THIS IS ENGLAND BY FIONA CUMMINGS

Can you believe that some horrific people are leaving their poor dogs outside in this weather? And they are surprised that the next morning they are finding them dead. They have frozen to death. Seriously the worst thing that could have happened to this world is humans. And we are becoming as a race less caring.

 

Apparently, there are less homeless people on our suburban streets than last year but much more in our citties. So, why the citties? May be because they may get more money there as they will come into contact with more people. Also, more shop doorways to sleep in. I just can not imagine sleeping outside in this weather. It makes me shiver to even think about it.

 

Well in our news, regards to Brexit, we have had a warning for our health scaring saying we will run out of lettuce and tomatoes. No one has asked the Spanish farmers where their fresh produce will go? Of course, they will still want to sell us what they have. And then we didn’t panic about missing out on salads, we stooped to KFC, saying they would run out of food, and that didn’t cause mass hysteria, so today, I read school lunches will be affected. Seriously, it will be old peoples nursing homes next. As we have already had our medical scare saying we will run out of medicines.

 

Another stabbing in our streets. This is so tragic. A poor young lad has been killed for refusing to hand over his bicycle. Seriously, what is wrong with kids today? Something urgent has to be done. Someone has to take responsibility for their actions. Parents, teachers, gaming, on line and I would start with schools and that includes making it law that parents have to attend classes too. In a world where both parents work, who is there to support their children? To guide them what they are viewing on the internet and games that they are playing. To talk with them, teach them. How many parents sit with their children these days over the dinner table and talk? Take time to be with their children? Teach them morels? The music industry needs to show some kind of responsibility too, some language and kind of words that are used in music or so-called music these days is shocking. And there is no shame either. I have been on a bus and a train where such awful trash has been played allowed in front of elderly people and young children.

 

We have a drama called East Enders. It’s awful it’s on in the evenings at about half seven eight o clock and the violence and language in that the anger is shocking. Where is the peace in people’s lives? Kindness will become a word of the past.

 

Someone has gone into a food chain today not too far from where I live and took a machete and slashed someone across the face. Thank goodness the police have caught him, but now what? what will they do to him?

 

And then in London a man at a tube station has been stood on so many times on his head he is now in a comber. This is England

 

I think I need to get back into my writing of escapism. Get away from this dreadful world we live in. I certainly wouldn’t want to bring up a child in this world. Not now.

 

So those of you who started dieting at the start of this month, how have you done so far?

Did you manage to get to the end of the month? Talking of diets, did you hear about the hungry clock? He went back four seconds…

I don’t think you should ever go back for seconds. You should just get it all the first time. Haha.

 

If you think you can call your baby anything, you are mistaken. There are some names around the world that do get banned. Here are some of them.

 

France, Nutella. The parents wanted their child to be named after something popular and sweet. The judge ruled the child couldn’t be called after the chocolate spread but instead, Ella.

 Malaysia, Chow Tow. Why you may ask? Translated means (Smelly Head)

England, Cyanide. Seriously, after a poison? Well it was banned.

Parents in Denmark wanted to call their child Monkey. And in New Zealand full stop? Come on…   may be that is because after the birth, they decided enough was enough and no more children? End of. Full stop…

 

I joked the other day saying the word monotonous was a strange one having four o’s in it. And saying it wouldn’t be monotonous if it didn’t have a repeat of the O’s. well todays word is even more odd especially as the pronunciation is so different to the spelling.

Ouija

Shouldn’t that start with a W?

That is something I would never mess about with. I like to go to spiritual readers, but sadly my trust in those have been shattered of late, some of you will have read my experience of a spiritualist with my friend Pip? Though the reader was a total fake, I enjoyed my friends’ company and still had a good night, but the Ouija board is something I wouldn’t go near.

 

Well it’s that time of week again. It’s our pub quiz. To be honest I’m looking forward to feeling warm. I was out earlier and it was so cold I now can’t get warm. One thing we are guaranteed at that pub, is to be warm. As their fire is huge and we just melt in there. To be honest it’s a relief to just get out at the end of the evening. But then there is the journey home in the ice. The roads paths everything won’t be good tonight. And next week is to be worse.

 

I guess I have to be a wizard in the kitchen now and get a meal together for the family. But before I go remember the footballer, I was talking about last week he was from France and has just been signed up for a team in Wales. Well his helicopter went missing. Yesterday on the beach, two cushions have been found from their seats in France.

Don’t you think that is odd, for only two things to be found, cushions, and two of them, in the same place?

 

DIARY OF READERS QUESTIONS BY FIONA CUMMINGS

Good day to you all, just some of our readers today are from Brazil, Moldova, South Africa and Germany. Wherever you are whoever you are I hope this finds you well.

 

It was an OK result for our PM last night. She has to head back to Europe for more discussions. When will this end. She must be exhausted I know I am.

 

Believe it or not it’s zero outside, but I have had to turn off my heating in the house. The sun is so warm. May be outside it feels different I haven’t been out long enough today to know, but it’s shining through the window where I sit and it’s beautiful.

 

 I believe in parts of America they are to have record numbers on temperatures. It’s going to be the worst winter yet according  to what I have been reading. Well we are told it will go to11 below next week. We are being warned to stock up with food…. What with the weather and warnings over Brexit that we are going to have no tomatoes and lettuce, haha, oh, and not forgetting KFC will run out of food that was a headline I read yesterday, well, may be our nation will get fitter and lose weight…

 

Other headlines talk about the dam that collapsed in Brazil well five people have been arrested. Too late guys. Far too late.

 

Apparently if you are an early riser, you are less likely to have mental health problems. Well my analysis on this subject is. Firstly, I wonder if they asked people who sleeps later than the norm how their mental health is? If so, there is a reason why they stay in bed. Normally because they are depressed or they have nothing to get up for. secondly, if you get up early there is in some if not most cases a reason to get up. You either have people coming to see you, or you are going out to work where ever it may be, you are out, and if you go out, you are not going to be as depressed as someone who stays in, right? So, I guess this study could be done in one’s mind rather than taking time up with scientists and loads of paperwork.

 

Israeli scientists say a cure for cancer will be available in one year. I wish. I’m not getting too excited about this as how can one treatment cure all types of cancer? But I really hope I’m wrong and the scientists are right in their announcement.

