Tag: health

The clock – heartbeat of the home.

Stick with me on this one, I’ll get there eventually it’s a bit of a ramble but I promise I’ll get there.

It’s 04:45 in the morning and I am awake. I’m beside my lovely wife in a bed in her friend’s house in Sunbury west London. It’s a lovely old house with a beautiful back garden in one of Londons leafier suburbs. I’m awake as I’m listening to a beautiful dawn chorus where the birds have awoken and are obviously discussing avian issues quite vocally and beautifully through birdsong. It s a lovely sound and one of natures most pleasant daily occurrences, by the sounds of it it’s going to be a lovely sunny day.

I’m blessed with exceptionally good hearing. Some may call it a curse but to me it’s a godsend. My wife states that i,”Can hear a fly fart from 50ft away” and she’s probably not wrong to be honest. It’s a godsend, as it seems the female members of her family, yes all of them, have particularly bad hearing and my dear wife is in fact registered as partially deaf, and if it wasn’t for her super duper high tech hearing devices she would more than likely be totally deaf. Therefore, my superb hearing doubles as her safety blanket when I am with her. It’s just one of those strange coincidences in life when you are magically paired with someone to be their help, in their time of need. I’ve already stated in earlier posts how she has helped and nurtured me through our life together. There is truly a mystical tie that binds.

I dropped my wife off at her friends house about 11 days ago, just prior to me heading back north to begin a stint of night shifts. It’s allowed the two of them to have some real good time with each other to catch up and do the things they enjoy doing. Her friend as you would already know, if you follow my journal posts, had some quite serious issues last year with some mental health issues after the passing of her long time partner a couple of years back. The wife switched into full time angel mode to help her, and I remain so proud of them for what they have both achieved. You don’t just suddenly get better from such an episode, but she has improved so much she is pretty much back to the old her we used to know, and have always loved. Thankfully my wife has a constant eye on her, and is speaking to her at least 3-4 times a day, so there is really no chance of her sinking back into the abyss she has just come out from, as my wife firmly has hold of the support rope keeping her back from falling down once again.

The very clock I’m talking about

Now the clock analogy. I love clocks. Good old fashioned clocks that tick mechanically, not the digital versions that silently do their thing within the scope of silence. I’ve stated that my hearing is above par, and you’d think noise would be a curse. Well it is sometimes. In a silent house such as our own that has those very same digital clocks, I do hear everything. It’s an old house that makes noises. Pipes clank, floorboards creak and changes in temperature cause expansion and contraction noises all around. My hearing is such that I’m not at peace until I can associate a noise with the potential creator, yes I overthink even when I am attempting to sleep, i want total silence and that is not possible in an old house.

However at my wife’s friend’s house it is different. It’s an old house, digital clocks do not exist here and all clocks are mechanical, this house has a heartbeat. I have something to focus on and that comforts me into the most peaceful sleep, and awakes me at the other end with the most wonderful birdsong from outside. I love it.

When I delivered my wife here 11 days ago I had focussed on that clock heartbeat in our bedroom only to be mystified as to why, half way through the night the clock had stopped ticking, its heart had stopped. Why?

It became apparent the next morning that I looked at the clock that the hour hand was bent out of shape, and on its journey around the clock face the minute hand had clashed with it and it had come to an abrupt stop. This had occurred, and come to light when her friend had spoken with her step-son and found out that he hated the sound of a ticking clock and had fumbled in the night to hide it away causing the damage to the two hands.

Now as you know, I love fixing stuff and this item needed my help. The hands were very delicate and to be honest I didn’t think they were strong enough to take being bent back into shape. I used some tweezers and gently moved them back into position and I was able to restore that heartbeat.

I sit here now writing, getting great comfort from that ticking in the background. I don’t know why, I can only presume that like a child laying against its mothers breast, they gain great comfort from hearing their mothers heart beating. Maybe it’s the same with me? That constant, accurate non stop repetitive sound gives me something to focus on, turning my good hearing away from all the other little distractions that keep me awake.

I know one thing, I’m on the lookout for a good old fashioned mantle clock, or wall clock to have within listening distance of the bedroom at our house, that I can focus on.

I wish I could have been a horologist, working on clocks is tantamount to being a heart surgeon in my eyes. A most fantastic invention, and how I would love to be someone who looks after these fantastic mechanical masterpieces, however my eyesight is what lets me down here. But guess what? My wife’s eyesight is perfect. See, we are truly made for each other!

A house needs a heartbeat.

Have a super day everyone.

Anticipation and Hope

What is the biggest challenge you will face in the next six months?

Well there’s a question.

