Dizzojay's Dean Dreams

 So.  here I am sitting here, and I've been signed off sick for a week with work-related anxiety.


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So, it's been a difficult, but oddly lovely day.  Jane and I haven't seen each other in the flesh since the whole Covid crap started last spring, so it was great to catch up, it was just a shame it wasn't under happier circumstances.

In the end, however, Jane - with the support of her brother and sister - was an absolute trooper, and I'm so proud of her.

After the wake, Mr D and I went back with Jane to her home, and as Mr D is executor of her Husband, Michael's estate.  He had to sign a few forms and work through a little bit of paperwork.

Jane met Michael through a mutual friend in 1998.  On the face of it, they seemed like an odd couple as Michael was 27 years ollder than Jane, which made him almost double her age when they met.  But given the sort of person Jane was, it just worked.

Let me explain!  Jane's life has not been easy.  Before she was a year old, she almost died from meningitis.  She survived, but it left her with hydrocephalus and during the course of her life, Jane has had over twenty major surgeries of which over half have been brain surgeries.  Jane lost both her parents before she was twenty one.  Her Mum died on an operating table when Jane was sixteen and her Dad died of diabetes-related problems when she was twenty.  This left her with two younger siblings to support, and she did them proud.  They have both grown up into excellent people.  She also has an older brother with severe mental disabilities, and throughout her life she has been an advocate for him in the support facility where he lives.  Jane's illness left her with very poor eyesight and mild learning difficulties which she overcame throughout her school life and through her perseverence, she eventually qualified as a hospital nursery nurse, a job that she excelled at for many years.

Given all the issues that she had to covercome, it's no surprise that Jane comes across as mature for her years, and so when she met Michael, she was thirty going on fifty, and they clicked so well.

They got married in 2004 and I was thrilled to be Jane's bridesmaid, 10 years after she had been my witness at my wedding.

So, this afternoon, Jane and I were looking back through some old photos, and I came across these two lovely pictures of her and Michael from her wedding... Mr D was the photographer!



( Pics here )

This afternoon, I sent a quick Fb message to all my Kiwi chums just checking that they were all okay following the news of the big earthquake and the Tsunami warning off the east coast of New Zealand's north island.

New Zealand is a stunningly beautiful country but it does have some serious 'tude.  Think, the geological equivalent of a spotty teenager!

With typical Kiwi aplomb, they all responded, letting me know they were all fine; my friends near Wellington decided the earthquake wasn't worth getting out of bed for, and another friend from Napier bemoaned the fact that the quake had the audacity to wake him up for five minutes.

I said, 'think yourself lucky, my bladder does that every night', and he responded that the shake would have definitely got the bladder going.

I couldn't help but think yes, especially in all us Brits who live in a country with moderate climate, moderate weather, moderate topography and a tectonic landscape like a mobility scooter, who have never experienced a meaningful quake in our entire life!!!

Now, that would be the real Tsunami warning!!!

Throughout this year, I've been working on a virtual challenge to help motivate me to keep active.

The challenge was to cover 2020 miles in 2020.  I started on 1st January, with a target of 5.5 miles a day, and I was covering those quite nicely by walking and using the CV equipment at the gym.

Then in March, lockdown happened.  The gyms closed, I was working from home, and I started to struggle, barely covering two miles a day - and that included a lunchtime walk.

By the middle of May, I was 150 miles behind my target, and pretty despondent about ever catching up.

That's when I decided to get my trusty old bike, Plum, out of mothballs, and thanks to him I got myself back on target by the end of August.

My progress has been intermittent since then as the country has locked and unlocked and then locked again, I went back to the office, then ended up back at home, and the gyms have opened and closed.

In October, as the nights drew in and the weather deteriorated, Plum went back into storage, and I bought an exercise bike so that I could carry on accumulating my miles indoors.

Anyway, this morning, I woke up on 2018 miles completed.  So just for the occasion, I got Plum out of storage, and covered those last two miles.  He rescued my challenge, so it's only fair he should be with me at the end!

So this morning, with two days to spare, and with Plum's sterling asistance, I completed my 2020 challenge!



And this is the awesome medal I've got coming - at some point soon!

You'll never be as cool as this little dude!

We both have our own cars.  Mr D's was a Nissan Note and it was older than mine (13 years old) and he's had it since it was new, it's been an amazingly reliable servant.  However, now he is driving a lot more miles for work, we have been talking about replacing it on and off for a few months now, as the poor thing is starting to show it's age.

In the last six months, it's been in and out of the garage for niggly little issues, but when they are added up, they no doubt cost more than the car was worth.  So a week ago, we started talking more seriously about a replacement.  Probably need to look at doing it in the new year we said.

Then on Friday, Mr D saw a car he liked on the website of a dealership in the village that has an excellent reputation.  On Saturday we went to look at it.  On Sunday, we sorted out the finance.

On Monday, we got the nod.

This afternoon, Mr D said a fond farewell to his old friend, and we welcomed this new beast (NIssan Qashqai) into our lives...




Apparently Mr D has called it 'Chonky'.
If it means that Mr D is driving on the motorway every day in a bigger, safer and more reliable car, I'll call it whatever he wants!  :D

Today Mr D and I planned to spend a day in Glastonbury, one of my favourite places.  We had originally planned to do this for my birthday, but that ended up being a week after lockdown in he UK started back at the beginning of April, so that never happened.

Therefore, now things are a bit more flexible, we had planned to do my birthday trip today - five months late but, hey-ho!


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Have you ever had that moment that you hear a song and it completely captivates you?  You find yourself humming it all the time, and just can't get it out of your head?

Well, last week, we were sitting in the garden late one evening and listening to the folk programme on Radio 2, and they played a song called 'The Villon Song' by a group called 'Stick in the Wheel', and I had one such moment.

The song is written in 'thieves' cant' which is an old slang dialect spoken by the thieves and villains to bamboozle respectable folk, and ensure that no-one knew what they were talking about.   It's a concept that goes back hundreds of years.   Most regions have a 'cant' language, and this song is in London cant (which is also where cockney rhyming slang originated from).

The song is harsh and gritty, and goes into all the ways that a thief can make his ill-gotten gains, but gives the warning that in the end, he'll never get any good from it ... "the booze and the blowens cop the lot".  In other words, the drink and the prostitutes get it all.

There is a wonderfully grotesque and haunting video that goes with the the song to make it even more memorable.

I can totally understand how this might not be to everyone's taste, but do have a listen, I'd love to know what you think!






Go check out Stick in the Wheel too, they've got some great music!