bloomingyeovil

The weather doesn’t seem to be able to make it mind up today, sunny one minute and cloudy the next, never mind, I have good company and some nice coffee, I might even go and get a biscuit. “What diet” The milks gone off so I have had to use coffeemate, there’s a trip to the local shop to get some more milk before the wife gets home.

My sister came to visit yesterday, she stayed all afternoon and part of the evening, we ordered in  Chinese for tea, and it was lovely, she brought her new to for us to play with, that was fun to.

My eyes are starting to settle down now, I have finished with the drops and the opticians’ have signed me off as a done deal, I need only go for a check up after my holiday, on a nice note, my designer “Police” sunglasses arrive in the post this week, so I can look even cooler outdoors now. Soon I will be so cool I’ll be sub-zero.

It is reasonably quiet on the political front; we had an uneventful District Council meeting on Thursday and a photo call, to get a group photo of all Councillors on the wall, for this quadrennium, my second photo call in a week without my glasses.

My daughter and family is away in the South of Wales for a week’s holiday, my wife is house, dog and fish sitting, leaving me with a bed to myself and a free run of our house, no parties though, as I do not have any party friends, I’m a boring old fart when it comes to parties.

I have made some new friends on Facebook, this week, ones in Brazil, and she seem a very nice lady, it’s great that you can have friends all over the world, and you can chat and play together without ever meeting, although I am a Facebook novice I do have lots of friends, from all over. It is a good way of keeping in touch with family as well, we hardly ever see my son and his family but with email,  internet and Facebook we keep in touch, there is hardly a day goes by without some contact.

We have a family wedding on the 6^th of August, we are all looking forward to that, my wife has her new frock, the sunshine has been ordered and the batteries in the camera have been charged up, my nephew is marrying a very nice young lady of oriental descent, they will make a very fetching couple and it will be a very special day for us all. The service is being held in a Chinese stile garden, with a lake and bamboo bridge, the photo opportunities will be plentiful. More information for our family tree, that is if we get the chance to find out, as the day will be very busy, and chatting might not be high on her list of things to do.

You will be pleased to hear I did not go for the biscuit after all, I drank the coffee while writing this, and I did not have the urge. Am I a good boy or what?

Off to the shop now, for milk. More next week for all my avid readers, all 3 of you. Spread the word, this is the blog to read, or not.

This has been the strangest week of my life; it started with me wearing glasses and ended without them. I also have some Cool Dude Sunglasses.

On Monday I underwent optical correction surgery called “Wavefront Intralase – Lasik (primary- Balateral)” with Optical Express. I did try to keep it a secret as I was very nervous about it and I did not want everyone wishing me well as this would have made even more anxious when all I wanted to do was forget until the last minute, I hate having particulates in my eyes so the thought of my eyes being operated on while I was awake and watching, really did not appeal to me, but as I have worn glasses for 50 years of my life I decided that it was going to be worth it. Howard if had a word for me, Thank You it worked.

I was surprised how simple and painless the process was, the discomfort came on the way home and in the hours that followed until I fell asleep, my eyes stung and there was nothing I could do to alleviate it, it was like that for about 2 to 3 hours, sleep was the healer, next morning, my eyes were a little sour but “Wow” I could see, a bit hazy but that was due to the drops that were going in every 2 to 4 hours. I had to return to Bristol on Tuesday for a check-up, they found some inflammation in one eye so the drop rate went up to combat that and as a result I had to return to Bristol again on the Thursday for another check-up, it was a lot better by then and I was back driving again, my next check up was scheduled for Saturday afternoon, but as my Wife and I had 4 visits to Cabot Circus in Bristol, I pressed for a different venue to give my supportive wife some different shops to look around while I was being sorted out, so we got to visited Cribbs Causeway that time. My eyes were not so good on Saturday the sharpness was gone, but the surgeon said this was normal, as the eyes had, had, a traumatic experience, there was some fluctuation to be expected, Sunday is the same, I knew I would need some reading glasses, so I will go in search today, ready for work tomorrow, my long vision is fixed, (I hope) but my close vision isn’t, it will seem strange wearing   reading glasses, for close up stuff, when I didn’t need them before. The surgeon also said in some cases there is a need for minor corrective surgery after the event, as some people eyes don’t always respond as well as others. We’ll see if I fall into that category or not on Tuesday

My last visit for a while should be next Tuesday (in Cabot Circus again) where I hope to be given a clean bill of health until my final check-up after our holiday. “Fingers crossed”. If there is any doubt “Cabot Circus is a shopping centre”.