I think my biggest personal challenge is going to be health related, things that have concerned me in the past, that were under control, have now started to raise their horrible little heads above the parapet again. But there is always hope, and if you have a modicum of hope then you are in a good place. Anyway I’m not going to bore anyone with my issues.

Let’s look at what other challenges I’m liable to face in the next six months. I know that within the next few weeks my wife will be saying that the house needs to go up for sale, that’s because we’ve been looking around a little town on the outskirts of where we live and we’ve seen some nice properties, ones that remain warm in winter unlike our old 1930s semi that we currently reside in. And when that day comes where she says it’s happening, I’m then going to be fully employed getting the place spruced up and dealing with those little diy projects that I’ve put on hold for sometime. That said, we also have a plan if we don’t decide to sell, where we are going to extend the property that will also keep me occupied for many a month.

So I anticipate being challenged to work as much outside of work as inside it, but hey that’s nothing new!

I think in the Uk as general though, we are all going to be challenged over the next few months especially with the ever increasing cost of living, and a wage structure that is not rising commensurately. Businesses, especially those smaller ones that are failing miserably as there is no support from a system that is systematically strangling the life from them, I know of this first hand as friends in such a business are really struggling.

So forget my little struggles, as a society the next six months, will probably make or break us as a collective, it’s getting to the point that one more little straw will break the camels back. I sincerely hope I’m very wrong and everything will miraculously change, but it’s just that my realistic head thinks it’s not going to be, but as I said at the very beginning this is where “Hope” comes in to play.

I Hope that things improve for everyone in the next six months, as it cannot be allowed to decline any further.

Stay safe, be happy.

Work

Do you need a break? From what?

I think I wrote a good time back about creating a good work life balance. I actually stick to that and I’m now enjoying a good separation from my workload much to the displeasure of my bosses who seem to think you are contracted to work for them 24hrs a day, 7 days a week.

Now I don’t like to disappoint people, however excessive hours were affecting both my family life and my health and ultimately that combination would have probably finished me off, and that’s no good to anyone. Now they have me working at my best, and most productive and a recent yearly review was very complimentary to me and my work ethic. So that’s a good thing👍

The real answer to the question that I’ve been skirting around is that I need a break from Work. I’m probably a couple of years away from retirement now, and I’m so looking forward to that. We already have plans in place and I’m looking forward to that final day I leave work and close the door for the last time.

I’ve done my time, it’s now time to give the youngsters a go. Let’s be honest we are only ever numbers at work, and the minute you leave someone else will be doing your role, without there ever being a second thought for you.

You’ve done your time, paid your dues it’s now time to go and enjoy your autumn years.

Peace.

Take time to relax

In what ways does hard work make you feel fulfilled?

I’m of a generation that in general was a working generation where hard work was the norm if you wanted to get by. The computer only started to appear in its most basic form when I was in my last year of schooling, the mobile phone didn’t appear until a good few years later.

I think I’ve mentioned this before but I’m an individual who always has to be occupied with something, as I hate wasted time. My work involves a raft of different capabilities, I’m a classic “Jack of all trades and master of none” if that makes sense. My job is to get things moving on the rail network, that means calling in different skills and abilities to ensure the goal of getting things moving is achieved.

At home I’m always switched on and have to be doing something even if that’s a hobby activity to keep the mind busy. I have days off from work and the wife will openly tell you that if I don’t do something that I class it as a wasted day, I have to be busy.

However it’s become apparent over the last couple of years that this type of attitude can’t continue, if I’m tired the body is telling me something and I must rest. I had a little episode about 18 months back when I awoke one morning with horrendous double vision and then lost my sight for a few hours, now that was scary. It appears I had a type of mini stroke where a small bubble entered the fine blood vessels behind my eye causing the issue. That day my whole outlook changed and though I still like to keep busy, I have changed my ways somewhat and rest is now incorporated into my down time. Nothing is more important than your health.

So I’m still fulfilled by keeping busy, but now that has had to change to being fulfilled by keeping happy and healthy.

Too many people before me have worked themselves into an early grave. I don’t want to be another number in that statistic.

Have a restful productive day.

Thoughts 4/3/24

Describe a phase in life that was difficult to say goodbye to.

I had always been a fit and active individual, taking in part in any challenge that came my way. I used to set myself physical challenges that I’d always throw myself into without any fear or concern for injury. However come the mid fifties of my life and aspects of my health changed immensely. I began feeling pains and symptoms I’d never felt before and have had to accept since then that my mind is issuing cheques that my body can no longer cash.

Yes my mind is active but age has meant I am now having to say good bye to the health I once enjoyed.

It’s like being asked to leave a party when you are just starting to enjoy it…

Stay young if you can, enjoy life. Peace to you all.