Review of the year 2013

It's that time again when many of us take some time to look back at the year that has been.  2013 has been a difficult year for me, but I'm still going to do the annual review, so here goes...

1. What has been your biggest achievement this year?  Probably just surviving it.  It's been tough in many different ways, and there were lots of times when I really doubted that I would get through.  I'm still alive, and I reckon that's a huge achievement for this year.

2. What made you laugh most this year?  Hmm ... I've had some good laughs with friends, particularly R and M.  Other than that, probably (repeats of) the TV show 'Miranda'.  Oh, and I went to see Eddie Izzard earlier in the year too, and he was very funny.
3. What unfulfilled hopes do you have for this past year?  I really wanted to get my book about my asthma finished, but I had a long, long time this year when I wasn't able to write at all.  I've done a bit to add to it, but not enough.
4. What has been your favourite/most listened to piece of music this year?  Hmm, tricky ... Probably not one single piece of music.  I've gone back to listening to a lot of church choral music this year, maybe because I've done more singing again.  I miss taking part in that kind of music, making the music, but I do love listening to it, so I've listened to a lot of CDs of excellent church/cathedral choirs singing anthems and canticles.
5. What was your best holiday this year?  I've only had one holiday this year - when I went to Dorset, with stop-offs on the way and way back at Stratford and Derbyshire.  It was excellent, and revitalising. 
6. What new skill, if any, have you acquired this year?  I'm not sure that I have.  I'll have a think and get back to you if I come up with anything, but I'm not sure there's anything.
7. What's the best book you've read this year?  Oh gosh.  I usually read a lot, but for much of this year I found it very difficult to concentrate on reading so I've only read about eight books!  However, the best of those was probably 'Tuesdays with Morrie' by Mitch Albom.  It's a memoir based around Mitch Albom's weekly meetings with his old university professor who now, twenty years after their first meeting, is dying.  It's a moving book, with both sadness and joy, but always full of life.
8. What has been the biggest challenge of this year?  Depression and the various reasons behind it, but particularly one very difficult situation that I haven't been able to write about on my blog, but that had repercussions through many aspects of my life.  In some rather complicated ways it got kind of tangled up with physical health stuff as well as depression, but things are at last settling.
9. What is your happiest/fondest memory of this year?  Despite the year's difficulties, I've been extremely lucky to have the friends I do, and my fondest memories of this year are those of fabulous friends who have shown me such love and gentleness, often at times when I was at my lowest.
10. Of what one creation of the past year are you most proud or pleased? I'm pretty pleased with some of the writing I have managed to do for my book, maybe in part because it's been so challenging to write, but if we're thinking of more artistic creations then I guess the piece of glass that I made at a glass workshop in November.  So far as skill is concerned, there was very little in it, but I know the frame of mind I had been in the morning of that day, how insecure and incapable I'd been feeling.  I got the fired pieces back just before Christmas, and I'm really pleased with the main piece that I spent most of the workshop working on.
11. What new hobby did you take up/old hobby did you reinstate this year?  Singing.  Actually, that's not strictly true, because I helped to start up Flotsam (the choir) at the end of 2012, but I've kept at it this year, despite the hospital admissions and various health problems.  This year I also took part in the Christmas choir at church, which I haven't done for about three years.  We don't usually have a choir at the church I go to, but every year at Christmas those of us who want have six or seven rehearsals in the weeks running up to Christmas and 'perform' at the service of Nine Lessons and Carols.  It was lovely to be a part of that again.
12. What one thing would you really like to do next year?  Finish writing my book about my asthma.
13. What was the saddest thing of this year?  There has been a lot of sadness this year.  One was at the beginning of the year when my dad had to move in to a care home; another, just a few short weeks ago, was the death of my wonderful friend Caroline.
14. What has been your best discovery of this year?  Probably the company Good Wine Online who specialise in sulphite-free and low-sulphite wines.  I'm extremely allergic to sulphites and have missed having a glass of wine, because sulphite-free wines are practically impossible to find in the shops.  I was very, very lucky to be given a case of twelve bottles of wine from GWO from my brother and sister-in-law for Christmas.
15. What news story of this year has had the biggest impact on you/do you most remember?  Gosh, a year of many news stories, with many of them being of particular note.  Possibly the two international news stories that I most remember are 1) The chemical weapons attack on the children in Syria; and 2)  The gunmen's siege of the shopping centre in South Africa.  Having said that, the news of Nelson Mandela's death was also significant.  I think a lot of the news stories about freak weather events, both abroad and in the UK, have also had a big impact on me - things that no-one can prevent and have potential to affect all regardless of status or wealth.  There seem to be increasing numbers of wild weather events causing widespread devastation.
16. What's the best film you've seen this year?  Another year when I haven't seen even half of the films I've wanted to see.  I've yet to see Philomena or Gravity, both of which or on my list to see before it's too late.  Perhaps the best film I saw this year was Les Miserables.