 

And now to answer a few questions that have been sent to me over the past week. How do you know how to get around in your city?Many years ago, I learned how to use the white cane. I do have to smile when I read about how people just go out there and buy a white cane… You really need to learn the correct way to use one. Firstly, you have to get the right height. Normally in the UK the top of the long cane has to reach your chest bone. You have to put your hand and fingers in a certain way. This is to be as comfortable as possible and so you can feel with, or through your fingers. When I first started to learn the white cane, gosh, my fingers killed, as they did when I learned how to play piano. As you are using them in a way you have never done before.

Once you are sorted with size and how to hold your cane then you learn to sweep it side to side this is to cover your whole body. No good in just putting the white cane in front of you if there is a sign for example sticking out to the side of you. Or a person standing glancing obliviously to your oncoming impact. Smile.

 

And then it’s time to link the arm of your trainer and learn the routes to where you need to go. This is when it gets tiring. You have to remember so much. Every step you go up or down, ramps and bollards as well as that awful street furniture that may get in your way. When you start to do this it’s amazing how much you have missed in the past. What you learn about your area. You also learn to smell for a particular tree or shrub if it’s summer for example well even spring. In time you won’t need these little helpful tricks as you will just learn how the ground feels at that point. It took me years to learn to feel or in some cases see through the souls of my feet. If you walk heel to toe as well, you will find it’s more difficult to trip.

 

Once you have the map in your head, the patient mobility instructor will have gone over and over your routes with you. I had a great guy called David. He was for sure a lifechanging person for me. If not for him, nothing else would have happened. He believed in me before I did. He did the job because he cared and this makes a huge difference.

 

After much time learning the route in my head and how to hold a white cane, he walked out from my house and I was to meet him at my Son who was five at the time school.  That was really scary. But I did it and I will never ever forget that walk. The birds sang to me all the way. It was as if they were celebrating. When I got the the big road and crossed it and David was waiting at my Sons school, oh, the feeling of pure freedom. I had to get over the dreadful shame I felt of all of my neighbours looking at me. The feeling of being laughed at and the feeling of fresh air without being so stressed in how I was going to get to his school and how I was going to find the right path or fall down a step, it was just the best. Really, I can’t put into words and it’s not just me who has gone through this, almost every white cane user experience it. But there is pain first.

 

Then for my guide dog, a totally different way to get out. You still have to know where you are going, you can’t take short cuts like sighted people do, but your dog will keep you safe and if you show your dog respect they will love and look after you forever. But with a guide dog comes a huge responsibility. They are not machines they are not without feelings. So, if you can’t put into what a dog will give you then the white cane will be your best friend.  A cane can’t always find a door for you though or the right house coming home. It’s much harder with a cane in some ways, but in others it’s a better feeling as you have less chance in falling down steps. But a dog will just get you there. Faster too.

 

 

When you laugh, do you really feel happy? This was asked by a person who has just been diagnosed with an eye condition that means she will go blind. My answer, when I laugh it’s because someone has made me laugh, just like you laughed before you got this awful news. It took me a very long time before my laughter was genuine, and sometimes I laugh then stop and think hang on, what am I laughing at what have I got to laugh about? Well the answer is simple, I have a lot. I have a loving loyal family, a beautiful house and some great friends. I’m not worried about where I will get my next meal from or wonder whether or not I can pay my bills. And I do have a select amount of people in my life who really do make me laugh until my stomach is in pain. You know when you have a stitch? We do laugh, it may take time just like when you are grieving, as I always refer blindness to grieving, you have at the end of the day lost something. But we do move on we have to learn to change so much in life, but day by day we get there. Though I think if I ever and it’s more like a dream now as time passes the chances are also passing, the time I get to see again, if that ever does come, then I will have a permanent smile upon my face. Even though I will walk through our city and see some ugly faces of evil and destruction. But even in a person’s world who is blind, we still do see evil just in a different way, thankfully those I choose to surround myself with are good people and those who are other, have long gone. That is the control you will have too when you get to the stage I am at. I’m not excepting anyone in my life now. I’m not going to be grateful to someone just because they speak to me, I will be polite and walk on but if they catch my heart in any way, I shall stay and learn about them. If they are good people, they will I hope be with me walking by my side in a metaphorical way forever.

Thank you for your emails and messages. Take care until next time when we chat.

 

UP WITH THE LARKS BY FIONA CUMMINGS

Up with the larks as my Dad used to say. A busy morning is planned and then out to a busy afternoon that wasn’t, planned.

 

Our house wakes up normally about the time I’m just starting to go to sleep… And then it is like a train station. Hub and our Son get up really early, or at the same time, and then we have defrosting the car moment. Sometimes BW stays at his gf’s so he comes home even earlier, to make his breakfast and lunch for work.

 Because we have wood floors, the thud of footsteps beneath me is really loud. Footsteps up and down the stairs internal doors opening and closing, Hubs coffee machine and dishes in the kitchen. Dog bells from their collars and this is before those blooming larks start to sing. Actually, what does a lark’s song sound like? Haha, never heard one, well I have to check this out, hang on a mo jo.

 

Alright, I’m back after searching the sound of a lark. I have to say the example I found on UTube wasn’t exactly a sweet song. Two notes and so, monotonous. That’s a good word to spell, monotonous, four O’s. I guess if there wasn’t a repeat of letters, it wouldn’t be monotonous? ()

 

Hub is in our home town working today but won’t be home until eight tonight. BW’s working over time again, too, so a late dinner for us all. Good job as not sure I will be back until after four.

 

Browsing the areas to live and keep coming back to Tynemouth, a beautiful part of the country to live. Not far from where I come from. I would love to live near the sea. Just the smell of the ocean and the sound of the sea bashing against the rocks. In summer the children screaming with laughter on the sand. But my Husbands perfect house would be in the middle of nowhere. And he brought me to a city? Haha. I gently remind him of that when we are trying to enjoy an afternoon in the sun in summer when we are breathing in fumes and having to wear special ear protection…. Well, not quite… not with the ear muffs but we do breathe in awful fumes.

