Pic of the week 31/3/24
Its been my birthday week! On Thursday I turned 55 – no getting away from it, I’m definitely mid-fifties now – Sophie and Sam both came home for the start of Easter on Wednesday so it was been nice to have them home for my birthday tea, and it was nice to finish for the Easter hols at lunchtime on my birthday; a couple of tough weeks at the end of term made it a bit of a slog, but now I’m on holiday, all is well with the world.
Its been a busy week. On Wednesday I went for my blood tests and on Thursday I got my results – another nice birthday gift as I have been given the all clear as my levels are all within limits and I’m signed off from the docs “Normal, stable or satisfactory – no further action required” for all test. Here are the numbers:
- Serum cholesterol 4.6 mmol/L
- Serum triglycerides: 1.0 mmol/L (normal is range 0.6 to 2.0)
- Serum cholesterol/HDL ratio: 3.7
- Se non HDL cholesterol level: 4.1 mmol/L
Wednesday also saw me get absolutely frozen on the football pitch at Kingweston. It has been a wet winter, and rain was forecast for the afternoon, but after a huge downpour that morning, I headed over in sunshine, hoping that we’d escaped. But no, on arrival it started to rain, but by the time I trotted down to pitch 5 it had stopped, and we started the game. 5 mins in, the heavens opened with a biblical hail storm that lasted a good ten minutes. It was painful and cold! Eventually the storm passed, and the sun even came out, but ten mins from time, the hail returned, I blew for full time early, much to the delight of everyone. A truly miserable experience!
The previous half term ended with the red shed dying at Kingweston, this term ended with me buying its replacement – “the silver dream machine”, “The Beast” or “The Asbo maker” depending on your view – or, more appropriately, hearing.
The Silver Dream Machine, aka The Beast
It is a 2003 Honda Civic – I really like it, drives and stops well, circa 102K miles, some good service history, but it is loud, very LOUD! I think that until 2023 it was well looked after then, for a year, was in the hands of a boy racer who added a “sports” exhaust and external air filter and some big sub-woofers in the boot (the speakers have gone, but the wiring is still there). Even Sam – and the car is earmarked to go to him in August – thinks its too loud. I have a normal exhaust on order (£61) due to arrive on Thursday – should be a simple replacement fit and I’ll stop terrifying the locals as I cruise the streets of Street.
Saturday was a lovely day and Becky and I grabbed the opportunity to enjoy a few hours sat outside in the sunshine, Sunday remained dry (until the biblical rains returned Sunday night) but grey and cold. On both days I took the opportunity to do some gardening – Saturday hacking back the box bush out front – it has suffered due to caterpillar action – and on Sunday I cut a lot of the top off the bush on the top deck that continues to grow and grow and, unforgivably, was casting shade when we wanted to make the most of the rare appearance of some spring sunshine. It will grow back, I’m sure, I just hope the same can be said of the box bush.