17. What was your best buy this year?  I think that has to be my Ugg boots.  Obviously I didn't get much wear from them through the summer, but they were great through the very cold spring and excellent again now.  My mum helped me buy them, and they were at her suggestion after I got frostbite in three of my toes in my left foot in February (actually, the night I went to see Les Miserables at the cinema).  My big toe has never fully recovered, and the circulation in my feet seems to be pretty poor, but the Ugg boots certainly help to keep my feet cosy.
18. What has been your best day out this year?  I was thinking about this in bed earlier today, trying to think of days out that I've had, and you know, they've been rather few and far between this year.  I had a nice day out with my brother, Dad, and step-mum around Easter time (I think my brother came up on his own, without his wife or children).  We went to Belsay and had a walk/trundle through the quarry garden to the castle.  Other than that, the other day/part-day out that sticks out was the glass workshop I mentioned earlier.
19. If there’s one thing you did this year that you’d do differently if you could, what would it be?  There was a misunderstanding and over-reaction (on my part) that led to an argument with an online friend.  It was resolved relatively quickly with the person it was actually with, but someone else jumped in on the act and raised it again months later.  If I could change that initial argument, misunderstanding, and over-reaction, I would.
20. Is there anywhere you'd like to visit next year?  Yes, there's a place nearby that opened almost two years ago, but to which I haven't yet been and want to.  It's a sculptured landscape called Northumberlandia and is only about 20 minutes drive away so I really don't have any excuse.
21. Name one thing you did this year that you'd like to do again?  The glass workshop.  Once I let go of the mangle of stuff in my head that day, I had a wonderful time and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I know that I will do it again because I got a voucher for Christmas from my step-dad for a full day's workshop at the same place :o)
22. Who gave you the best advice this year?  My psychologist.  She's given me lots of advice, or at least helped me to find my own advice, seeing as that's how therapy kind of works.  Actually, one of the best pieces of advice she did clearly give me was to share with my friends that I was depressed.  I was distancing myself from people, from my friends, in the fear that they'd distance themselves from me if they knew that I was depressed.  S made me realise the paradox in this and helped me to question the helpfulness of my action.  She suggested I tell some of them.  I have been blessed with wonderful friends who have embraced me in my depression and loved me through it.  I know it's not easy for them, but they've stayed with me all the same.  I thank God for them, and I thank S for her advice.
23. What new skill would you like to acquire next year?  I've forgotten the scraps of crochet that I learnt last year, but I'd like to learn to do it, and this time properly.  I need to persevere with it once I've started, and really acquire it as a skill.
24. What was your favourite TV/radio programme this year?  Broadchurch  I think I missed the first episode, but I saw the second with my mum and J when they were staying with me for a couple of days.  I got completely sucked in to it and loved it.  I was ridiculously excited when I discovered that West Bay, near where I went on my holiday, was where Broadchurch was filmed.  Fab.  Can't wait for a second series.
25. What would you like to make more time for next year?  Writing.  I have lots of time.  In many ways, far too much time, but I need to make sure that I dedicate a decent amount of that time to writing.  I need to stop thinking about it and just do it.  I need to stop talking about it and just do it.  I just need to do it.
26. What has been the biggest disappointment this year?  Most of the year has been a huge disappointment, and perhaps the resurgence of depression has been one of the biggest disappointments.  Some of the causes of some of that depression have maybe been bigger disappointments, but I suppose that ultimately I've been hugely disappointed in myself.  I have lost direction and lost some of myself, and that is an enormous disappointment.
27. What was the best or most enjoyable concert you went to this year?  Nigel Kennedy He's an odd chap, but a fantastic violinist, and his concert was amazing.  A huge mix of straight baroque, jazzed up baroque, and jazz, with a big eastern European influence at times.
28. What do you think was the best thing that you did for yourself during the last year?  Stood my ground when I needed to, even though it was incredibly difficult.  I sought the help that I needed to stand my ground, and to get through the protracted aftermath of it.  It was terrible in many ways, but has also been a huge relief - a step to getting myself back.
29. What is the biggest difference in yourself from this time last year?  I'm no longer in an abusive situation and I'm finding my way through the damage that was done.
30. What are you most looking forward to about next year?  Time with friends and time with family.  It's both my mum's and step-dad's 70th birthdays next year, and between the two they're having a joint birthday week away with all the family.  There's going to be immediate family like myself, my brothers, and my step-dad's brothers, but also extended family of my step-dad's nephews and their families.  I think various people will be coming and going through the week, but there's going to be one day of particular celebration when all those who can only come for the day will join us.  I'm really looking forward to the time away and the time with family.