  

Hmm… who knows where our future will end up? One day we will just find the perfect place when the time is right. A two-bedroom bungalow would do me nice. Only trouble is, two bed bungalows Are so small. I loved my last house so much. I miss that house. My Son loves it here though he says he is delighted to have moved from Northumberland. He is a city boy. I’m not really sure why either. It worries me that our future grandchildren will be brought up with this awful air. 

 

I’m trying to find out for Dear friend and Blogget Carrie if there is a RP convention in America this year? If you know, please can you let me know? Not the social event but the actual convention where there are speakers discussing latest research etc. I have asked loads of people and even Googled it, but can’t seem to find anywhere.

 

I’m sure you will have heard of a good luck four leaf clover? Did you know that only one in ten thousand clovers have four leaves. It could be the result of a recessive gene, a somatic mutation, the influence of the environment or a combination of all three. And I guess that is why it’s called a good luck four leaf clover, as it’s rare so if you find one, it’s lucky.

 

Hub was telling me yesterday that he was reading about a lift/elevator, that had gone very wrong and took the people screaming up and down thirty times. Oh, my goodness, that freaked Hub out, he hates lifts. Sorry for my readers who are not English, elevators…. And then today I was reading about a poor cleaner in America who was trapped in her bosses lift all weekend…. Hopefully not with her boss?  That’s so wrong. (On so many levels)

 

Smile of the day, did you hear about the lady who got sacked from her job in a calendar factory? All she did was take a day off.

 

After yesterdays blog on funny signs. “I saw a sign for a burial plot, and I thought to myself. That’s the last thing I need.””

 

Since I started to write this, Steve has given this information in a group I’m in.

The next FFB Visions conference is in June 2020.

 

OK, going to get ready for the office. X

 

 

 

GOODNIGHT GOD BLESS BY FIONA CUMMINGS

Tomorrow another Biggy for Brexit. Good luck Mrs May. Seriously our news is full of how if we leave the EU without an agreement, our shops will run out of lettuce and tomatoes…. Why? I mean, our Spanish farmers will still grow the produce, who will then buy all the salads that we would buy? Also, so, we don’t have salads in winter, not going back too far, when I was a young girl, there were such things called seasons. So, if something wasn’t available, then we waited until it would come available. You appreciate it more, don’t you?

 

Hub is sending my Waggatail wild. You should hear them. Poor LF, is sitting next to me as if to say. “Mum, that’s really not the way a guide dog should behave, is it?””

 

All that is left is the sound of silence and the fragrance from our dinner of Fish for Hub and garlic from our Sons Pizza. A left-over candle as its flames start to kiss the base of its pot and the fragrance of, I hope a sweet sleep if not for me, for you for sure.

The house is quiet it’s time to close it up for the night. Tomorrow is another day.

 “The darker the night, the brighter the stars, the deeper the grief, the closer is God!”” Dostoyevsky

 Well Bloggets, I shall wish you a good night sleep whatever time you say hello to your pillow.

 

MONDAYS COFFEE BY FIONA CUMMINGS

Time for a cup of coffee and a chat. Talking of coffee, what do you call a sad cup of coffee?

A Depresso!

Hahahaha, sorry, but I couldn’t resist.

 

Reading today foods that are good for our gut. One that surprised me was cold potatoes. Washed, cooked and left to go cold. The article went into detail but the end result is, they are good for us.

 

Garlic and dark chocolate too! I can cope with all of those foods. I love cold boiled potatoes, but only with salad cream on… Salad cream, one of my friends from America hasn’t ever heard of that. Have you? Oh, I love it.

 

I also read that cancer patients could triple their survival rates by taking pain killers every day like Aspirin. Again, you will have to talk with the Doctor about that. But I have always said, that cures and treatment will always come from something under our nose or something that is natural. There are still clinical trials done on Aspirin you know? About 1000 per year. White willow was used by Sumerians and Egyptians. The Ebers Papyrus an ancient medical text refers to willow as an anti-inflammatory or pain reliever. But don’t go and start biting your willow tree as loads, is added to the bark to create this wonder pill.

 

Oh, in medical headlines today I read GM chickens to lay eggs with anti/ cancer drugs

Oh Gosh, that sounds scary.

 

Day three of my eyes killing me this time both eyes. All yesterday I saw a white sheet in front of me as if the sheet was lit up and it was fixed on my eyeballs. During the day I could cope with that, as it’s slightly better than grey or black or nothing at all. But by 9 pm, I was getting a headache. By bed time, I knew there were no lights on. I knew it was pitch black outside, an yet the room was bright white. As if staring right into headlights of a car. The pain was making my eyes sting. I closed them even putting the quilt over my eyes and still I saw white. And the white was so very bright. Not spots of flashes as I know some people who have RP see, but a flat sheet of white. Both eyes equal. And today, not quite so white more like a dirty white with bits of purple in. and oddly, black dots. So, a bit of a break from the brightness.

 

Yesterday in my right eye I had a corkscrew twisting and today just those dam high heels kicking into the edges of my eyes both today. Whoever is wearing those heels, needs to take a break from them and put on a pair of slippers.

Please?

 

Hub and I didn’t do anything over the weekend. It was a lovely time though. I hope your weekend was at least peaceful?

 

  I heard a funny thing today it was written and read to me. “The more you weigh, the harder you are to be kidnapped. Eat cake and be safe…””

 

Hub and I listen to a program on the radio and at the end, they read out funny signs that have been spotted around the world, so I thought I would check out some of them and let you enjoy the read.

 

First sign

(Warning heavy pedestrians crossing)

Sign 2

(Say no to strangers and strange dogs) Hahahaha.

3

(Don’t ride headless horses) say whaa’aa’aat?

4

(No laughing) Oh, the website I got that from wasn’t very accessible so I don’t know what country or what place would have a sign saying that, but I hope it wasn’t a funeral parlour?

5

(Control your pee) hahheheheheahahaha

6

(May lick you to death) Oh no, hahaha, what on earth?

7

(Be prepared) what for?

 

There’s nothing on the website that is totally accessible for people who are blind it’s a shame as I really think such signs are so funny but I like to know the origin and sadly nothing tells me that in word.

 

Hub has a hellish day tomorrow. His working day will be about 13 hours. And I think my day will be spent doing all the things I should have done today. I have just had no energy today. And it’s so cold outside.

