The Garden Fence - proper Old Style support and chat!

Hard_Up_Hester

Oh Mar what a bu66er. Lol Mrs LW, some great ideas there.
After yesterday's 18 hour day I managed a lie in until 7:30, CHS has a 3 day week next week so I only have to get up at 5am three times and only 2 of those days include childcare.
Hugs to those worried and in need.

silvasava

Just nipping in to wish positive vibes for Nargles DH today.
Forced myself to yoga last night - I feel as if I've seized up this morning & need the tin man's oil can!
DH going out on his trike this morning so will get on with really exciting dusting, hoovering and washing the kitchen floor - still haven't cleaned the windows. I did manage quite a lot of gardening yesterday though in my defence
Mar - that's awful - are you able to qualify for a different benefit at all?
FPK - we've a bird bath in the garden - it's amazing how many birds use it - we're always filling it up, sometimes every day as we get a small flock of starlings that all decide to have a group bath - while the sparrows sit underneath enjoying the shower - it get really comical at times.

ivyleaf

Good morning everyone

mar So sorry to hear about your DLA. Have you appealed?

Nargleblast Thinking of you both today.

greenbee and VJs mum Thank you for what you've said about travelling for work. If he does get the job, I'll make sure he thinks of arranging flights to give him time to have a look round.

greenbee - In Auckland you can go up the Sky Tower and get a great view of the city and surrounding areas. My favourite thing there was the Museum in the Domain. it's called the War Memorial museum, and one floor is devoted to that; another is full of Maori and Polynesian artefacts, and one full of exhibits of NZ wildlife.

I did the dreaded ironing of linen tops and trousers yesterday. Our iron has done very well considering it was the cheapest one in asda about 12 years ago, but I've decided it's time to look for a new one. I need to actually see them in the shop so I can check their weight (needs to be heavy enough but not too heavy) and make sure I can see how full the water tank is, so will drag Mr ivyleaf to JL to start with. Currys is nearer, but their irons are displayed too high up to get an idea of the weight, and it's always hard to find a member of staff there unless you don't need one. The last one we bought there was a beauty, a "professional" one, but proved to be too heavy for someone with muscle problems so I passed it on to DD2 who also needed a new one at the time.

VJsmum

greenbee wrote: »

On my next trip I have a day in Melbourne, one in Auckland and one in Hong Kong (with a flight between the last two) so I'm hoping for a bit of downtime rather than catching up on email

A day in Hong Kong. Walk along the promenade at Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon (pronounced chim chao choi) and includes the 'avenue of the stars' (but you'll probably only ever have heard of jackie Chan . Walk to the Star Ferry Terminal and get a star ferry to Hong Kong Island. From there make your way to Victoria Peak and get the train (or walk) up to the top. Fantastic views. There's shopping on the island but I'm not a big shopper so don't know where to go (there's also a shopping centre and restaurants at the top of victoria peak). You could ride a din-din (tram) on the island, just cos.

if you've time or you don't want to stray too far from the airport Big Buddha is worth a visit - but it does take quite a few hours. and, of course, there's always Disneyland

A good curry is to be had at Gaylord in Kowloon. And if you are there (in HK) in the evening then the Ladies market is a good experience - i got my fake converse there. Have a good trip

Thinking of nargleblast - hope all is well.

Went to see the Dambusters at the cinema last night as part of the 75th anniversary. Singing the theme tune in my head now - and so will you be :rotfl: Goodness but it's shocking to think how young Guy Gibson was - 24, only 5 years older than my DS (though by all accounts he was a bit of an @r$e and nothing like Richard Todd...)

I have managed to get on a pair of trews that i couldn't last summer :T (did i say i was happy with how my diet was going ) having my first alcohol for a month later - a Gand T as i think i shouldn't react to that. Chin chin

greenbee

Thanks for all the ideas I know I'll need to make myself go out and do stuff rather than collapse in a heap!

Ivyleaf - DS also needs to be careful with his planning when doing a lot of travel. Blocking plenty of time at the airport and plenty of time to get there is important (I currently have an issue with someone who has booked a customer meeting in my travel time to the airport, and is happily telling me I don't need to leave that early - but I do, in case there are problems, and I don't like cutting it fine as I'm the one who then has to sort out another flight and hang around at the airport). Making clear when you are/are not available for meetings, allowing time for exercise/eating properly/sleep/keeping on top of email, working out hotel laundry days etc are all important. And I find that often the people I'm visiting are so pleased to see me they don't consider my jet lag, tiredness, need to have personal time and to survive until the end of the trip.

C_J

VJsmum wrote: »

There's shopping on the island but I'm not a big shopper so don't know where to go

Once you're on the island, take the number 6 bus from Central out to Stanley, where there is a fantastic market.

Back on the mainland, there are some good factory outlet warehouses along Cheung Sha Wan Road in Sham Shui Po (get there by MTR).

VJsmum

C_J wrote: »

Once you're on the island, take the number 6 bus from Central out to Stanley, where there is a fantastic market.

Back on the mainland, there are some good factory outlet warehouses along Cheung Sha Wan Road in Sham Shui Po (get there by MTR).

Yes, Stanley is lovely - but i thought it might be too far for one day.

Floss

Ivyleaf my DH used to do 2- or 3-week trips to USA & Canada and Israel...he always planned long trips with a weekend in somewhere interesting like Philadelphia, Chicago, Memphis, Jerusalem etc. so he enjoyed his leisure time. Also, if there is somewhere significant nearby to budget time & cash if possible - he was in Japan in 2014 about 100 miles from Hiroshima and wishes he'd paid the £130 train fare to visit the memorial area, as he is unlikely to go back now as with different employers.

Nargleblast

Good afternoon, Fencers.

The good news is that all the tumour was removed. The not so good news is that all the lymph nodes were affected, and the tumour, which they initially thought was a grade 2, looked more like a grade 3, so more aggressive.

Plan - urgent CT ordered, hopefully will take place next week. Then oncologist appointment on May 30 to discuss treatment plan. Chemotherapy to start after that (probably six cycles) then radiotherapy to finish the job.

We thought he might need chemo so no surprises there. It was a bit of a shock to hear all his lymph nodes contained tumour cells, but as the Macmillan nurse said, if the CT shows anything happening elsewhere they can tweak the treatment and nuke the beggar.

So, no need to plan for funerals at the moment, but his treatment is going to be more intensive and take longer than we initially thought.

It is what it is, and we are more than ready to deal with it.

Thanks everybody for all the kind thoughts and positive vibes, you don't know how much that helps.

ivyleaf

Thank you so very much for the travel advice, you're all brilliant :T

Apparently he'd only be travelling within Europe, and it doesn't sound as if he'd spend long on each trip, e.g. go to Paris one day, come home the next, though it may turn out he sometimes needs to go from one customer site to another. Apparently the company is currently trying to cover the whole of their customers in Europe with 3 engineers and one manager! We'll see. At least jet lag shouldn't be too much of a problem, as I don't think anywhere is more than 2 hours ahead. And if he did cut it too fine to catch his flight home, I bet he'd never do it again!

Nargleblast Just seen your post - thank you for the news. What a PITA! Poor Mr Nargle. I don't know what else to say, except that thoughts and prayers will be with you.