a disappointment,  went to the sister one a few weeks ago and was disappointed in that as well,  a real shame so as a consequence  I only donated, I am sure they have missed a chance there to make a lot more money.

Out to a BBQ   at my daughters this evening, looks as if I need a coat and a brolly but I don't mind, this weather is more like I like, not the heat we have had recently.

LM

[Gillg]

Just returned from my nephew's wedding in Richmond (the one in London, for all you Yorkshire folks), which was both moving and exciting.  There were several different nationalities there, as the bride and groom met while working in the Middle East and the bride is of North African Arab descent, but who was born in France.  She wanted to wear the antique lace veil, which several generations of my family have worn, and somehow managed to incorporate it with a modern and very beautiful dress. 

Our nearly 4 hour journey was very easy, as we were taken by our daughter and husband in their new and spacious car.  The hotel was good and the wedding and reception restaurant were close together and not too far from the hotel, though we did take a taxi - not an Uber, which quoted a ridiculous price for the short journey.  On the advice of the hotel receptionist we used another similar company which charged us half the Uber price and was very efficient.

Back home I took advantage of one hour's free electricity (thanks, Octopus!) to put on the washing machine, and everything is now blowing nicely on the line.  Today is fine and windy, though not as hot as it has been recently.  For the wedding day we had warm sunshine, so all the pretty dresses looked lovely (and the men looked smart, too  .

[Viktoria]

Nice to read if people getting out and about to nice places .
Rainy day here after a mild sunny start.

At hospital yesterday and saw The Consultant after an ECG, she showed me the printout and pointed out all the irregular beats,some very fast and others slow,so a pacemaker to be fitted, I can’t remember just when  she said  that would be but I will get a letter ,hope it will not clash with grand daughter’s
wedding in August —- 23rd I think.

Had one of my very rare attacks of vertigo this morning ,my the room was spinning so quickly I nearly fell off!
Took an hour of lying totally still ,eyes closed ,before it subsided.
Not had that for a good few years .
No more trouble through the day .

Have been amazed at the reactions to the death of the young footballer and his brother,a great tragedy but the outbursts of grief have been huge .
Gosh ,who remembers Munich and Manchester United ?
Much grief but more quietly expressed, but that was then —-

Garden in full bloom ,roses and Astilbes out and quite a good few flowers,carnations and pinks , geraniums ,and big poppies too —- I grew those from seed ,from a neighbours’s plants, she gave me some seed heads.

I am wondering how I will manage as our contributor Gillig, who has just had a pacemaker has mentioned ,left arm cannot be raised for quite some time .
Hanging washing,washing hair etc

Plus and minus points discussed and I have said I probably will go for it .

Hope all are O.K.
 Thanks for the news .
Look after yourselves .
Viktoria.

[KGarrad]

Temperature expected to rise to 17c today.
Not warm, but not raining.

It's a croquet day today!
I am officiating at an annual match between Ramsey and Douglas - most players were in the Maritime Industry.
I am the Referee, Umpire, Coach and Handicapper!
Not allowed to play "because I am too good"!
Just because I have played in 5 World Championships?!

Tomorrow is our National Day - Tynwald Day. So a public holiday.
Hoping for warmer weather!

[Viktoria]

Well that is something to be proud of- why do we never see Croquet on T.V.?
I am fed up with tennis and the grunts, that never used to happen ,
I can remember Jarislav Drobney ,about 1954,in the finals, against Ken Rosewall or I think or Lew Hoad , I must look it up—- Drobney seemed like an elderly person (30ish) to we young sixth form teenagers so we were for him. We thought him so old he would never get another chance .
In fact he had a long and illustrious career after Wimbledon.
No grunts then!
Why do all main channels televise the same sports ?
Not everyone is interested in sport at all ,I do like rugby and Owen Farrell is back — all those sideways glances at the goalposts!
Cricket I can watch too ,wish I had seen Fred Truman  in person or even T,V.
there is  just one shot in a Dad’s Army episode - must search through old test match footage.

A very cool morning here, fairly bright but really chilly.

Tasmanian Chicken casserole for  tea,chicken cooked  in pineapple juice
and Soy sauce with Spring onions ,,black pepper,  add pineapple ( tinned) at the end .
Serve with rice and watercress .
You may need to thicken sauce with cornflour ,it should coat the ingredients.
About an hour in the oven(moderate)  if chicken cubed but if joints used
About another half hour .
I tend to overcook pork and chicken , my preference.

Well must get on ,not fed the fish yet, they will be knocking at the kitchen door!
No vertigo this morning but got up v e r y slowly.
Cheerio.Viktoria.

[Nanna52]

Viktoria how can you have missed seeing Firey Freddie Trueman?  I’m much younger than you and saw him play in Australia.  He was good and had a rather dry sense of humour.

[Viktoria]

Well we did live abroad for almost 12 years Jan 1965 - 1976 July.
I never had daytime T,V,well with three children ,one born there so eyes in the back of my head in the daytime so no   daytime TV, and whilst we could get one British channel in the evening I don’t remember cricket highlights .
My husband would have watched for sure.
We got Dad’s Army , the Belgian people loved that especially the titles when the little British arrows were poking across The Channel at the Big German ones —-
Not sure of Truman’s dates —-
Quite a character our Fred!—— well Yorkshire’s really but England’s too.
Viktoria.

[Gillg]

Viktoria
I hope you don't have to wait too long for your pacemaker.  I think it was probably about 18 months from the first meeting with the cardiologist to the actual fitting of mine.  So far so good, but I shall have to go back in 3 weeks time for them to check that all is working well. 

Yes, doing things single-handedly is difficult.  My daughter has been washing my hair for me and I had a salon wash and blow dry last week before going to my nephew's wedding, which looked very smart, I'm told.  Showering is tricky and getting things from a high shelf, too.  I do have to remind myself not to raise the arm above shoulder height.  Even dressing can be problematic, and I am constantly searching my wardrobe for front-fastening blouses and dresses, but the six weeks will soon pass, I tell myself, and then I can put things on over my head again.

Take it easy, Viktoria. It's quite frightening to have these dizzy and fainting spells. 

[Jebber]

GillG  I sympathise with your problem having to do everything single handed lay, it took me ages to recover from my last bad fall, being right handed it was particularly difficult having to do everything with my left hand. At least I can now wash my hair in the shower and I can reach up to the middle shelf in the kitchen cupboards now but not to lift anything heavier than a tea plate in or out..


Viktoria I'm sure you do too much, you are always so busy you should learn to take things a little easier. When you get up from sitting or a reclined position you should stand still then stamp your feet a couple of times to steady your blood pressure.

I am fed up with all the sports on television, there has been so much of it knocking other things off their normal schedule.  They should have dedicated channels for sports, there are enough channels showing old repeats not just once but the same things several times.  I appreciate that a lot of people watch sports but there are many like me who have no interest in it. My late  husband was into athletics I was  happy to go and cheer him on or watch that on television but I drew the line at boxing. I said I would only marry him if he gave up boxing, I felt rather mean but was but was not prepared to be always worrying what injuries he would come home with. Fortunately he understood and quit immediately.

We did take our boys to watch the England team training when Bobby Moore was captain, they were at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin preparing for a match against West Germany 1976, we were living in Berlin at the time.