On Tuesday I had a bit of a nothing day because I had yet another banging headache. Despite paracetamol and Ibuprofen and of course copious amounts of fluids I could not shift it. I knew I could not stay in bed and of course the weather was amazing. I sat out by my pond and watched my fish swimming around for a while which is always relaxing but still the headache persisted. Darren and Tabatha came over and we sat and chatted still with the headache. A couple more tablets and a pint of water and Darren and I went up to the car shop in town. I had stripped down the jeep ready to be primed and sprayed to turn it in to the `Picklemoble`, so off to the shop we went. I had a really good chat with the guy behind the counter, he is a really friendly guy and is so happy to help. After a good chat we left the shop with the primer and the colour that I had decided would be the perfect colour for the `Picklemobile`.
When we got back I sat out with Wifey, Darren and Tabatha while `Duke` and the Tortoise walked around the garden until they just lay and enjoyed the sunshine. Darren helped me to clean the filters of the pond, this is yet another simple thing which I am unable to do on my own as I used to. I can’t reach up to get the filter foams out to clean them which is annoying but at least I can ask for help to do them. It is only a ten minute job but makes a massive difference to the clarity of the water. After being out in the sun for a reasonable amount of time I retired to the extension room to do a bit more to my Sea Vixen model. I simply could not shift the headache no matter what I did, it was supposed to be a TA night but I just knew that there was no way I could contemplate going for the evening with a head like I had. To top things off we had to go to the hospital with my Daughter for a check up, all I really wanted to do was to go to bed but that would have to wait.
I got in to the power chair as there was no way I wanted to be self propelling my way around Taunton, and as I had to go from the centre of town to meet my Wife and Daughter at the Hospital there was no way I was going to attempt it. We collected the kids from school and made our way to Taunton, once there my Son and I were dropped outside my solicitor’s office as I had to collect something and drop something off. From here we `st-rolled` to the phone shop to put my mobile in as it has gone tits up (somewhat annoying), this took longer than I had anticipated but all the same we got it done. From here we went a bit further in to town and got a drink each, it was going to be important for me to keep the fluids up in case the headache was to do with dehydration. With drinks bought, we made our way to the hospital to try to find my Daughter and Wife. I was very aware that this could result in a catastrophic game of chase as I had not been able to have a loan phone from the shop and therefore had no comms with Zero Alpha (the Wife), my only hope would be that her appointment would have been delayed or more lengthy than we had first thought.
We arrived at the hospital and headed for the Orthopaedics outpatients, I could not be sure that this is where they would be but seemed to recall that this is where we had been before, to that end it would be a good bet to start here. I asked the lady on the reception desk if my Daughter was still here and she went to see if she could find out. We were in luck, she was being seen still as the appointments were behind slightly, so my Son and I went in to wait for them to finish. It was only around ten minutes before they emerged from the room in which they had been seen and we all headed off to the Chucklebus, next stop, the supermarket for the shopping. As much as I wanted to stay in the Chucklebus and sleep as my head was really hurting, I could not leave my Wife to do the shopping we needed and have the kids. It is something that she is used to don’t get me wrong but `Pickle` was being exactly that and my Wife needed to concentrate on looking at some things which my Daughter will need for a school trip, and so I said that I would go in as well, especially as `Pickle` is normally happy to sit on my lap and ride in the power chair.
I thought a couple of times that my head was getting better as we went round but then it would let me know it was still having problems with a sudden thumping which would die off a little and then just before i could get comfortable with it, thump, thump, thump would happen again. We carried on until we had completed the shopping but as we headed to the checkout…. disaster. It felt like I was driving over a series of speed bumps but could not figure out why until my Wife informed me of something that would definitely be a major contributing factor, my tyre had gone flat and had half come off of the rim, bugger. Good to see the big fella upstairs still has a sense of humor! My Daughter helped me get back to the Chucklebus and to our surprise there was a large recovery truck parked behind the Chucklebus with two Police. When we got to the Chucklebus the mechanic came over to us on his way to the truck, I told them that I thought that the truck and the Police was slight overkill as I only had a flat tyre but that I really appreciated them coming out. This was not as well received as I thought it could have been as the vehicle that was next to mine, which had clearly been parked in a hurry, had apparently been chased in to the car park and the driver had legged it. As a consequence, the truck was there to tow the vehicle away for crushing, bummer said Dougal.
The truck driver was really nice to be fair, he spoke to me and asked what I was intending to do and I told him that once he was finished I would be getting in to the back of the Chucklebus and we would call to get the tyre fixed tomorrow. The Police had to ask a couple of cars to move from the disabled bays so that they could get the vehicle recovered and once the cars had been moved the truck was moved in to the bays that had been cleared. My Daughter got me in to the Chucklebus and strapped the chair in, she is a dab hand at this now bless her, she does this so that my Wife can strap `Pickle` in saving time. After only a few minutes we were joined by my Wife, Son and `Pickle`, they loaded up the shopping and we headed off to the bungalow. My head was such that I had an early night in the hope that I may shift it, it would obviously be the morning before I would know.
This morning I woke with a clear head which was brilliant, I had woken before the alarm which was a real rarity and even more of a rarity was that `Pickle`, who had climbed in with us in the night at some point, woke and gave me a really beautiful smile. Granted she did immediately roll over and cuddle up with my Wife, but I did get the first smile of the day. I called the wheelchair people and explained my problem this morning and they told me that they would call the driver to let him know. I was told it would be in the next three working days which would be a bit of a problem as I am needing it for Friday for another Op Nightingale dig. I did spray the jeep in primer today, not the best weather for it but even so, I managed to do it and it looked to have covered ok. I am hoping that the weather tomorrow will be more like it was on Tuesday so that I may get some colour on it. `Pickle` is so excited about it. As my phone has gone tits up I have been unable to snap any pictures to put on to the Blog but I will get the camera out to get some pics. The guy came to fix the tyre on the wheelchair today, I am luck to have him look after my area as he will make a point of stopping in on his way home when he finishes if I have something that needs doing. Apparently the beading around the outside of the tyre had given way, the only way to get the tyre on to the wheel is to split the rim as the tyre will not stretch over the rim, as the bands had broken, there was nothing to keep the tyre on the rim. Tyre replaced now though, al ready for Friday.
Today I have managed to keep the headache at bay, I can not be sure that it will be the same tomorrow as it just seems to come and go randomly but I am hoping not to have another for a while. I am still waiting to hear back from the person I wrote to about my next challenge, I am going to have to have a cut off of next Friday to hear back from them as I need to sort out something else. I want to have as many months as possible to raise money for the next charity and of course for my off road chair, I have ideas that will test both me and the off road for chair when I eventually get it, which will raise money for more charities. My next batch of stickers are almost ready too so I will put pics of those up when they are done, I hope that this will raise some money as well. For now though, it is time to log off, hydrate for the night which I know is a bad idea but I don’t want another headache.
Goodnight all.