Danskcolin: Tuesday August 13th 2024 "Did you remember to take your pills this morning haha?"

"Something for the weekend, Sir?" - that was what barbers used to ask their customers, wasn't it, way back in the 1950's, when my medium-to-long-suffering wife Lois and I were growing up.

flashback to the 1950's: a typical scene in

a traditional British barber shop

Well, nowadays, that "something for the weekend" is more likely to be a little pill than anything else, to be brutally frank. Because they've got pills for everything these days, haven't they, including for weekends, like this latest "doozy" of a magic pill from French drug company Ambien [Source: Onion News] :

And, whereas back in the 1950's, such things were a cause for shame, something that barbers could only whisper about in their customer's ear, there's no need for embarrassment these days, which can only be a healthy development, we feel.

It's confession time now. Lois and myself are both now a 'slightly creaky' and a not-so-spritely, 78 years of age, and we already take a bunch of pills twice a day: statins in the evening for cholesterol, and vitamin D pills in the morning, to get us through the day (and night!) amid the chronic British absence of sunshine (!).

flashback to last December: Lois and I celebrate the joyous

'sync'-ing of our statins pills repeat-prescription-dates

after 51 years of marriage (!)

It's all a bit of a pain to remember to take our "medications", so it's definitely something to celebrate when our doctor "signs off" one or other of us from taking any additional pills that won't really contribute to us "having a very good time at NHS expense", as we (somewhat (!) ) jokingly put it (!),

[That's enough exclamation marks in brackets (!) - Ed]

And today we can celebrate, over coffee and cake at the local Poolbrook Kitchen and Coffee Shop, the fact that one of the doctors at our local GP surgery, that nice Dr. Sarah, has taken me off the blood-thinner pills that I've been taking for the last 4 days.

Liberation Day - I can forget about taking these blood-thinning

tablets, only 4 days after starting them, which is nice!

An ultrasound test last Friday at the Alexandra Hospital Redditch, was "all clear", and showed that I didn't need the pills, which was nice, so my blood must officially be "thin", or "thin enough" at least.

we celebrate, at the local Poolbrook Kitchen and Coffee Shop,

amidst a bunch of other local old codgers, my no longer

having to take blood-thinner pills, which is a relief.

It's a triumph not to have to take these particular pills, as the implications for general diet can be horrendous, if you are taking them. Steve, our American brother-in-law, had a few days ago, sent me some useful dietary recommendations from healthline.com, although the site's details of (1) foods to take, if your blood is too 'fat', and (2) foods to avoid, if you're on these blood-thinner pills, initially put us in a bit of a tizzy.

Did you spot the problem with these lists? You probably did, being more "eagle-eyed" than yours truly, to put it mildly! I have to confess that Lois and I didn't see it initially, but after a few days "the penny dropped", that's for sure!

The website has obscured the problem a little by switching the order, but yes, confusingly, spinach and broccoli are on both lists, which put us in a tizzy, as we frequently have both of them, although not always together. Anyway we don't have to worry about that now, so we'll put it in our "too difficult box" for the moment - call us indecisive if you like haha!

14:00 Our celebratory mood today is soon dampened however, when next week's Radio Times magazine "plops" through our letter-box, just before we get into bed for "nap time", which is a pity.

Only yesterday we were quietly celebrating the end of the Olympic Games, and looking forward to a surfeit of more "intellectual" fare on our TV, especially as yesterday was the "Glorious Twelfth" i.e. the 12th of August", the traditional start of the TV quiz season.

flashback to yesterday: Lois and I celebrate the end of the

Olympic Games, and the arrival of the "Glorious Twelfth"

- traditional start of the TV quiz season:

celebrating too soon, as it has turned out!

All that euphoria somehow seems so long ago now, as we contemplate the horrendous cover of next week's 'newly-plopped' magazine: "every match, every team" [my italics] - it's too much to even contemplate for two committed un-sports-fans like us. Oh dear!

What utter utter madness !!!!!

And to think, that just this morning, on our walk across Poolbrook Common, how Lois and I gazed at the limpid waters of the iconic Poolbrook Pool, and contemplated, and somehow even dared to dream of, a future without TV sport.

flashback to this morning: us, seen here in happier times

"daring to contemplate" the possibility of

a future without TV sport - how tragic it all seems now!

[All right, we get the idea! - Ed]

21:00 We'll need some cheering up tonight, that's for sure, and luckily there are a couple of old episodes of 1970's sitcom "Butterflies" and 1990's sitcom "Keeping Up Appearances" in the BBC4 schedules, which is nice.

In "Butterflies", Ria, bored housewife and mum to 2 lazy teenage sons, has started taking an exercise class, but she's having difficult concentrating on it, to judge from some of the thoughts that she has while prancing about.

And is an exercise class really what Ria needs?

Oh dear, poor Ria !!!!! But we sympathise.

And in "Keeping Up Appearances" tonight, Hyacinth is checking harassed husband Richard over before he leaves for the office, brushing his jacket etc, something which Lois does for me, I have to admit!

Poor Richard!!!!

Later Hyacinth consoles her wayward sister Rose over her latest romantic difficulties, after which Rose says that she's finally (for the gazillionth time) "giving up men".