Nice wine and it's French

Often we have a nice bottle of wine and decide that we should make a note of its name. This note taking either gets lost or does not happen. I have therefore decided to take a photo and blog any decent bottles. This incidentally was half price at Tesco's.

Night Flowers

I felt a bit sluggish this morning probably as a direct result of the curry and champagne - the weather doesn't help either. We popped to Canterbury mailnly to let Hannah spend some of her Birthday money. We couldn't stay long as we only had enough change for one hours parking. Hannah bought a few bits and we called into Dad's on the way home. After the rain and thunderstorm the sun briefly appeared - I took a few photos in the garden.

Wednesday 9th - Saturday 12th May

From 2007-05-12 Ha...

I went back to work on Wednesday and have found it difficult. I had some time off to go to Jean's funeral then Pam's admission to hospital followed by my 'Dizzy' incident - this has all left me feeling out of the loop. It was Hannah's birthday on Saturday. We took a group of her friend's roller skating at Sandwich and Hazel and I went to the Gym. Whilst running on the treadmill I started to feel a little wobbly again, I then tried to do a little resistance training but continued to feel unwell. Basically I just had to stop and go and sit downstairs. As the afternoon continued I felt gradually better. Once all the kids had gone home we had an Indian takeaway and a bottle of champagne - it's a hard life!!

Tuesday 8th May

A trip to the Doctor's today. Blood pressure tablets Diovan doubled to 160mg a day - and I thought the excercise was doing me good! Need to make an appointment for the first week in July. I contacted the health insurance people ant they need to know the name of the ENT specialist that I have been referred to - will leave this a couple of days to see if I receive a letter.

The kids were at school and Hazel at work after the bank holiday - to be honest I felt a bit of a fraud being off.

Skateboard

Sunday 6th May

A trip to Canterbury - new school shoes for Thomas and trousers for Hannah. Thomas and I quickly completed our task - the Slater's staff helpful as ever. Hazel and Hannah not so successful so they will need a trip to Dover on Monday. I was due to play in a Band concert today but due to the ear problem decided it best to give it a miss. We would still need to go as Hannah was due to play in the junior band. We got to Walmer Green earlier than we probably needed to, got seets and sat in the cold sea breeze and listened to the first half of the concert performed by the main band. It seemed strange not to be playing but it was good to have the opportunity to listen. The first thing that I noticed was just how scrapppy a lot of it sounded - I have to say I was quite dissapointed. Certain pieces that sound good in the Bandroom - David of the White Rock for instance, sounded dreadful live. The highlight of the afternoon was without doubt the learner band. They performed really well and I for one was very proud. We didn't stay for the second half due mainly to the weather... Home to watch the BTCC racing from Thruxton followed by a Sunday roast.

Saturday 5th May

I was told in no uncertain terms that I was do very little today and that is pretty much what happened. Hazel took Hannah rollerskating and went to the gym, Thomas went into town with his friends. I stayed in and realising just how much I dislike doing so little. The highlight of the day was probably takeaway pizza!!

Friday 4th May

First item on today's agenda a trip to the Doctors. I am told that
yesterday's incident exhibited classic Meniere's symptoms. This will
need to be confirmed by an ENT specialist meanwhile I have another
Doctors appointment scheduled for Tuesday.

--
Cheers
Alan

Thursday 3rd May

A fairly steady morning at work - sat at my desk thinking about going to make a cup of tea. Hazel was in the lounge chatting with one of her friends.

I had noticed that the deaf feeling in my left ear was getting worse - starting to feel 'full' like when you are in a plane and your ear needs to pop. I knew immediately that I needed to get to the bathroom so attempted to get out of my chair. The room was spinning and I felt totally disorientated, I was unable to stand so crawled to the bathroom. I thought splashing my face with water would offer some relief but it didn't - I had to throw up. I sat huddled around the toilet in a sort of spinning hell - every time I moved my head the nausea hit me and I was sick again. I was effectively stuck and now sweating profusely - I wanted to call Hazel but couldn't. Although to be perfectly honest there is not much anyone can do to help. I remained in this predicament for what seemed an eternity was was now feeling very cold due to my sweat drenched clothes. The nausea had eased a little so I crawled back to the office, taking a bucket with me and managed to get myself onto the settee. This movement again caused me to be sick. I remained in this semi conscious shivering state until I heard Hazel at he front door seeing off her friend. I tried calling but this brought on the inevitable sickness - eventually she heard me.

Hazel called the doctor for advice and went to pick up a prescription - I stayed put not moving my head until the symptoms eased.

Wednesday 2 May

Work today - had the usual quarterly pain of entering our 'smart' goals. Thinking about it is always much worse than actually getting on and doing it. As it happens we managed to complete before lunch so I decided that as it was a nice day I would go for a run. I haven't been running for ages but now I feel fitter through going to the gym I wanted to try running again. I set off from home to the roundabout and then down Whitfield hill. The run to the bottom was easy but not so when I turned at the bottom to come home. The hill is almost a mile long and progressively gets steeper - I had to walk some of the way but got home in about 20 minutes.

Wednesday as ever is karate night - not for me, we take Hannah and while she is there go to the gym for 1.5 hours. I couldn't manage much cardio due to my legs aching from the run but tried to remember some of the free weight exercises that Derek had shown me.