Christmas and all that jazz

In case you haven't noticed, it's Christmas time.  Well, it's been Christmas and now we're in that limbo time between Christmas and New Year, during which I have done a whole lot of nothing.  It's been prescribed nothingness because I've got some collapsed vertebrae (i.e. compression fractures in the spine) in my lower spine.  It's another side effect of the long-term high-dose steroids I take for my lungs.

I first had back pain in August/September, but didn't think much of it.  Then a couple of weeks ago I suddenly had excruciating pain that was making my legs feel weird - kind of tingly and achy all at once - and some weakness in left leg.  I thought maybe I'd pulled something so waiting until the next day to go to my GP, thinking that maybe a good night's sleep would help.  Only I didn't get a good night's sleep, and half way through the next day I decided that I probably should see my doc.  When I did at last see him he sent me straight up to A&E, which was rather a surprise because I hadn't thought that back pain would warrant an A&E trip.  X-rays apparently showed vertebral wedging and compressed vertebrae, and the A&E doc decided that I needed to have an urgent MRI, though thankfully not so urgent that I needed to be kept in.  It turns out that a request for an urgent MRI can take several weeks, but I got my appointment through the other day, weirdly for next Sunday at stupid o'clock in the morning.

So I've spent the majority of the festive season flat on my back dosed up on Tramadol.  Unfortunately Tramadol and alcohol are a bad combination, so I've had to skip the meds on the days I've wanted a drink, like Christmas Day.  I don't usually drink much alcohol, but I have to say that I did make an exception this Christmas, although it was spread throughout the day.

Despite essentially having a broken back, I had a lovely Christmas Day.  I've usually gone to my mum's in Edinburgh for Christmas, but this year she and my step-dad spent it with one of my brothers and his family down south, so I went to my good friends R and M.  Just to be clear, I was invited; I didn't just turn up and say, 'Hi, I'm spending the day with you, and by the way, happy Christmas' ;o)  R and M picked me up around 11am, and as previously arranged, we were all in our Christmas pyjamas for a truly comfortable Christmas Day :o)  When we arrived back at R and M's it wasn't long before we got stuck in to the enormous spread of cheese and biscuits and wine.  Mmmmmmmmm cheese.....  I think it's fair to say that we stuffed ourselves.

Once we could move again, or rather, once R could move again - about six hours later - she started on the Christmas dinner.  As my main contribution to the shared meal, I'd bought the turkey, but R did amazing things to it (nothing weird!  Just tasty things like soaking it in brine and spices for 24 hours prior to cooking, as per a Nigella recipe) to make it exceptionally tasty and succulent.  Ahh, it was delicious!  Oh yeah, we had all the usual turkey trimmings too, but it was an hour and half later that any of us were able to squeeze in a slither of my mum's Becky-friendly Christmas cake.  In fact, it probably would have been longer if time hadn't been an issue, but my taxi was due at 11pm, so it was then or never (or more likely, Boxing Day), and seeing as we hadn't opened the Baileys it seemed rude not to wash down the cake with a large glass of the creamy stuff each :o) hic!

So that's an outline of my Christmas Day.  A very relaxing day with friendship, food, alcohol, presents (yes, we had a time of presents too, obviously), chat, laughs, Doctor Who, cheese, santa hats, pyjamas, fun, and lying around on the sofa.  Yes, I'm rather afraid that I hogged one of their sofas (sorry R and M), but I was only obeying doctors' orders, and neither or them seemed to mind ... or at least, they didn't say they minded...

