Highly Charged

Peterborough Cathedral

I recently swapped my car for an all electric one. Most of my trips are local and when I am back on two legs I will be doing lots of cycling so I figured that getting my car charged would not be an issue. The car came with two charging leads, One lead plugs into the normal three-pin plug and the other one is a big nozzle that slips into a dedicated socket. 

I have paid for the installation of a socket three times and have been refunded twice so far, and I have had the car a month. Toyota told me to use Hive. Hive use contracted installers. I am now in touch with two different installers as well as Hive and I am still a little unsure whether either of the installers will actually get round to agreeing to fit the socket for me. Errr. 

I have tried the ordinary socket. Charging using this, takes far too long but at least I have that to fall back on. I have even had personal instructions from the garage I got the car from on how to top up my car. Toyota gave me a credit card that I now realise only works on certain charging points. I am still yet to identify one in the area. That is my first hurdle. 

The second hurdle - and you might think me a bit dopey here - I went to a couple of charge points without having my own lead with me. It took me two goes to realise that I needed to keep  my own lead in the car. So homeward I went, panicked and plugged my car into my home supply overnight. The milk van ran over the extension socket and smashed it. Now the charging lead is almost totally joined to the socket and I don't have the strength to unleash it! Despite all this, I managed to add about 40 miles to my charge. 

A couple of days later I went to Tesco to charge my car. I then had to download a POD app, add cash to the app and faff around to get the charge going. A man pulled up next to me and asked for help. I told him it was my first time as well and that I had even tried to do this without my own lead. He laughed. He got his lead out of the car and found it had an ordinary plug on the end. I laughed. He left. Smugly, I went off to get a bit of shopping. I got back to find the car hadn't charged at all. I think I didn't push the socket in far enough to make the connection. Another errr. 

So now I have two ways to pay for charging. POD and Toyota. The Toyota app doesn't tell you which garages to use - silly. Off I went to a bog-standard petrol garage, used my credit card and got 30 minutes super charge where the built in plug on the charging machine has an extra connection on it. I am good to go once more. No wonder people don't want to swap to EV. All the things that have happened to me are not in the instruction manual. 

I offered to take Diane and Jeremy up to Peterborough to see the Mary Queen of Scots exhibition in the cathedral on Saturday. Jeremy drove so I didn't get the chance to drive my car a distance. I was blown away by the architecture of the cathedral, cloisters and surrounding area in the town. There is even a lido there. I love Peterborough. 

Dodgy-looking mannequin with no hands!

However, the exhibition  in the cathedral was disappointing on a number of points. It was far too wordy and didactic. We just stood and read reams of words. The mannequins were poor and there were too many spelling errors! So what did I learn? Well, there were far too many Marys in the story. Not enough background was explained as to why Mary Queen of Scots was important and why she was executed. 

Fortunately, I have read up on this fascinating time in British history and say it was really a "battle" for which religion would take hold in Britain at that time - Catholicism or Protestant. Mary made too many bad decisions along the way or had those decisions made for her  - three  husbands of which two were dodgy; a few murders, plots and conspiracies, and moving to England set her up as a proxy for getting a catholic monarch once again on the English throne so she ended up losing her life at 44 at the hands of her cousin, Queen Elizabeth - a protestant.

Me lurching on crutches.. all photos thanks to Diane 

   

Progress

My life on a sofa! That should be the real title of this blog and at times I really do get itchy feet to do more. Yesterday, I decided to bake just in case someone came round. That meant I'd be on my feet in the kitchen doing something different - an opportunity to get excited. When you are mostly on one leg small things make a big difference. My Ninja food processor didn't work. Argh... I spent twenty minutes grating carrots by hand. I remember buying the processor from John Lewis and the sales lady telling me the "Magimix" would last a lifetime. At my age, that didn't seem like a big sales point so I bought a much cheaper model from Ninja. It worked well until it didn't. I now realise this was one of my bad buys. I have had it for just four years having out-lived it already.

I have been able to carry a coffee cup around for some time now. This was a big progress marker the last time when I had my right leg operated on. I don't even think about it. I just pick up the cup and walk. Yay! I can even stand up in the shower too. As the days pass, I notice how much more I am capable of doing as each day passes and that is a real boost. I have visited the orchard and I have been out doing some volunteer teaching as well as toddling round the supermarket. Luckily, Naser was on hand to bring the shopping in to the kitchen as I reckon that would have been beyond my current capability. I still need crutches. 

