Blog - Ivor’s Daily Gallivant

Ivor’s Daily Gallivant Saturday 25th February 2023: The day of a pleasant surprise. According to my organiser Saturday mornings are down for going to The Soul Café. But this year prior to today haven’t actually gone. My day started at about six when I woke up. I thought getting up at such an extreme hour was too Spartan: so stayed in bed until the alarm went off at seven. Although I put the boiler on before getting and set the timer for half an hour which give me a hot shower. (Prior to today I didn’t know it was possible to have the alarm and timer set at the same time) I left home in time for the half past ten bus. And met Rory on the bus who was also going to The Soul Café. When we got to The Soul Café it was full of people and difficult to find a place to sit. I started a brief conversation with a retired lorry driver Brian who had spent all his life living locally. Rory got into conversation with him while Sarah Brown and Phil sat in another part of the room….. I asked if it would be okay to hand out the post cards promoting my blog and it was . And did a little sketching of the umbrellas that were hanging from the rafters. Then I went for lunch in the St Andrews Coffee Shop with Phil and Stewart, and as I waited much to my surprise and delight Morag who had worked at Marcella said: ‘Hallo’ It had been years since seeing her last and a pleasant surprise. I gave her one of the promotional cards. Which she liked. After St Andrews i caught the bus into Hythe did some shopping in Lidl and had a cup of tea in Black Wax Records and Coffee, gave them a few more of the cards and caught the bus home

Ivory’s Daily Gallivant February 24th 2023 The title of this blog is ‘Daily Gallivant’. When I came up with it: no irony was intended- however looking back at the past couple of days I haven’t left home so there hasn’t been any gallivanting as such. I hope my readers will excuse and bear with me. Today I was having my customary lie in when: there was a knock on the door. It was the postman delivering my promotional cards. I opened up the package and was thought they looked good. First thing I did after getting up was look at my emails and check my bank balance. My pension came through okay and I ordered a bobble hat promoting Diabetes UK which was advertised in an email and I shall wear on ‘My 2023 Diary Adventures’ It’s a good idea to advertise your health conditions, whilst wearing my epilepsy society tee shirt I was approached by other epileptics. It’s nice to know you’re not alone whatever your problem. My internet connection and Word package went down for a while. Which as can be imagined was frustrating.

Ivor’s Daily Gallivant 23 February 2023: Creative Writing at October Books Started the day trying to get my Attendance Allowance sorted out, by phoning my doctors surgery and asking if I’m "registered sight impaired. They told me until I get an appointment with the eye hospital I’m not registered.Been trying to buy a magnifier online which was more difficult than I imagined but eventually managed it although the site I chose said there is currently a delay with deliveries.Simon Cox of the RNIB phoned and has booked a telephone appointment for 3/3/2023 to help me fill out the Attendance Allowance form.I sent a message to Age UK which said:‘An idea for the clients Age UK who can’t keep up with their gardening.A few weeks ago I was at the bus stop in Holbury and got had into a conversation with a young ladyAt one point I said:‘I’ve got an overgrown garden which I would like to lend to someone who likes gardening to grow vegetables. It would tidy up my garden and they would have fresh vegetables and the pleasure of doing the gardening. A win win situation.’She replied:‘I love gardening’I gave her my phone number and address and she said she’d be in touch. On the way home I realised I’d got my phone number wrong and wondered if the opportunity had been missed.However a few days later I found a note on my doormat with her number. So I rang her and a few days later she and her partner started work on my garden and they’re doing an amazing job.They also offered me a share of the vegetables.There must be other people in the same situation as me who could make similar arrangements.Age UK could set up and publicise a scheme matching up gardens with gardeners making life easier for all concerned.Many Thanks for reading this and hoping it’s of useBest Wishes Yours Faithfully Ivor Minard ‘The only unfortunate thing today was after my evening meal it was too late to go to October Books. I felt exhausted and had a nap in my armchair. But overall it was a productive day.

Ivor’s Daily Gallivant Wednesday 22ed February 2023: The Day of the weekly Scrabble Tournament. My day started at about 10.00 when I got out of bed and checked my emails. There was one from Becky Bettesworth’s PA which suggested some improvements to my Just Giving Page. I’ve decided to use National Express for the travelling to the coastal resorts and am taking a friend Andy aka ‘The Scallywag’ along for company. Another was from October Books advertising a new writing group tomorrow in Portswood at 18.30 which I booked a place on. https://www.octoberbooks.org Then I wrote an email to the Press Office at National Express telling them my plans and giving them the links to my Just Giving Page and my Blog. Which will hopefully a rouse their interest and get them to help with the publicity. I was just modifying my Just Giving Page with the suggestions made by Becky Bettesworth’s PA when Andy arrived and I unfortunately lost the work I had just done. The Scallywag and I had our customary two games of Scrabble drank tea and shared our latest news and as is almost inevitable he won both games. Before bed I modified my Just Giving Page and wrote this blog post. And advertised it on Facebook and Twitter.

