And then there were five...........................................

Weeks to go, of course. I had a very brief taste of retirement on Friday last as I had a cold, or flu depending on whom you believe. By lunchtime, I was feeling ok again and managed to do several jobs that I had wanted to do all week but didn't feel well enough to do at the time. Anyway, I am now down to just  35days (and a bit) before I walk away from organised labour forever. A few bits and pieces arrived during the week and the railway track and racing car track are now complete so plenty of work there then. My week was made less boring than usual by Sally as she was also off work with a similar problem.

The other side of the coin was that Lulu finally went into hospital for her much awaited operation and actually got it this time! She is now recovering well and looking at an early homecoming, possibly today. Just knowing that the job has been done successfully has brightened her up immensely and it has even rubbed off on Corey so that he is less fretful that his mum is away for a few days. 

Slow and steady wins the race?

I've always been a bit dubious about that one, I'm fairly slow and steady and I can't remember the last time I won a race. However, I currently find myself in a vaguely similar position at work. I have spent the past four years specializing in problems with Microsoft SharePoint. I now find myself working on almost all of the SharePoint problems coming into the support desk at the university. As can be seen above, I have less than fifty days left in my job. oops! I have tried to impress upon my colleagues and masters that I will be gone soon. "Yes", they say, "We must do something about that". Not so far guys. Part of their problem is that I actually like SharePoint, it suits my methodical 'Slow and Steady' way of working. Does this mean that, finally, I will win the race?

More water under the bridge...............

The decision has pretty much made itself, I will ask to go at Christmas. My shoulder has improved due to copious amounts of Ibuprofen gel being rubbed in twice a day. Trouble is, to compensate, my arthritis is now becoming somewhat intense when I type..................... like now. My back has improved slightly, I think it was more bruising than anything else. I have been putting in derisory bids on Ebay over the weekend and won every one. So I am now the proud owner of a baseball cap and a clockwork train set for almost peanuts.

Getting older sucks!

I am so close to retirement now and all I wanted to do was leave gracefully. Chance would be a fine thing. My body is fighting me and trying to make me stop sooner now. My back is a dull roar most of the time and my shoulder is constantly hurting at present. With the onset of the colder and damper weather, my joints are beginning to complain and, as I cannot use anti-inflammatories, I have to simply suffer. Early starts are murder now and once 10.00 pm arrives I just need to fall into bed. That's as well as napping all evening and nodding off in my lunch break yesterday.

Hazel is suggesting I ask to leave at Christmas and not go on until the end of February. This idea appeals to me. She also thinks I should drop my hours to four days a week from now until I leave. This idea also appeals. Hazel would like to see me do both but I am more inclined to one or the other. We need the money for one thing as we are in the throes of trying to move out our current tenants and take in new ones who will actually pay their rent.

Still improving but still sad.

My own health is currently better than it has been for quite a while and seems to be holding. I still have some big problems first thing in the morning and last thing at night with my socks!!!!! but other than that I am a fully functional person again. Today is our son and daughter-in-law's wedding anniversary so most of the family are having a celebratory meal. janis, our camper van is back on the road and also functioning well now and we are hoping to manage a UK holiday in her next year when I have retired (see above). I am also stocking up as best I can with components for my retirement hobby. Both of these areas are recorded on their own blogs as listed below left.

Some you win.................

Whilst in the throes of improving my own health, one of my closest friends, Fred, has died very suddenly.
 He and I worked together at Freedom Fields Hospital when Sally was born and we remained friends when I left. I went to Plymouth Sound and he moved to Derriford when Freedom Fields closed but he still visited me every Wednesday when our shifts allowed. Just before we went on our summer holiday earlier this summer, Fred collapsed and was taken to ICU at Derriford. When we returned from our break, another friend told us where he was and Hazel and I went up to see him. He was in an induced coma and seriously ill. That's when we discovered that he had developed Myasthenia Gravis, a very debilitating genetic disorder that affects the muscles of the neck among other things. Freds father has it but nowhere near as bad. Anyway, over the following weeks, Fred slowly recovered but, having had a tracheotomy, was unable to speak and had some breathing problems. Nonetheless, last Tuesday he left hospital and moved into a good nursing home to recuperate. Hazel and I visited him on Thursday evening and he was pretty upbeat and joking with us. On Saturday evening we had a bit of a shock when we were told that he had collapsed again and had died almost instantly. It seems that, whilst in hospital, he was also diagnosed with a faulty heart muscle which would have required open heart surgery. As he needed to at least partly recover from his recent illness, he was told it would be a while before he would have the surgery. Sadly, he never got it and his heart problem appears to be what killed him. We are now waiting for the post mortem to be completed in order for a funeral to be planned. Makes you think!

Beginning to catch up a bit now...........

The hydrotherapy is beginning to bite, I am feeling the burn, even underwater, and muscles are relaxing and smoothing out. I am also having success with my walking correctly regime, that is also painful sometimes but I am about ready now to go back to my normal walking shoes again.