 

All I seem to have done is make appointments. I think I have spent two- and a-bit hours on the phone sorting out life. and answering emails that came through over the weekend. I did some research this morning on latest news on RP as I try to do every now and then but unfortunately all I can find is the next big news will come around May of this year. If I hear anything before then, I shall let you know!

 

 

 

  

 

SATURDAY DIARY BY FIONA CUMMINGS

Good morning Bloggets. I hope I find you well on this Saturday morning. It’s quite a nice day but later we are expected really bad weather and tomorrow it’s going to be much worse.

 

Our dogs have been for their free run and they are absolutely shattered. They have both took themselves to bed and my house is silent. No squeaking toy no dog bells around their collar, so quiet. BW is still in bed, this is the first time he has had a lay in for such a long time. Hub is in our garden. So, I thought I should grab a few moments to chat before normal Saturday resumes.

 

 I’m still buzzing from the cinema the other night. As I said we saw Second act starring Jenifer Lopez.  I absolutely loved it. The story was so strong with so many messages.

 

And then there was the pub quiz…. Oh, heck, we didn’t let ourselves down as in give ourselves a shock of doing well… we were rubbish. In fact, before the scoring, Hub asked if we could just throw the papers on the coal fire…. We didn’t though, and we went through the humiliation of getting them marked….

 

Supper was nice, though it’s never a lot, but I had a lovely bread role with cheese and onion… the meat eaters ate same bread role, well, not the same one, we didn’t all have a nibble from the same one, haha, but same kind… with a hot dog in it…

 

The awful thing was, I thought the questions were so easy… as in I knew the subjects and even things like guessing the name of the group who brought out the album for example, the album Hysteria was brought out in the 80’s by which group? OH, my, I knew that album so well. Why couldn’t I think of the group? It was Def Leppard.

I absolutely loved them and loved every one of their albums which I had. So, why didn’t I remember the question? That was more annoying than actually not having a clue of the answer.

 

Did you hear the joke about the poor old fool?

A well-dressed elderly man took pity on an old man outside his pub who was fishing in a puddle. The well-dressed gent thought he would be kind and invited the elderly man into the pub and bought him a whisky. He decided to humour the old man and asked him… “So old Chap, how many have you caught today?””

The elderly man replied. “You’re the eighth.””

 

A pig walks into a bar and orders and drinks 15 pints of beer. The bar man says. “Do you need to know where the toilet is?”” the pig replies, no, I’m the little piggy that goes wee wee wee all the way home…

 

And yesterday my highlight was I managed to get some vegan sausage roles from our bakers Greggs. They started to sell them the first week in January and I heard they were outselling sausage meat ones… they are delicious. In the queue behind me a lady also ordered them. When I brought them home, Hub was working from home, I knew he wouldn’t have stopped for a break he never does, so I made him a cup of tea and handed a couple of roles to him. He loved them. I was surprised because you get meat eaters who just won’t like them because they know they are not meat, but he was really impressed and as I said, I know someone who prefers them to meat ones… I hope they keep selling them and don’t stop at the end of January as this month is vegan month so hopefully, they weren’t just brought out for now!

 

I have a couple of emails to write the Lotto to put on and some washing to do then relax. No plans for this weekend but big ones for a few weeks’ time Hub and I were talking about them over breakfast. After my birthday I can then look forward to spring, all new in our garden and year. The new lighter nights and mornings, are always a good thing, obviously I can’t see the lighter times but I can feel them if that makes sense.

 

My right eye is killing me today. As if a sharp knife is being twisted around in it.

I wouldn’t care if the blooming thing worked. Haha.

 

This shocked me you may have heard of a singer from the UK called Susan Boyle? Personally, I have a lot to say and think about her. But I shall be nice and say nothing. Apart from the headlines today read she is to return to Britain’s got talent for auditions. So, does that mean she is going to be a contestant again? Surely not. She has done loads of albums and is known to many has made it big in America, isn’t it other peoples turn now?

 

And on that NOTE…. I shall go for now. take care enjoy your weekend.

 

    

 

DIARY OF SMILES BY FIONA CUMMINGS

My poor neighbour, bless her and her family. She had a dreadful man working in her house and well things went terribly wrong that was months ago and still today she is getting her house fixed. I feel so bad for her as she is such a lovely person. Why does crap happen to good people and bad people seem to walk through life in comfortable slippers?

 I have said before in a blog when we move house, I wish I could pick her and her family up and share land with them. Build our houses and still have the best sweetest neighbours.

 

My Husband did something today he hasn’t done before. He forgot to put the recycle bins out. Oh no, and our boxes were full. Bless him though he has never forgot before and today was so dangerous walking I dare not even take my dog to her doggy doodle run. I opened the door stood on the doorstep and hoped to God she went to the toilet where she is supposed to go and now anywhere that takes her fancy… as that is how we know where to find hers and our Little Fella’s recycling…. Hahah.

So, I guess it was a good thing that he didn’t carry those boxes from our back garden to our front. I wonder if we have any winter flowers growing yet? I never know. I must remember to ask someone as last year we had a few snowdrops and other flowers of red. Can’t you tell I’m a gardener? I haven’t a clue of names of things…

 

There are crystals of ice all over the ground here. Apparently, it was too cold yesterday and today to snow.

 

I managed to walk last night to go out with my lovely friend to the cinema. Oh, Bloggets, let me tell you. It was amazing. Firstly, my friend is so good I really like being with her she and I are so natural together. She is so sweet I do feel for her as she works too hard. So hopefully last night sitting through a movie, took her mind of life and gave her a rest.

 

It was a preview of a film to come. It’s out on the 25^th of this month. Let me tell you, it was absolutely brilliant. 9 out of 10. I took my earphones as what they give you at the pictures are not the best of quality. It’s difficult to hear from them. So, there was audio. And oh, I’m still buzzing from the movie. It had a great story, which is rare these days and, it really left you with a great feeling afterwards in fact during too. Great acting too by the main actress and the person who plays her best friend. In fact, there were a lot of good actors in the film.

 

It is starring Jennifer Lopez. It’s called Second Act.