Ivor’s Daily Gallivant 21st February 2023: The day of the blood test Yesterday I booked a blood test at Southampton General Hospital. I got out of bed at 8.00 a respectable time by my recent standards. My first stop was the Herald office in Hythe to pick up a letter which I’d had printed for my friend Richard who doesn’t use the internet and lives in Salisbury. On the bus I saw a friend Mike and told him I was working on a blog to raise money for Diabetes UK and he told me he makes monthly donations to Cancer Research and a Dementia Charity. When I got to the Herald office much to my dismay I found I’d left my check card at home. Thinking there would be plenty of time to get to Southampton General I decided I’d go back home for my card. I’d also left my sketchbook at home and wanted to do some sketching on the bus… I also showed them a copy of my book of nonsense verse ‘The Buffoon Designs Book of Mostly Comic Verse and asked them if they’d like to stock it. They said: ‘No’ ( They don’t know what they’re missing) https://www.lulu.com/search?page=1&q=The+buffoon+designs+book+of+Mostly+Comic+versepageSize=10&adult_audience_rating=00 I picked my things up and caught the bus into Southampton but by the time I reached the station it was too late to catch the bus to the hospital so I got a taxi which cost £10.60. The taxi arrived four minutes before my appointment at 12.30 so I had to run to be on time. The waiting room for the blood tests had new chairs and the receptionist printed my test details which are both firsts. Before going out I started work promoting ‘Ivor’s Daily Gallivant’ by working through some my friends on messenger and sending them a link to the blog. During a messenger conversation this morning with Kathy she thanked me for making her famous with my blog. I replied: ‘Young Lady you’re already famous ‘ After the latest assessment of my diabetes my. Insulin was cut from daily doses to weekly doses so today I took my spare insulin back to the pharmacy in the hope it could be used by someone else. Sadly I was told that once it leaves them it can’t be reused. As is my usual habit I ran to the pharmacy, then on to the Coop and , then back home I went along to the larger of the Coops in Holbury and posted Richards letter and bought myself some pate at a reduced price, which will be especially tasty. Had some with toast with strong English mustard on top for a charge. I went through most of my contacts on messenger, it’s now almost 9.00pm and that’s enough for today

Blog: Ivor’s Daily Gallivant https://63f38a48518f6.site123.me/ February 20th 2023: Monday things didn’t exactly go according to plan I had great plans for today- A long to do list for the morning and then to go to October Books for lunch but alas it wasn’t be. This morning was a mini-version of the story of my life it was cold and I was nice and warm in bed so that’s where I stayed. Eventually I surfaced from my pit at midday. It was a bright but cold day. Breakfast was a bowl of fruit and fibre with my customary cod liver oil capsule. Which is allegedly good for my joints and my brain. (Since an early age I’ve been a sucker for lost causes ) There were a couple of envelopes on my doormat one addressed to me and one just a plain envelope. I opened the one with my name on first and in it was a letter telling me my pension was going up. Must be our wonderful government trying to soften up the pensioner’s ready for the next election, not that I’ve a cynical bone in my body you understand. The other one was a sales proportion from a company trying to flog conservatory improvements. I gave it a brief glance then through it away… With the plans for the morning scuttled I decided to pick the most important items and do them. The first thing to do was have a shower and then see about arranging a blood test. Shower done and feeling amazing I hunted for the test forms and eventually found them. Phoned the booking line and arranged an appointment at Southampton General for 12.30 tomorrow. Edited the previous posts for ‘Ivor’s Daily Gallivant ‘ adding my picture. It’s starting to look good. I was however concerned when I tried Googling ‘Ivory’s Daily Gallivant’ that it didn’t come up with my blog. Apparently it takes a few weeks for a new blog to be found my Google. To find my blog and at the moment type in https://63f38a48518f6.site123.me/ So there was a lot I didn’t do but I’ve set up my blog ‘Ivor’s Daily Gallivant’ and am going to tell all my friends about it.

