We have had such a good week so far that my best word to sum up the week is beautiful. Mind you, it hasn’t been perfect or gone totally to plan, but it has been a beautiful week overall. We were both off work and had planned a mix of visiting with friends, catching up on chores, going to the dentist, and visiting places we’ve always wanted to go to.
On Monday morning, while getting dressed to meet friends from Northampton, I suddenly had a really bad pain in my upper back. I couldnt figure out what had brought on this pain, as I hadn’t pulled anything as far as I knew. Not only that, I had felt perfectly fine when I woke up, too! The pain was so bad, and it even felt worse when I took a deep breath, walked with my back in a good posture, or even laughed. It was weird. ThenI remember that Leisa had had a similar thing happen two years ago when we were in Florida. Someone had suggested trying Aleve, so we brought some back with us. It did the trick, and I was so relieved.
The pain didn’t go right away, but it subsided enough for us to have a good day, chatting and laughing, going for lunch, and then checking out a new Barnados charity shop close to home, and ending off the day with some shopping for Jamaican food products that we’ve been missing from back home.
We enjoyed the company of our friends, and we were particularly proud of our friend Ann👌🏾, who drove all the way to us, braving the motorways and all. She had company, but still… We are still not brave enough to do motorways, and we don’t think we ever will, lol.
The visit to the dentist took much longer than we had anticipated, but we were free and available to start the round of treatment being proposed. There were so many children at the dentist, and then we remembered that it was half-term break, so they were available too. We didn’t see much of the teenage ones who are usually loud and boisterous on the streets. They must have still been in bed, or maybe out of our way and in the city centre, lol.
Not having to work this week also meant that we could get on with some DIY as we enjoy doing. Anything we can manage to do ourselves, we will do. And this week it was time to give the space under the stairs a refresh. We stripped the wallpaper that has been there since the house was purchased about 20 years ago! Not only that, but we also painted it stark white (as there’s no lighting under there) and might even try to get a little piece of carpet to replace the one under there. We use the space to store bulky coats and suitcases. At the charity shop, we even got a few more hooks to mount on the wall under there. These will be used to store bags. I guess we will eventually get one of those battery operated lights that illuminate once we open the door. That would help.
We ended off the week braving the cold to take a day trip to Stratford-upon-Avon. We love it there and our friend Helen was so gracious to pick us up, hot water bottles in tow, and chaperone us for the day, lol. We did each get a few bits that we wanted and, except for the cold, it was a really beautiful time. My highlight of the day was a cup of hot chocolate with coconut milk from Costa. It’s such a pleasant thing and warmed us through and through. I’m glad that they didn’t give it to us warm, but fiery hot as we like it that way.
It’s also been beautiful watching Youtube videoa and my highlight that brought such a smile to my face was watching the young 4-year-old son of former Jamaican sprinter, Asafa Powell, winning all his races (by a mile, lol) at his school’s sports day. Seems like Jamaica will still dominate the world of sprinting in the years to come. That did put a beautiful smile on my face.
When we were heading back from visiting with our friend Helen, we heard about the arrest of Andrew, the king’s brother. If he is indeed guilty, it must be beautiful for those he has wronged to see justice taking place. I’ve not been following it too closely but heard enough to know that he must not be having a good time at the moment. What’s your take on this?
It’s been nice to relax this week and get some time away from work to just do what we want to do. It’s a peek into what retirement will look like for us. We are not looking forward to being lazy, no, but we are looking forward to beautiful days of mostly sunshine, travel, DIY, being with friends, and being of benefit to others, too.
Hope you have all had a good week so far. It’s been lovely trying to get back in the swing of things with writing and sharing the linky with Anne. I hope it will last.
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