 

If you get the chance to see it, please do. Even men in the audience laughed. I wouldn’t say it was a total comedy, but it did have funny moments in it. It was more about the story which was so real and so good.

 

Back home to the family I can’t think of a better night I have had lately.

 

It’s really sunny so I hope the ice will melt though it’s forecast to be cold tonight too and we are going to the pub quiz. It will be the first time since before Christmas. The staff who run the quiz have been on a long holiday.

 

Well must go now as I have two phone calls to make. Dealing with finance. I need to prepare paperwork luckily, it’s all on my lap top. But I can’t say I’m looking forward to the calls… Thankfully the person or may be people I’m dealing with are nice people and won’t bite my head off… Stay safe and be happy.  To cheer you up if you need cheering up that is, some words.

“So, what if I don’t know what Armageddon”” means, it’s not the end of the world…

I woke up this morning and forgot what side the sun rises from. Then suddenly it dawned on me.

Just been to the shop to buy some Velcro. What a rip off.

I recently decided to get rid of my vacuum cleaner as all it was doing was gathering dust…

Don’t you hate it when someone answers their own question? I do.

250 lbs on earth is 94.5 lbs on Mercury. No, I’m not fat, I’m just on the wrong planet.

 

Take care will be back later.

 

 

 

 

CIRCLE OF FRIENDS TAKE TWO BY FIONA CUMMINGS

Friends are so important so this blog is all about friendship. I wrote something similar yesterday but some of my partially sighted readers had problems with the font, so, here goes I hope this works!

A shorter version to yesterdays…

A true friend is someone who touches your soul. A spirit sister or brother. If you haven’t met yours yet, then hang in there as they are waiting for you. Or, open your heart, as they may have already met with you, you just haven’t noticed yet, but when you do, it’s a really great feeling!

“A single rose can be my garden, a single friend, my world”” Leo Buscaglia

A real friend is someone who walks in when the rest of the world has walked out.

Good friends are those who ask how we are then wait to hear the answer. Ed Cunningham

To me a true friend is someone who has your back. Someone you feel really comfortable with and someone you can be well, yourself with.

“A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails.”” Donna Roberts.  

True friends are like diamonds. Bright, beautiful, valuable and always in style.

A true friend is someone who gives you total freedom and to feel or not feel whatever you are feeling at the time.

“Lots of people want to ride with you in the Limo, but what you want is someone who will travel with you on the bus when the limo breaks down.”” Oprah Winfrey. Haha, I can’t see good old Oprah travelling by bus, can you? But it’s a great and true saying.

 

We will be friends until we are old and senile, then we will be new friends.

a friend who understands your tears is much more valuable than a lot of friends who only understand your smiles.

The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart.

Remember whilst you are waiting for a true friend to come along, learn to make friends with yourself and you will never be alone.

My favourite, a friend to all, is a friend to none…

 

Please let me know if the font in this blog is OK? I appreciate you telling me when it hasn’t worked, without you letting me know, I wouldn’t know, as clever as my software is to talk when I push a key, it doesn’t say, rewind Fifi and change the font. Haha. May be that is in another ten years…

Oh, did I say shorter version?  x

 

 

 

HAVE A PEACEFUL PLEASANT AND PAINFREE DAY

If today is dark tomorrow will be brighter.
Tomorrow is another day.
Be lifted by the light.

A CUT ABOVE THE REST BY FIONA CUMMINGS

Good afternoon Bloggets. A busy day today, a meeting this morning that was really successful and interesting and baking this afternoon.  Today is cool but not freezing. It’s 3 degrees right now and it’s four in the afternoon.

 

Of course, Brexit is big in our news, EU are saying a no deal would mean hard line border for Ireland. If our PM gets kicked out, then it will be very hard for Ireland as Labour if they were to get in, God help us all, are not friendly with people from Ireland. If we are to call another election, then all those who voted to leave, votes were just waisted. And two years of work for nothing. All that money. I just hope Mrs May can pull this off. Bless her, she has had the worst pressure and the worst people working against her. I feel for her. Most people by now would have given up and thrown in the towel. She hasn’t named called like every other MP she has kept calm right through this horrid procedure. EU are fighting against her as they don’t want her to leave the European Union obviously, the media have hated on her because she isn’t a headliner. She comes with no gossip. Where as if they get that fool from Labour in, oh, my, worms will be dug up from his past. Never have I known it where by so many people from the same party have backed stabbed and gone against the Prime Minister in the way this lot have over Mrs May. People have actually said the worst things about her being so nasty in fact being total bullies. And these people are meant to be on her side. There is no loyalty any more in society. People are all out for themselves.

 

There is a plane missing with a footballer onboard in the Channel Islands. Another plane disaster it looks like. Not too long since one crashed set on fire and killed all onboard. And again, connected with football.

 

Can you believe this news? Prince Philips crash, the debris is on sale on eBay. Oh, my word, some people just have too much money.

 

In Liverpool, an idiot digger driver has driven his machine into a hotel reception because of a disagreement with regards money owed to him. £600 was spoken about, well it will cost him a load more than that now. I hope. One person was sent to hospital. Thank goodness it was only one person. What a dreadful specimen of a so-called man to do such a thing!

 

Can you remember the Gatwick airport chaos with the drones? Well they say it cost the airport 15 million pounds. And still people can just go and buy them.

 

In health, scientists say that a simple blood test could diagnose Alzheimer’s ten years before symptoms occur! Fantastic, but then what? ten years of worry or is there treatment?

 

Oh, this is an awful headline. Londoners are sniffing so much cocaine, that eels in the Thames, are now hyperactive…

  Scientists discover a new kind of blood vessel in our bones that could help treat Arthritis. Brilliant news but be cautious as there is a word in that headline that is really important. (Could)

 

Exercising for 30 minutes per day will help you to live until you are 90 experts say.

Today. Tomorrow, may be a different number and age…

But of course, moving will keep you healthier. Otherwise we will rust up and our joints will not move as good as they used to.

 

Vitamin B 12 deficiency is something a lot of people suffer with. Me included. Well the foods we are meant to eat are as follows.

Clams. Yack, that’s me done in.

Liver, again, nope…

Salmon. No, again a salmon has a face and I don’t eat anything with a face.

