Ye Olde Style Coffee Shoppe

rchddap1

All I have close to me is a small Co-op. Until of course I get my allotment and we start to grow things. In the mean time though we have some potatoes growing in the borders of our postage stamp garden. They seem rather happy too.

squeaky

apprentice_tycoon wrote:

Squeaky - I am on record as being the nosiest of all Old Stylers, my Getting to Know you question is there for everyone to see as proof - so tell me to bu

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off if you like, but why the stick, what happened?

Once upon a time I ran a half marathon in 1hr 29min which ain't bad for a fun runner... I'd signed up for the next London Marathon and was even planning to go run the original one in Greece...

..but I started getting cramps. Turns out that my aorta was getting furred up, after having been a smoker.

The aorta is the biggest artery in your body, as thick as your thumb. Stick your thumb out now and look at it.

Mine finished up being blocked solid. No blood going though a section of it at all. Not a drop. Nada.

I was a hairsbreadth away from blocking up the feed to my kidneys which would have finished me off quite quickly.

As it was; your muscles store up a certain amount of energy and as you start working them they get topped up from your blood flow. Mine weren't getting topped up and I was moving slower and slower as they ran out of juice. The quarter mile to the village shop and back took me over an hour until the day when I completely failed to get home under my own steam!

I bought a stick earlier when I realised that I'd just been overtaken by two retired old gents with sticks and was barely keeping pace with a very old dear with a zimmer frame!

Anyway - I got gutted and filleted big time and had the artery section (aorta and both femorals) replaced with plastic.

I'm much more mobile now though I have similar problems 'cos the arteries in my legs are shot too and there's no real way to replace them effectively. A messed up back and knees that have forgetten how to bend without complaining mean that I still need the stick.

Besides, it's my signal flag to other pedestrians that I'm walking this slowly because I can't walk any faster and not because I'm being a pain and getting in people's way.

As long as I pace myself I can go quite a way. Stop often to watch the scenery etc while my legs catch up with me

moggins

Well, I'm disappearing for the rest of the day, I want to get some bulk cooking done. I have 10 days left until the end of the money month and want to buy as little as possible.

Ticklemouse

Good grief - I spend most of one day away from the PC and then look what I miss - all the chat as well as all the cakes. Hope you've some more good 'uns in this morning guys.

I'm feeling very virtuous this morning - I'm really not a morning person but today I'm showered and hair washed and kids ready all before DS1 leaves for school (This had started to slip as DS1 gets a lift in now and I do the afternoon run) I've taken my bleachy cloth and cleaned my keyboard (a la Kim and Aggie), having remembered to do it BEFORE I switch the PC on. Also wiped/disinfected all those little places you never think about - all door handles, light switches, banisters etc. Got my laundry on, beds made, kitchen cleared, hoovering all done yeserday and still clean. Just got to decide what's for tea - a non crock pot day today, unless I decide to do meat balls..... hmmm, idea of it growing..... must go and defrost some mince.

Catchya laters and make mine a cappucino with carrot cake please.

TM

spendaholic

moggins wrote:

How on earth did they get away with that one? That's the meanest thing I have ever hear considering they advertise themselves as so friendly with all their FairTrade stuff

I think it was considered better to repackage empty retail premises as residential rather than leave them empty - the mining community here is just coming out of a 20 yr depression.

But there is light ... a florist has just opened and the old wine merchants is now a vet's surgery. Oh, and we have a funeral parlour here too. But note: none are in competition with the Co-op.

Made me view the Co-op differently at any rate.

Galtizz

spendaholic wrote:

..... But our nearest large village with "proper" shops is just under half an hour away on foot, and so I've been putting it off, choosing to drive anywhere outside of our village instead.

I have a Lidl within about 10minutes walk but if I need anything complicated (like lasagne sheets) I have to go to Tesco or Asda which are both a good 1/2 hours walk (albeit a nice scenic walk) I used to go by car too but last week I dug my bike out of the shed and I cycled at the weekend. I can't get as much in my back pack as I would carrying carrier bags or pulling a trolley but it is only a 15 minute cycle rather than a 1/2 hour walk so it doesn't feel so far. I am planning to get some of those panniers that you put over the back of the bike so I can carry more.

The extra bonuses of all this walking and cycling is:

1. You can't carry as much so you only buy what you really need.
2. You don't have to pay to go to the gym or keep fit as it's all free excercise.
3. You don't spend as much money on petrol.
4. And an extra bonus for the bike, if you can stick to off road tracks you can go to the pub (or a friends), have a drink (or 4) and not have to get a taxi home :beer:

Eliza252

Well, I've stopped craving a cigerette after Squeaky's story! Good on you for doing so well after all the ops! I vote we make the coffee shop a non-smoking establishment.............

I live in central london so there are numerous local stores near me but they are all expensive metro type things (booo!)
On the plus side there are so many markets I rarely need to go in them anyway!

I dont have a car so I walk EVERYWHERE. And I walk to and from work if its under an hour away cus I hate the thought that I have to work the first hour to pay for my transport.

spendaholic

Gosh, Eliza - is that the new avatar?

Cool.

moggins

Yippee, house is cleaned, tea is in the slow cooker and there's two loaves of onion bread in the breadmaker.

Galtizz

:T well done Moggins.

What tip has everyone suggested to Andrea to include in this weeks tips?

I suggested the gardening ones last week to Andrea.