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Whether the weather

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  ‘Turn left’ I heard. I was in a supermarket and concentrating on my shopping. I did not want distractions. I was in a hurry. ‘At the next junction turn left’. This time the voice seemed more insistent. I was irritated I do not need instructions on how to find my way around a shop. But soon I realised that the voice was coming from my pocket. It seemed to get louder and at the fish counter queue people started looking at me. Hastily I felt in my pocket. My Sat Nav was giving me the directions home. I did not know how to stop it. What should I do? Go out of the shop without my purchases, or stick it out and pretend the voice was nothing to do with me? I stuck it out. I am used to following instructions from my mobile or little connected pods at home, but are we getting too many warning of bad weather? If you get extreme weather, then it is important to know but my computer had been telling me for several days that a disaster was about to happen and the little pod is urgently fl...
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Who is lucky?

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    I have won £100. An email came yesterday to tell me the good news. I imagine myself wandering the stores for a much-needed new coat, I am thinking I will get one brighter than my usual safe navy. I read the rest of the email to find out that someone is ‘delighted to send me £100 gift card’. But all is not what it seemed and I must buy through a firm on the internet. There are words like ‘apply’, ‘fill in your details’ and ‘sign up’ that are ringing alarm bells.   I have not entered any competition or put my name in a raffle, nor have I had an advert telling me about a reward if I get a new product. My shopping spree is rapidly disappearing and when you next see me, I will still be wearing my old coat. I saw someone yesterday who was meeting me for the first time, but she knew me from this column in the Shropshire Star. I was at a Craft Fair selling my books. We talked of my teeth which I wrote about not being white enough. She said that they looked good, so I am...
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The importance of knowing

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  What date is it? Do you always know and does it matter? I remember when my mother was coming round from an operation the anaesthetist asked her the date. This was to check that her brain had not been affected. I do not always know the date myself because I am not at work and a quick check on my mobile soon tells me. I do not need to know the date, do I? But increasingly I am seeing ‘Road Closed’ advanced information signs as we drive along and at the bottom of the notice are the closure dates. If you do not know the date, you do not know if the closure is today or next week. I know there will be diversion signs but sometimes as I follow these along unknown roads, I wish that I had looked up another route myself or waited for another date for my journey. Another reason to check the date is for the bin collection. We start with our new ‘Green’ bin next week and as you get older like me these things take on a greater importance. I found myself wondering about the importance of...
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Some puzzles

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    “I remember a big rectangular room with no windows.” A man was telling me about his memories of growing up on a farm. Why would a room have no windows? And he remembered another thing – one of the buildings had pictures pinned on the wall that a little boy should not be looking at. “My friends were queueing up to have a look,” he confided. I was at a Craft Fair selling my books and telling (again) of how I was born on the day the war ended. He was born a few years later but had these strange memories of a room with no views and pin-up pictures on a wall. What had been going on? He told me that it was only years later that he realised that his father was farming on land with buildings that had previously been used by soldiers and that the room with no windows had lines on the floor and had been a squash court. The puzzle had been solved. I found myself unravelling a puzzle this week and I nearly came to the wrong conclusion. I had an email from a person I had not hear...
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Going green

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  “We are now discharging you from hospital…” I had a phone call last week. But how could this be? I had left hospital days ago. Well, the phone call went on, “We are discharging you from the virtual hospital ward.” You see, when I left hospital, I was not discharged in the usual way.   I was told that I was going onto an imaginary virtual hospital ward. I went home as usual but then a nurse came to talk me through what would happen on the virtual ward. It was not quite as imaginary as I thought at first. This was a way of me getting care at home but not taking up a bed in hospital. They kept in touch on the phone and by visits, in some cases they can even contact you by computer. I had a special phone number to ring and they would talk to me if I was worried. All was well and I know that Shropshire is working on other ways of safely cutting admissions for our busy hospital beds. Virtual wards could be an answer. Our mini woodland and orchard for our new garden are still v...
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Promises

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  “Sorry I haven’t any cash on me.” This was a customer looking at our book stall. He started to pat his trouser pockets then pull his jacket aside to find his wallet. But it was empty. He had chosen the books he wanted – one from each of us but he had no money. He had a card, but we did not have machine, we were at a craft stall selling books we have written. He dashed off assuring us that he would be back. “He won’t be back,” I whispered to my colleague. I have seen this before. Someone shows an interest then suddenly discovers that there is a crisis and they have no money. The trees have been in crisis this year too. Have you noticed that there are lots of tree and hedgerow fruits?   They do this when they think that they might die, it is a mast year. This year has been so hot and dry that the trees set a mechanism for survival. If they have lots of seeds or fruits, then their chances of continuing increase. We are in a new house now so I cannot tell you about how well ou...
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Bright things

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  Would you believe it. I have just seen a hummingbird,” shouted my friend excitedly. She had been walking near the canal and had seen this ‘brightly coloured bird' which can only have been a hummingbird.’ It was no such thing, of course, because you do not find them in this country. She had not seen a hummingbird, but what had she seen? I found the answer last week when I was in a bird hide. I applied on-line to get into this bird hide. There was an email address and you had to navigate your way to the form. It was difficult and a lot of clicks away until the application form appeared. It had to be filled in online then I had to sign. This was difficult but I was so excited to think that I might be able to go into a new hide and see the wildlife on the other side. And so, I plodded on with using the mouse which activated a thin line for me to sign my name in a squiggly way. I pressed ‘send’ and waited. Nothing happened. Then after about a week an envelope came in the post with...
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