Beef. Nope.

Ham. No, poor pig.

Plane non-fat Greek Yoghurt. Oh, heck, why is everything so awful?

Low fat milk. Yeah, at last I can have that and I have it, in my cups of tea… That counts, doesn’t it?

Egg. Does that count if you eat a slice of cake?

Cereal. I’m OK with that, not that I eat it but I should, right?

 

There is a lot of vitamin B 12 in vegan foods by the way.  Almond milk and other milks that are dairy free, are actually higher in vitamin B than dairy milk.

 

You can take vitamin B pills but no more than 2 mg per day. Ask your Doctor.

 

The symptoms of a deficiency in vitamin B are as follows.

Feeling very tired. Feeling breathlessness after just a little exercise. A reduced apatite and headaches as well as heart palpitations. A sore mouth and tongue. When you go to the toilet there are symptoms to look out for as well. Gas, constipation and diarrhoea. Well, that just about covers everything, doesn’t it? I mean, constipation and, or, diarrhoea?

But best to know if you are needing help as this could lead to serious conditions.

 

And now onto Melanoma. If we have a mole on our back, even on our arm, how do we as people who can’t see, know? Well we don’t until it could be too late. My dearest friend lives abroad and she is so lucky as she gets a skin doctor to check her over every few months. This is so good and I do wonder as blind people should we get this?

 

What are signs of Melanoma?

Melanoma is not only the deadliest of skin cancer to detect, but if detected early enough and treat, it’s almost 100 per cent treatable.

1 watch out for a mole getting larger or a new one growing.

2 if the mole has a irregular outline

3 if the colours are mixed colours of browns and blacks

4 if it is bleeding oozing or crusting

6 if it itches or starts to feel painful. Now if you are blind, most of those symptoms won’t be recognised. Please keep your children covered and protected in the sun making them wear a sun hat. If they refuse or you think as soon as they are around the corner of the house, they will remove their hat, then show them the worst pictures of cancer. Especially if you can get pictures of children.

 

I got burned so very bad when I was at the Black sea in Russia when I was only 14. I do worry about the damage that was caused.

 

I have cut my foot open. I should have gone to the Doctors, but I really really don’t want to. I shall see what it’s like in a couple of days but it is really painful. I have been into my medical box…. That story is for another day… and tried to find what I need to be Nurse Fifi. Most of the items I knew what they were but some I didn’t. some I used my iPhone with the app Seeing a.i. but it worked on one item but not on the other. So, I had to open a bandage and throw it away as it was the wrong one, luckily, I only waisted one.

 

And finally, kindness is the language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see. You don’t need to see to fall in love or hear to laugh. Your problems may be the same as your neighbours or your neighbours may have troubles that you don’t even know about and if you did know, you would be shocked to learn about. They may smile on the outside, but cry when the doors are closed. Your problems are worrying, but if you have a roof over your head and love in your heart, then trust me, there is someone near you, who is much worse off.

 

To be grateful for fresh air, clean water and a hand to hold. And if you feel alone, loneliness is a pain like no other, remember you really are not alone. So many people, too many people suffer from loneliness as I said, when you feel like that, remember someone near you is feeling the same. Your local church may be a great place to meet others and you know, you could be in a room full of people all around you, but still feel lonely. Sometimes loneliness is a state of mind. And what a state our minds can get in. but our imaginations and positive thoughts even thoughts that may be found in words written by others, can take you to a place where you will feel love and joy.

 

    

  

 

 

 

BLUE MONDAY BY FIONA CUMMINGS

Good day to you dear Bloggets. Well today is known as blue Monday. Every email I haven’t opened today, just by the heading which put me off, was talking about whatever company could cheer me up on this dreadful day, take away my blues etc. well I wasn’t blue thank you for your concern… but why is it called Blue Monday? The concept apparently was first published as part of a 2005 press release from holiday company Sky travel which claimed to have calculated the date using an equation. But I think in the UK for example it’s more like we have ran out of money. We get paid a couple of days before Christmas, so, about the 23^rd. so we expect to get paid every four weeks. It’s four weeks and our credit cards are coming in needing paying and we haven’t had our monthly wage yet, also we have said bye bye to friends and family, got our houses sorted out tidy again after the big event and we now sit back and think, right, now what? kind of an empty feeling mixed in with we haven’t managed to stick with our New Year’s Resolution, and the credit card bill that has come through our post box. Or it could well just be a marketing day all the companies have got together and said let’s try this one with the public. Tell them we can make them feel better then they will think buying from us will cheer them up even though they were already cheerful…. Before our emails that is, and pamphlets through their doors.

 

For those who really do suffer with depression, it’s a bit of a sick joke. As if every person can feel blue on one day only. And as if a simple cure is to book a holiday or buy an outfit? The term to feel blue dates from the 15^th century. But blue is a beautiful colour at the end of the day. Don’t you think?

 

Blue, it’s a pretty word from a lovely whale to music genre. Personally, I can’t stand blues music, but so many of you love it. I think as far as music, the blues, comes from 1912, I didn’t realise it originated that late in life? for some reason, I thought it was older than that.

 

Putting blue screens around people whilst working, has been found to lead improvements in creative problem-solving abilities. Mosquitoes are attracted to the colour blue too.

 

I was reading today about the humble keyboard and typing. The first commercial successful typewriter was patented by Sholes Glidden and Soule about 151 years ago. The world record for typing the English Alphabet for A, to, Z, is 1.36 seconds. Oh, wow, let’s all try and see how long we can do that in? I shall let you know on the next line, give me a second, or a bit longer. Haha.

Oh, my, I was so anxious. I think it’s not logical to type letters that make no sense, and because I knew I was being tested, I had mini brain blocks it took me 11 seconds. How long did it take you to write the 26 letters without a space?

 

BW and Shamrock are off for a walk in the woods, this time not with the pigs… It will be good for them to get out in the fresh air. He’s back at work tomorrow after a few days holiday. I’m so proud of what he has and is, achieving at work. And he seems to be working with a great bunch of people. Hub is all over the country again this week. He’s back in my home town this week again. The way things are, we may as well move back to Newcastle.