Ivor’s Daily Gallivant Saturday 18 February 2023: The day of the Pantomime- a day of mixed fortunes . I woke up at 6.00 and felt chilly and thought I might be showing the first signs of a cold. ‘This calls for a drop of self-administered of LTC’ I thought. So it was on with the trusty throw blanket and a nice warm lay-in until 8.00ish. Then I felt hungry but remembered to check my blood sugar before treating myself to a couple of slices of bacon cooked in my air fryer which I had with my last slice of bread. Helen phoned and said Kim couldn’t make it to the Pantomime tonight. I’m glad I took out insurance.During the conversation we touched on the subject of Helen’s sciatica. I suggested looking up treatments on the NHS website and that ibuprofen gel might help and to check on the Pharmacy website if it’s in stock. Air Fryers are a few quid cheaper in Lidl than Asda As I cooked the bacon I remembered a conversation I had yesterday at the checkout at Lidl with a lady who was buying an air fryer. I asked her how much she paid and it was less than I paid for mine at Asda. As I wrote this my alarm went off to tell me it was shower time. I had set it half an hour before: to have a piping hot shower without wasting money. The first thing I did when I got out of the shower was turn the boiler off again. As my dad used to say: ‘It’s no good getting old if you don’t get artful’ I did some work on setting up a website for these blog posts but then realised it was lunchtime. I planned to have tomato soup with a slice of bread. But I was out of bread and had mislaid my wallet. After a panic I found I’d dropped it in my armchair. Running to the Coop was today’s exercise ration (it saves time too) when I got there I went straight to cut price clearance self. I find food from there especially tasty After buying groceries, I continued working on setting up my blog but ran into difficulties when I got a payment declined notice by Site 123. There were messages on my mobile and my landline rang with an automated message. To check my recent spending was authorised and I confirmed they were. And reapplied for building a site. Summary of my day: I’ve did some work on setting up a blog. After I’d sorted out the billing issue (mild success ).So I will be ready to get to work on it tomorrow. Puss in Boots wasn’t a total disaster (I missed it but my friends saw it)….and I’d taken out insurance so will get most of my money back. ( I thought I’d let them down but forgot there would be plenty of seats available at the door so they went saw the show and enjoyed it) Actually from the vantage point of further hindsight it was a good day mostly.

Ivor’s Daily Gallivant17 February 2023: Oh no it isn’t It’s Friday again and my hectic, non-stop , go-getter, life continues with it’s customary energetic zeal. (After an agreeable sleep I finally emerged from bed at around 10.00)Today was to be another Scrabble Tournament with The Legendary Quintessential Scallywag and I set out early and had an early lunch in Be Be’s. I met a friend on the bus (Margret Green)and told her about my 2023 Coastal Diary Project. She said she’d tell her son Richard Green who works for the BBC About it and how much she’d enjoyed the gammon from Be Be’s recently so I had it too. I had it with pineapple, chips and baked beans. After Be Be’s I went to Black Wax got their WiFi connection installed on my iPad and tried unsuccessfully to get a Vistaprint postcard printed to publicise my blog. But by making this attempt it will be easier when I try again. Unfortunately, when I got to The Scallywag’s abode he was ill in bed. But his mother aka The Young Lady gave me a cup of tea with some shortbread. I told her about my Coastal Diary Project and showed her the email I’d written to Becky Bettesworth and her PA’s reply. He phoned me (when I got home) and I remembered the ‘Puss in Boots’ flyer I had been given in Hythe and asked if he’d like to come and bring The Young Lady with us on Saturday. My landline rang it was Kim and she was down in the dumps, so I asked her to come along too. To cut a long story short the four of us now have seats booked and Kim and I will wait in Amalfi for Andy aka The Scallywag A splendid time is guaranteed for all ‘ Oh yes it is’‘Oh no it isn’t’

Ivor’s Daily Gallivant 16 February 2023 : I shall return So there was nothing for it but catch the bus into Hythe and see what mischief, mayhem and malarkey I could perform…….. I decided to try a (new to me) coffee emporium ‘Black Wax-Coffee and Records’ The on the door was a sausage dog shaped sign which read ‘dog friendly’ (Sure enough there were two waggle tailed pooches- one of which came up to me for a pat on the head when I sat down) I sat in the bay window facing a collection of wheel to wheel tape decks that were on the wall and decided to do a sketch of them but searched my rucksack in vain for my pen and sketch pad (that’s the bad news) the good news is I found the piece of Isle of Wright blue cheese which I mislaid the previous day. I had trouble picking up my coffee because of my essential tremor and then thought why not ask for a straw? Which I did and what a very nice straw it was too- paper with blue Barber shop stripes. Eco friendly and pleasing to the eye. I finished my coffee and decided to do a little more exploring. There were LP’s displayed in racks like the record shops of yesteryear and posters advertising long past concerts, a page from the MME caught my eye-it told how Marc Boland had decided he would no longer do live because of security issues. It went on to describe how fans had been injured during T-Rex concerts. I checked to see if they’re was a WiFi connection and as I left thought in the words of Winston Churchill: ‘I shall return!…Roar’ ( I had found a new haunt)

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