Anyway, Christmas Day was lovely.

I've had a very, very quiet time since then, having done very little indeed.  I've needed it to be like that, if I'm honest, although it's also a bit lonesome at times, and definitely boring.  I've caught up on some of my TiVo recordings, cuddled the cat a lot, slept a lot (thanks to the Tramadol), read a bit, tried not to think too much about most of the year that has been (although I will be doing so in the next day or two for my annual Review of the Year), and enjoyed the Christmas decorations.

My mum and step-dad are coming down to stay for a few days over New Year.  R and M are coming on New Year's Eve too :o)  It'll be another cheese fest with wine, chat, and maybe some games, but generally low-key.  I'm looking forward to seeing Mum.  For all that I had an excellent Christmas Day, I did miss Mum too.  She and J were only going to stay until Friday, but since I got my MRI appointment for Sunday, Mum's offered to stay until after that and come to it with me :o)  We won't get any results then - they'll take two to three weeks to get back to my GP (oh, and they're checking for disc, nerve, and spinal cord involvement) - but it'll still be good to have her support.

It's still early days for my back - I'm told it will take two to three months to repair itself - but the rest/lying down does seem to be helping.  Having said that, I will go completely mad if I'm not able to get up and do things soon, and I'm pretty sure it would be good for my back muscles to start having to do some work before long ... wouldn't it?  It's surprising how little information I've been given about these sorts of things actually.  Hmm.  Oh well, I guess the doc will tell me more when I go for a check up the week after next.

Well for now I think it's time I peel myself off the sofa, feed the cat, and go to bed.  The Tramadol (and nefopam and paracetamol) has really messed with my sleep pattern, but I don't care much if it means that I sleep through some of the pain.



Oh, and my blogosphere new year's resolution will be to post more often.  I've been rubbish at it this year.  Sorry.  It's been tough.

Telling it as it is

Again, again, again, it's far too long since I last blogged, and again I apologise.  I've been wanting to blog since shortly after my last post, but there was something stopping me ... something I couldn't quite put in to words.  I've been thinking about this over the past few days as again I've had itchy fingers for blogging without actually putting fingers to keyboard.  It should have been obvious to me what this was about, but for some reason it wasn't until now.

Some of you will be aware that a couple of months back I had some trolls on my blog, and as much as I hate to admit it they got to me.  Coupled with the depression I've been battling even without the trolls, I've felt uneasy about sharing myself with the ether as I've previously done, but I've come to the conclusion that I can't let them win.  They are bullies and I can't let bullies win.  I can't even let them hurt me because they're not worth it - they're not worth that power.  So today I'm writing my blog.

Last time I wrote I said that things were improving in respect to the depression, and it's true that I'm not in the same place of crisis that I was earlier in the year, but over the past couple of weeks I've realised who unstable that improvement is.  It's not that I'm suicidal again (as I was earlier in the year), but I do still struggle.  Considerably.  A couple of things have happened in recent weeks that have shaken the weak foundations I was trying to build myself on, and consequently I've fallen.  I've seen my psychologist and again spent the session in tears, after a few sessions when I felt as though I could get my thoughts and feelings out without tears coming with them.  I'd got to a level where S thought that we should try making the sessions fortnightly instead of weekly, and I thought this might be manageable.  We tried it, and it was okay for a short time, but then at the end of last week's session S suggested she see me again this week because of my downward slip.  I was pleased to accept the increased frequency, even if it's only for a short time.  I know that for now I need that extra bit of support, but I don't like to suggest it myself because I know too that S's time is limited and in demand.

One of the things that's happened recently is that I've had yet another diagnosis added to my list.  I've been feeling unwell in a different way for a while so I went to my GP with some suspicions of the cause of the unwellness.  I thought I was developing diabetes, which is a common side effect corticosteroids, especially when you've been on them for a long time like I have.  I went through my symptoms with my GP, and as I had already been checking my blood sugars (BMs) some of the times I'd felt particularly unwell (I used to get low blood sugars for some reason so had a monitor from this time) I was able to tell the doc that BMs had been very erratic and often going up to between 11-13.  The GP said he was 90% sure that I was right, but wanted to do some other blood tests to confirm.  These were spread over about three weeks, so it was stressful time of kind of being in limbo - having a strong suspicion of diagnosis, but nothing actually confirmed, and no treatment when feeling so unwell.  Eventually the results came back and I was called back to the GP, and the results weren't quite what we were expecting.  In many ways this is a very good thing, but it's also confusing because I'd pretty much prepared myself for a diagnosis of diabetes.  The actual diagnosis that's been made is Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT) - basically pre-diabetes - but the perplexing thing is that with IGT I should not be symptomatic, and I am.