 

   Thank you for your messages about yesterday’s blog, you are so kind and supportive. It’s funny as one lovely Blogget and my friend Terry, wrote that they don’t get offered a menu in restaurants and Terry is partially sighted in fact has really good vision. Wears glasses, an yet we are totally blind but still get offered a menu. Haha. Crazy world.

 

And on that note. I’m off to cook. Cook what? not sure. I can’t get warm today. It’s so cold outside but our house has heating, though I am freezing. To be honest, I would just go to bed and sleep. I think the kids are cooking their dinner tonight. So only Hub and myself to cook for. we are going to have Master Chef in our kitchen again with BW and Sham. Later with love.

 

SIGHTED QUESTIONS BY FIONA CUMMINGS

Hub and I had a great day and our dogs were amazing. Thank God for them. It snowed yesterday and it was so cold I thought today it would have been too slippy to walk anywhere, but all the snow had gone away and left just a memory!

 

We got home with rosy cheeks and very wet dogs as the puddles splashed especially on my Waggatail stomach as she is tiny, so low to the ground. Cleaned her up Little Fella just needed his legs cleaning. But he’s cream, so he must have looked a mess.

 

The cool winter burned through our skin but when we got home, it was so warm. We had a cupper and some German Christmas cake. Checked our fit checker and we had walked almost 10,000 steps. It took about an hour and fifteen minutes

 

Hub and I chatted and continued to enjoy our day with a lovely dinner. And now the kids are home and all is happy. I haven’t done 1 per cent of house work. I guess tomorrow I shall pay for that. Double trouble.

 

In our news, you know by now I’m not a fan of Prince Philip. Well two days after he crashed his car pulling out could have killed the people he crashed with, two women and a baby, he has been seen behind the wheel again.

Without a seatbelt.

 

And now onto a subject one of my readers has asked me to write about. Some questions they get asked by others.

Do you find other people are condescending towards you because you are blind?

Answer

Personally, until they get to know me, yes, they are. As they are starting to know me, they may say things like gosh, you amaze me. That is a really popular thing for people to say. I always ask now why do I amaze you? They then tell me and I find their words rather funny. It’s normally because of the simplest things they have seen me do. Sometimes it’s things that they have already asked me about and have stored those answers I have given them and remembered to use as an example and it’s like, well you can cook. Or you manage to wash clothes and iron them.

“What do you get out of going on a holiday?””

Oh, that one normally gets my blood boiling, but I remain calm as these people need educating. And I reply.

The same as you, what do you enjoy about a holiday, I love to turn their stupid question into a rhetorical answer. And it’s amazing, truly amazing, how they actually can’t always describe just what they like about their own holiday and that feeds me the fuel that I need to end the conversation, as I normally get an answer like well, I like the sun, and I like to relax. I love the cocktails and entertainment at nights.

I then say, oh, is that all? Don’t you like to visit the cultural tourist places and mix with the locals? Visit a traditional market, visit their local church and eat their typical foods? Don’t you like to go for walks and see the real country you are visiting? We also like to relax but we get a back or shoulder massage or some other kind of pampering session like Indian head massage.  

               

And then I just wait whilst they pick up their jaw to reply, how do you do all that?

I tell them the same as they do, I take a tour bus or taxi or use my legs to visit the tourist places. Normally going with a sighted person. Then they say, ah, so you don’t really do it?

Do it?

Do what?

OMG.

 

 When I have been in a shop like with my lovely friend Pip, the shop keeper will hand her the receipt. Obviously, I’m not capable of handling my receipt. Hahah. So, I normally ask Pip for the receipt. When I have been with my friend Julie, oh, my, she goes mad. She would actually tell the person behind the till to hand it to me rather than her.

 

I haven’t had this experience but some of my readers have. When they go to a restaurant, the waitress/waiter, will ask the person that can see what we want. OH, stop, yes, I actually remember when I was in America, the waitress kept asking our friend Mary did we want this and that. Until I inwardly flip and said to the waitress, could you please direct your question to me rather than our friend?  But we only have experienced that in America, and thinking back, the Bloggets who have told me these stories, were from America, so, not sure if that is an American thing? May be in the US, restaurants blind people get looked past but in shops it’s different, as when I shopped there for clothes, oh, wow I have never received such kindness. Where they weren’t patronising, but more like treat you like a queen. We don’t get that in our shops, but our restaurants, they seem to be better. Funny that isn’t it? How different countries are different in their approach depending where you go? Either shops or eateries.

 

Another question I know get asked to others, but these are people with glass eyes, they get asked can you cry? My eyes are real and not artificial, so personally I can’t answer that, but I have heard that people with prosthetic eyes do cry though I don’t think they produce tears. But they go through the same feeling in the eyes as those do with the eyes they were born with. I also heard that people with prosthetic eyes don’t need to close their eyes.

But don’t quote me on that.

 

But with my eyes, I do produce tears, and everything else that you do with your eyes that work…. Behind my eyes are broken, not the front.

 

This is important, I get asked this a lot. (How do you recognise people) a lot of people don’t speak to blind people as they pass them in the street. I have asked people over the years, why is this? Their answers are normally because we don’t know if you will know who we are…. So, my answer to those people is as follows.

Say hello to us, please say who you are for example.

“Hi Fiona it’s Lisa.”” Eventually I will get to know your voice. When I first moved into our street, I asked all the neighbours to tell me who they were when they passed. I thought I shall get it out of the way so a habit of ignoring us would not continue. And our neighbours have been fantastic. Especially our neighbour Keith. He always says even now, hello Fiona. I would know who he was even if he didn’t tell me now, but I let him continue as I think it’s a really kind thing for him to do and it also means I will always know who he is.

 

If you have any other questions please just message me or drop me an email. You can leave a comment on Blogger too.

 

Remember to live your life not driven by fear but by love.

 

               

THE WEEKEND DIARY BY FIONA CUMMINGS

The weekend is here. BW didn’t get to the coast, Sham has a bad back. So, they have driven an hour away to eat vegan doughnuts… It’s a shame as it is a perfect crisp day and I think it may rain tomorrow.

 

Apparently, the Duke of Edinburgh, Philip, the Queens husband who crashed his car yesterday, already has a brand-new vehicle waiting for him to drive again. Shocking. The reason he said he didn’t see the other car was because of the sun… in the other car was two ladies and a baby. Thank God they were Okay.