In my garden, the summer drought stressed my tree so much that large branches fell off. I am now contemplating getting the ladder out to neaten up the tree. What could go wrong? I have already booked a slot at the local recycling centre for next week to clear and clean up the garden. It might take me twice the time it should and I'm prepared for that. I am looking forward to doing so much more. Watch this space.

While I have been on the sofa, I have occupied myself. I am cracking on apace with the sequel to Beneath the Regime. Its working title is  From the Rubble and tells the story of Naser's dilemma. Syria is struggling to get back on its feet after thirteen years of conflict. He wants to help rebuild the country he loves but where do you start when the country is rubble? Every time I research a point that comes out of our discussions I realise how complex the issues are in that region and how hard it is hard to bring coherence to the story when there are so many different players. Again, Watch this space. 

What happens when you sit on a sofa

When I am not tapping away on the keyboard, I am crocheting. So far, I have made gloves for Ezra-Mae, a jumper for Mattaya, plus other bits and bods; and I am building a collection of multi-coloured squares to make something, as yet, undefined. All this I am doing so I can keep myself occupied. 

From my sofa, I am connected to the big, wide world. I listen to the radio and get angry about the goings on in the world. I almost laugh at Trump's outbursts but  then remember he is dangerous and not a comedian. I promise you I will be dancing if he does badly in the mid-terms. I am also getting through books too. I almost don't have enough time for anything else. Isn't it amazing how we can be busy doing almost nothing!

In search of a van

St Guthlac's Church

The Fish and Chip van comes to my village on a Friday evening. On google there is a website with the van timetable, and backing this information up, Diane and Jeremy saw the said van when they drove into the village. So with crutches at the ready, we set off for the first stop to buy fish and chips assured it would be parked there. No van! I had lurched my way with determination and speed to the first stop. I just had to do more lurching. We walked to the second stop. The van overtook us while we were walking towards the stop. Where it had been hiding,  God knows. All I can say is that I certainly got my exercise in before tucking into the fish and chips. 

By the time I had got to the second stop, I had almost done my village circuit. The village isn't very big so one trip round isn't a big deal, even on crutches. The biggest challenge getting round the village is shuffling up the slope that leads out of the Horse Tunnel. I walk up that bit like a crab. As soon as I could put my foot down, I started getting out and about. It is such a joy to be mobile but I have eased off on the walking as my wound still bleeds a little and my ankle swells up so I know I am doing too much now I have the freedom to walk with a boot. Silly me!

Life suddenly became so much easier when I had a boot fitted last week. I can put weight on my leg and with just one crutch, I can get up and down stairs and walk around the house provided I have the boot on. Without a boot I can't do much at all still. Life was so much better the first time I found I could carry a coffee cup and sit comfortably to drink it instead of propping myself on a stall in the kitchen. Getting things done is still a bit of a faff but that won't be for ever. Things are looking up already.

The doctor told me my scar was healing nicely. He also suggested a G&T would act as a mild painkiller. Who am I to go against doctor's orders?  It is surprising that this is not available from a pharmacy. I have been to the supermarket and got round without a wheelchair. My big embarrassment on that trip was the result of a sartorial blip. I went shopping wearing a slipper. I am sure there must have been a few glances my way sympathising with the poor old dear on crutches where house slippers. At least I had changed out of my jimjams. 

The Barley Mow is now under new ownership and it opens on Thursday. Today they posted the new menu on FB. Sausage and mash costs £19. I can only imagine how big those sausages must be if they cost that much. The new menu looks like it is a Harvester Style one. - Errrr. Already, my hackles are up. It doesn't look like this is going to be the popular village pub it was two weeks ago. Worse still, Richard, Jim and Ezra-Mae went to The Galleon, the next pub along on the Canal from the Barley Mow, where they ordered a lunch that never turned up. You would think the landlord would be rather apologetic for this  - absolutely not. He was rude and abusive. Just the sort of customer service everyone should avoid. 

On a happier note, I went to St Guthlac's Church Open Day yesterday. It is a small church that has a big history in a hamlet near me. I hobbled across a field where I parked the car and lurched through the gravelly graveyard to visit the building. There is a proud association with the English Civil War, especially so now they have found a 22 foot pike that dates back to the Civil War. After an enjoyable visit, I then popped into Stony Stratford to cash a cheque which I forgot to take with me. Duh! 

I am looking forward to getting back to swimming. Last time, I felt this was key to my speedy recovery. Perhaps it will get my brain working too. I seem to have done some pretty daft things lately.