One of the gold-standard tests for diabetes is a blood test called HbA1c.  This measures the average blood glucose level over the previous three months, and for me this came back as borderline.  My GP is wondering if perhaps diabetes has developed relatively quickly so there's been a sudden increase in my blood glucose levels, but that because the HbA1c is an average then this has given a lower reading than it would if I'd been diabetic for the full three months.  Does that make sense?  So, the upshot is that I have to go for another HbA1c blood test at the end of January - exactly three months from first one.  However, the weirdness continues, because as well as the HbA1c I also had to have some fasting blood sugar tests (basically BMs done by the GP first thing in the morning before having anything to eat or drink), and these results were rather all over the place.  One was normal-low; one was normal-high; and one was high.  I am confused and my GP is confused.  I still have symptoms.  I still feel unwell, particularly with what I've come to term 'hyper-head' - a weird kind of feeling of pressure building up in my head, sort of a headache, but not quite a headache feeling, and it comes on when my BMs are high.  But even with hyper-head and other symptoms I'm not on any medication to alleviate any of it.  That's usual for IGT - not to have medication - except sometimes when it's steroid-induced, as mine is ... but then with IGT I shouldn't be symptomatic.

It may not sound like much really, but actually it's all been stressful, and the lack of anything to alleviate any of it is difficult because I can do nothing to make myself feel better.  The suggestion at this stage is diet control, which would be fine if there were much I could do to alter my diet, but I already eat a high fibre diet with wholegrain pasta, rice, and bread rather than the refined white stuff (I'm allergic to the white varieties, which is too complex to go in to here); I don't eat many refined sugar products; I don't/can't eat ready meals - all main meals are cooked from scratch by my carers - because of allergies, and that's also in accordance with a pre-diabetes diet.  I haven't yet found any major changes I can make to my diet to suit IGT other than to reduce the number of oranges or other high fructose fruits I consume.  Oh, and reduce the amount of fruit juice I have, not that I've drunk litres of it before now.

You know what's ridiculous about all this?  The cat (Zach) was diagnosed with diabetes in the summer.  When I got home from hospital in August I was really worried about him because he'd lost loads of weight and just didn't seem right.  I took him to the vet thinking that the problems with his kidneys may have returned/worsened, and actually that's what the vet initially thought.  She did some blood tests, and much to her surprise his kidney function was back in the normal range, but his blood sugar was high.  She did a test similar to the HbA1c, and after a half hour wait the results were back and diabetes was confirmed.  Zach was immediately started on insulin injections twice a day, initially on a low dose, but further tests a couple of weeks later showed the insulin had to be increased.  He's now a lot better, has his energy back, is back to running around the house, eating properly again, and loves to munch on people again too (this isn't something I enjoy, and try not to let him do it, but he's particularly 'characterful').  He'll have to go back for another full day of tests in a month's time - just before Christmas - to see how things are going with his bloods through the course of the day, but he's so much better.

When I first started to notice my own symptoms, I thought I was imagining it, or just had too much empathy with the cat, or something.  To be honest it was kind of a relief to have the doctor confirm that something was awry, but actually I'd much rather have nothing more be going wrong.

Is it petty that it's all been getting to me and contributing to my depression?  It some ways it feels it is; in others it seems reasonable.  I could just do with some time of no added stress, but it doesn't look like that's going to be any time soon, what with all this, various other big on-going stresses, and my lungs playing up.

I didn't really mean for this to be a moan, so apologies for that, but I guess this is me not being defeated by the bullies - I'm telling it how it is.