 

Did you hear about the Antarctica expedition findings of tiny ancient water bears? How cute do they sound? I was so curious what is a water bear? Well I went onto Google, and I am none of the wiser. Apart from learning that they had snouts and chubby legs as well as little fat bodies and they live for many years, they can be frozen for 30 years, and still survive and they can go for so long without food. The more I read the more I got confused. I read they have even been sent to space because they are so resilient.

 

I have also been reading about the rings around Saturn, which they say are very young. What are the rings, are they   some kind of gas? If I were to ask my Son, he would tell me and my lesson would be two hours long. But he’s out…

 

Well it’s taken away Pizza for dinner. So, no cooking for me. Result. I will have three slices of Pizza and sadly I will be full. I always get a small one. And still can’t finish it. Leaving a couple of slices. Hub gets a large one. BW won’t be wanting one as he had them last night as him and Sham cooked home-made Pizza. But he said he will sort himself out.

 

I’m going to plan to decorate one of our bedrooms. It’s a small room and hasn’t been decorated for six years. And it’s had the same lampshade up that long too. I’m ashamed. So, on Monday I shall start to clear the room out by removing the pictures from the wall and in my head, I shall plan the colour I shall have it painted. I’m thinking of baby blue. Or some kind of soft blue. I may do our bathroom the same colour. Right now, the bedroom is really dark red well two walls the other two are beige. The bedding is beige with some red in with matching curtains. The lampshade is suede and it’s layered one line is black the next beige the next red. So, a light blue almost white, will give a fresh feel.

 

There is a play in London that is so graphic that last night someone in the audience fainted an ambulance had to be called out and it’s a sell-out. I do wonder what kind of person goes to see such a play? What kind of mind? Apparently one scene the man grabs the woman from the back of her neck and cuts her just above her eye. From the start to the end, it’s violent and very graphic. I just couldn’t sit through that.

 

I’m like a little girl as I have bought some plastic make up drawers. Sounds tacky.

They are, I’m sure.

And they are typical what a teenage girl would use. Not a (32) woman…

……… Stop it…

I am, 32… plus VAT… and any interest… in a good bank account.

 

I’m so excited to sort out and organise my makeup. I think I am living my girly days, even for half an hour…

  what should have been my girly days, I was a married woman, or child, depending how you look at the age I was.

 

35 is when you eventually get your head together and your body starts to fall apart. Haha.

 

My brother was also very young when he married. 18. He and my Sister in law have just renewed their wedding vows in Jamaica. They have been married coming up to 40 years.

   Imagine being married that long? If Hub and I had married when he finished University, we would have had our 28^th anniversary. I was watching something on line yesterday where this lovely old gent was talking so fondly about his wife who sadly died. He was so very much in love with her. He sounded ancient. The lady was asking him so many questions about her. Hair colour, style, what her lips were like eyes and smile.  I really at that point didn’t understand what the interview was about, as she seemed obsessed by the ladies looks. I heard nothing only their voices. The man kept filling up with tears. He sounded like a black man but not sure. He was so full of love and missed his Darling so very much. They I think had been married 60 years when she died. Wow, to be with someone that long and then lose them is so very sad. It really is a part of your life…

 

Well I did wonder why this interviewer was going on and on about his wife and the way she looked. Then at the very end, she said to the man, well I have finished now, does this look like your wife?

I then realised she had been either drawing or painting his wife. Well he started to cry as he couldn’t believe the similarity of the picture and what his wife actually looked like. Now, the artist acted as if she had never even seen a photograph of the lady. And my friend Terry watched the video too and said that at the end the picture was put next to a photograph of his wife and they were identical. That is a great talent but also required the man to give a great description of his wife.

 

The air outside today is full of horrid smoke from the log fires in our avenue of all sorts. It’s so very cold out there. But so warm in our house thank goodness. I am blessed that we have heating right through our house. I never take it for granted. I remember when it as a child, we had a coal fire that is all until I was a certain age then we got plug in radiators and then when I was eleven, we moved into a new house and had gas heating right through the house, oh, it was so lovely as we moved in the snow-covered winter. At our boarding school it was really cold in the horrid long cold unhomely dormitories. The bathrooms were really cold too. When you took a bath, you didn’t want to get out, but time with our friends went so fast, we were hungry for every second.

 

Did you know that the world uses about 320 billion kilowatt-hours of energy per day?

The same as 22 lightbulbs burning constantly for every single person.

Solar provides only 1 % of the world’s energy. Is that all? You may ask, as I, did.

In Denmark they have wind blades that provide 20 per cent of the nation’s electrical needs. In Germany, there is a fiberglass and steel prototype which stands 600 feet, 183 meters tall.

In a beautiful part of England, the Lake District, 22 towers are planned. But locals are protesting. I agree with them. There are so many ugly places, why spoil the beautiful Lake District?

 

In Germany, they use burning vegetable oil and use about 450 gallons   about 3 per cent of its total diesel consumption.

 

All I know is we are killing our planet but as I sit in my lovely warm house as Mr Jack Frost taps at my window, I should feel guilty. I should put more warmer clothes on. We have become soft in our old age. Too comfortable with the fact that we have hot water when we turn a tap on. I do like the idea that cars now turn off at traffic lights for example. And in our local buss park it’s not allowed to have their engines on unless they are about to pull away.

 

As I already wrote about, they are saying we need to eat less red meat to help to save our planet too, well in that case I am saving my share as I haven’t eaten red meat in 22 years.

 

So, what are you doing this weekend? Working, playing or staying at home? Tomorrow will tell what I am doing and Sunday our Dogs are having their free run. They better be better behaved than what they were when I took them out the other day. They were really naughty, no way they would come back when I blew their whistle.

 

Thank you for the comments from yesterday’s blog on quotes, here are some more.

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it’s only to be understood. Marie Curie.

“some cause happiness where ever they go, others whenever, they go.”” Oscar Wilde

If you can’t be a good example, then you will just have to serve as a horrible warning.

A bit of a mystery, how can a two pounds box of chocolates make a person gain five pounds.

And finally, an American proverb. Before borrowing money from a friend, decide which you need most.