A little bit of a few things

I'm far too aware that it's far, far too long that I wrote a proper post, any post at all in fact, but particularly a proper one.  I haven't even finished showing you photos of my holiday, but it's even longer since I actually wrote anything.  Part of my absence is because I've been trying to gather myself.  This year has been tough, very tough, in many different ways.  I've shared some of the depression here, and some of the physical illness, and some of the other stresses, but there's been a fair bit that I haven't shared.  Some of it I can't talk about here, not yet anyway, but I think it's enough for the moment just to say that there's more going on behind the scenes than most are aware of.

I've needed a bit of space.  My holiday helped, but there's always a certain amount of post-holiday gathering that needs to be done to get one back in to the real world.  That can be tough when the real world has been tough.

I still have a fair amount going on - difficult things/situations  to deal with - but I'm slowly beginning to feel a bit more ... more me.  I think the start of term has helped somewhat, not that I'm a student these days, but choir (Flotsam) only runs through term time, and it just feels like there's generally a bit more structure around with other things going on.  Having said that, I did sign up for a short writing course at Newcastle University again.  It's actually a course - Memoir Writing -  that I did as a module towards my MA, but the short modules are open to the public too.  After not having my brain function in the right way for 'proper writing' almost all year, I was feeling closed up, blocked, trapped, and I thought that the short course might help to open things up again.  It did.  Six weeks of prompting, encouragement, recapping on technical aspects, etc really helped, and I wrote close to 10,000 words towards my book.  After almost a year of practically zero words, that's a huge improvement.  I hope I can keep up the momentum, but finding motivation for anything is still challenging at times.

One major difference between now and a few months ago is that I am able to look forward to things.  I was trying to keep putting things in the diary before, but mustering up a sense of excited anticipation for anything I would ordinary have looked forward to wasn't happening.  I'm a way up that hole now and can enjoy the anticipation of good things ahead.  Last weekend I went over to a friend's for chocolate fondue with a few others to help R celebrate her birthday.  I had a lovely evening with lovely people, lovely fondue, and a fun game of Apples to Apples, which I'd never heard of before.

On Tuesday a couple of us went to a local fireworks display.  Twenty to thirty minutes or so of colourful explosions filling the dark November sky really does help to blow dust from the brain - that and friendship :o)

Tomorrow afternoon I'm joining some friends for a workshop in glass work.  I'm not quite sure what it's going to involve, but I'm really looking forward to it.  The anticipation of fun with others, learning something new, something creative, making something, it's all good, and I love that I can enjoy the anticipation.

There's been some health stuff going on over the past couple of weeks.  I don't really want to discuss it at the moment because I don't have firm answers yet.  I've had various blood tests, and have another - hopefully the last for a while - on Monday, after which I'm hoping my GP will give me some of those answers.  When he does I'll tell you about it, but to be honest, I've been finding it all rather overwhelming lately and haven't wanted to think about it too much while I still don't have a truly confirmed diagnosis, even though the doctor is 90% certain of his preliminary diagnosis.

Part of the process of gathering myself has been evaluating where I'm at in a slightly more general way than just the immediate present.  For quite some time I've had ideas of possibilities for myself and my life, but they all ground to a halt when I got trapped in the great pit of depression.  In reality, the possibilities never really disappeared, but I was so far down the pit that I couldn't see the possibilities over the top of the hole.  I'm climbing out of that pit now, and every so often I get a little glimpse of things that are waiting at the top.  I've caught sight of one of those possibilities, and after failing to believe it for a while, I'm now thinking that maybe it could happen - maybe I'll get out of the pit, climb over the edge, and have those possibilities become realities.  I'm digging a foothold in to the edge of this hole to give me more of a grasp to the edge.  I'm trying to climb up and eventually out, and one of the things I've done that I'm hoping will get me out is arrange a meeting.  I have a meeting next week with one of the professors in the English department at Newcastle University to informally discuss the possibilities of doing a PhD in creative writing.  There are a lot of things around it to discuss, with funding being a major issue, and my health not being insignificant either, but it's something I want to do.  I do.  I really want to do it.  You know, even ten years ago I didn't think I was intelligent enough even to do an undergraduate degree, but I got a First class honours in my BA.  I actually started my post graduate studies during my last year of my undergraduate degree so got my Post Graduate Certificate in creative writing within a month of undergrad degree ceremony.  A year later I got my MA.  I want to go further.  I want to do a PhD, and not just for the sake of it, or to prove anything to myself or anyone else.  I want to do it because I love learning, I know what my proposal would be, I know what I want to get out of it, and there might be possibilities for me once I've done it.  The earliest I could possibly start would be next September, but I know too what I would do between now and then - the book that I've been working on for a while.  The meeting next Wednesday is one huge mass of possibilities, and the outcome of it could have a huge impact on the rest of my life, even though it's informal.

This, all of this, the possibility of a PhD, the love of education, what I get from writing, what I hope I give through writing, my music, my singing, my health, my creativity, my friends, my friendships, fireworks, games, fondue, and words, these are the things that help make up me.  These are my possibilities.  These are all important in rediscovering myself.  Gathering them all together again, back in to the pot of me, takes time because they've been spilled out and scattered in dark corners of the pit, but I'm finding them again, and I'm more hopeful that before too long I'll be standing at the top of that deep hole and shouting, 'Hello folks, I'm me again.'

Holiday time (part 2)

It seems like such a long time ago now that I was on my holiday so it's well over time that I shared some more of it.  Maybe it'll take us back to the days of sunshine rather than these horrible wet and cold days that are fast closing in.

After my few days in Stratford-upon-Avon, I went to Dorset for a week, staying in a little cottage on a dairy farm in a tiny place called Pilsdon in western Dorset.  So here are a few photos of the cottage and the farm:

That last photo doesn't look like much, but the calf is just minutes old and is being licked clean by its mother.  I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, having a wander around the farm yard.  Most of the cows are, of course, out in the fields, but as you see there are plenty in stalls in the farm's immediate surroundings.  All of these ones are very pregnant and being kept a close eye on to make sure that nothing goes wrong with the birth.

Now, you'll have to forgive a lot of my photos as I haven't edited them at all so on some there may be a slightly (or very) wonky horizon, or dust on the camera lens :o( Some would be better cropped etc, but I haven't got around to it.  I hope you enjoy them all the same.

Back to the point of the post.  As I said before, I was staying in Pilsdon, which is a tiny weeny place about eight miles north of Bridport.  Attached to Bridport, though also a little place in its own right, is the lovely West Bay, which you will have seen on telly if you saw the crime drama 'Broadchurch' (starring the delicious David Tennant).  I slightly fell in love with West Bay with its long piers with great views back to the cliffs, the quaint harbour, lengthy promenade, wonderful-looking sandy beach (I couldn't get on to the beach in my wheelchair, but I enjoyed the fact that it was there), it's small collection of independent shops and gorgeous little pottery.  So here are a few photos of West Bay that won't do it justice, but will give you a little flavour of the place:

I ventured along the coast to Lyme Regis, although I quickly discovered that it's not very wheelchair friendly as the pavements are narrow, most of the town is built on a hillside which is quite steep in places, and the majority of the shops have at least one step in to them.  I did manage a little wander around some of it, and very much liked what I saw, but I ended up spending most of my time there trundling along the seafront and daring to challenge myself with the cobbles on the cobb (the harbour wall).

(I had a couple more photos of Lyme Regis, but something appears to be wrong with them and they won't load).

Charmouth is along the coast towards Lyme Regis and is the place to go on a fossil hunt on the Jurassic Coast.  I went there one morning just as the tide was going out.  The car park at the beach is attached and in some places sort of turns in to the beach, though the beach is pebbly, as are many of the beaches down there.  I parked as close to the beach as possible and walked the very short way to the tide-line.  I didn't really expect to find a fossil as the best time to find them is after stormy weather and fractious seas, but quite amazingly, I'd only been there a few minutes when I looked down and saw a small ammonite staring back at me in one of the pebbles.  I don't actually have a photo of it, but I do have the fossil itself.  It's only about a centimetre across, but it's mine and I found it :o)  Charmouth itself is little more than a beach, a visitors centre, some houses, a library, and a long street with a few shops on it.  The main attraction is the beach with the small cafe, visitors centre, and tiny shop packed with fossils.  I liked it there though, and here are a few photos.

 (I want to clean up that last one on Photoshop, clearing away the dust that was on the lens)

The one immediately above is of a big fossil probably around 15 cms across, but I couldn't bring it home with me because it was in an enormous boulder that was part of the wave break next to the promenade.  Perhaps if I'd had a chisel and hammer it would've been possible to chip it out of the rock, but I didn't.

Further along the coast, and just over the county boarder in to Devon, is the lovely little town of Beer.  The fantastic thing I discovered about Beer is that they have long rubber mats laid over the pebble beach in all directions so I was allowed full access on to the beach in my wheelchair.  I had a little mooch about the rest of the town, but most of my time there was spent on the beach, taking in the sun and the atmosphere because it's very much a working beach with fisherman tending to their boats and their catches.

I have more photos to share with you of some of the other places I visited, but I think that's probably enough for now.  Besides which, I need my dinner :o)  I'll get back to you soon with another post.

Holiday time (part one)

It's about time that I got back to you with news of my holiday, given that I promised you a post about it two posts ago, and it's now almost a month since I got back.  It doesn't feel anything like a month, probably because I've looked back over the photos over and over again, and relived the holiday.  I had a wonderful time, and even though I went away on my own, I wasn't lonely in the least.  I've actually always enjoyed going on holiday on my own, I think because I can take my time, keep doing something that I'm really enjoying or stop doing something I'm not getting much out of without having to worry about whether or not it's what anyone else wants to do.  Most importantly this time was that I could pace myself without that concern of boring anyone else, and I spent a lot of time enjoying views or doing things that took little energy.

I took a lot of photos while I was away, so the best way to share my holiday with you is probably to share some of the photos (I won't post all 388).

The place that I was probably 'busiest' was Stratford-upon-Avon.  I was only there for three days, and there was a lot too see, it being where Shakespeare was born and grew up.

First up, a couple of photos of Stratford-upon-Avon itself:

And here's a photo of the inside of the RSC Theatre where I went to see their current production of All's Well that Ends Well.  It's kind of an odd production in terms of placing it in time as the clothing spans several centuries and the opening scene is absolutely up to date, but it works.  It was a fantastic production, brilliant performance, and a wonderful experience seeing the play in a 'theatre in the round' and the home of the RSC.

So, my first port of call in terms of Shakespearean buildings was Shakespeare's birthplace.  I couldn't get upstairs, though the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust have done brilliantly with providing disabled access.  They have portable ramps in and out of the buildings whenever they're needed, and whenever it's not possible to use these ramps inside (which is actually most of the properties) they provide a photo album or video point with info and pictures of the upstairs rooms.  Anyway, here's Shakespeare's birthplace:

I then went to New Place and Nash's House (they're on the same site).  Actually, the house New Place doesn't actually exist any longer, but it was on the same plot - sort of in the garden of Nash's House.  This is where Shakespeare died, where his daughter first lived, and where his granddaughter then lived.

The big dip you can see in that last photo is where New Place was.  It burnt down.  I can't remember when, but I think it was a few hundred years ago.

From there I went to Holy Trinity Church where Shakespeare and all his family were interred.  I also include a photo here of the font in which it's thought he was baptised.

Next up was Hall's Croft - the married home of Shakespeare's eldest daughter, Susanna, to Dr John Hall.

The final Shakespearean property I went to (I didn't get to Mary Arden's Farm) was Anne Hathaway's Cottage.  Anne Hathaway, in case you don't know, is the woman who became Shakespeare's wife, and the big long seat by the fireplace that you'll see in one of the photos is called 'wooing seat'.  It's said to be the seat in which Anne and William sat beside each other over Will's regular visits to Anne's house, and in which Shakespeare 'wooed' his fiancé and proposed to her.  On these visits he would also have had to please Anne's family, although Anne and William had to marry as Anne was already pregnant.  So anyway, here are lots of photos of the house and the beautiful expansive gardens:

Oh yeah, as you see, there are several modern sculptures in the gardens, but I liked them.  The gardens were a lovely place to relax, and wander around.  I didn't take any photos along the forest walk (trundle), partly because it was a relatively new feature and it didn't really feel finished and there wasn't much to take photos off.  The lavender in the bottom photo was part of a maze.  It's quite possibly the easiest maze in the world to find your way through as the lavender isn't even knee-height, but it was a pleasant feature that produced the most delicious smell, and a wonderful feeding place for lots of butterflies.  I sat and watched the butterflies for ages, and soaked up the wonderful lavender aroma that reminded me of my grandmother.

So that was my three days in Stratford-upon-Avon, and probably enough for now.  I'll be back before long with an instalment about my time in Dorset, and again it will involve lots of photos.