On a different note, the judges came to Yeovil on Tuesday for the South West In Bloom Competition, the town looked great, but I was not the judge. You can never read a judge, you think you’ve done well and you are disappointed with the outcome, and when you think you have done poorly you are surprised. We will have to wait until September to find out at the presentation in Newquay. If you have not yet been to the town to see the floral displays, now’s your chance they look great, and don’t miss the displays on the roundabouts, especially the Old Creamery sponsored one, at the bottom of Bunford Hollow.

Our German Twinned Town of Taunusstein – http://www.yeovil-twinning.co.uk/taunusstein/index.html – has come to visit, they are here until Tuesday, Monday is a day I can join in and we are all going to Tiverton, for a slow trip on a horse drawn barge and then on to Tiverton Castle for a guided tour, the day concludes with a visit to Barrington Court for a walk around the gardens and a meal in their restaurant, here’s to a great day out and let’s hope it stays dry.

Well I’m sitting here today on this lovely sunny Monday morning, with my ass getting tight, today’s the day the lights go out, I hope my shilling for the meter is enough, Howard, have a word with the Big Man for me, I know I am not worthy, but I need the reassurance and all the help I can get, to get through this day.

On a more cheerful and different note, it is judging day tomorrow.  Tuesday the 12 of July, The South West In Bloom, RHS Judges will arrive in Yeovil at 9am, to see our town in all its glory, the yobs had a go last Friday night, but I hope the damage was minimal, we all need to remember that the whole town is judged not just the floral displays, it is our green qualities, cleanliness and overall impression of our town as well as the public and neighbourhood involvement, so, all in all, it is everyone who is involved, you will see judges and our team walking around the town centre just after 9am, then they go out into the communities and neighbourhoods to see for themselves what is being done there, I hope we do well but it is out of my hands now, the horticultural team at the SSDC nursery have done their best, and in my view “a very good best it is to”. If you want to help, just make sure, there is no litter about, on the day, if you see someone allowing their dog to soil the pavement, make sure they pick it up, we lost a gold medal a few years ago for just that reason. As Chairman of Yeovil in Bloom I hope to be there myself, but we will see how I feel, today will be a difficult day to get through.

The 40^th Anniversary of the first flight of the Lynx Helicopter was last Friday and AgustaWestland had a celebration event for the staff and contractors on site. The rain stayed away and we were given a lovely flying display by all sorts of aircraft, most of which would have been built at Yeovil, there was a Wasp Helicopter, built in 1975, the year I joined Westland’s and I would have cut gears for that one, I am amazed it is still flying, obviously I was “trained well” and I chopped a good cog or too. I was surprised at the New Lynx (Wildcat), it is very quiet, it could sneak up on you without any trouble. It was also nice to see the G-Lynx, the fastest Helicopter in the world, refurbished by a team of apprentices; those apprentices are the children of the people who built parts for the original Lynx, 40 years ago. The wheel has indeed, turned full circle, and so it should. There was an Apache helicopter on display as well, if I am every in need I hope that bad-boy is on my side, I don’t think I would last long against it, just imagine that bad-boy Paintballing, OUCH.

When the flying display finished in Yeovil, the aircraft were prepped ready to go to Yeovilton, for the Air Day at HMS Heron, but you had to pay to get in there, sadly my plans to go fell apart at the eleventh hour, never mind they all flew over Yeovil anyway, so we got to see most of them in the grey skies anyway.

That’s it for this week, if I am able I will be back next week, we’ll SEE, I hope.

It makes a change to sit here, looking out on a sunny day, the garden’s looking dry, we could do with a little rain, — “Only Joking”–

I’ve just had my porridge and I am now sipping my cup of tea before setting out on s busy day, first I am taking the boss to Clarks Village at Street, then in the afternoon we descend on Yeovil Town centre, with our little trip looming and me getting thinner new clothes are needed for me, and although she will not accept it, the wife as well, my diet is having a knock on effect, she is also losing weight, but being a woman she will not believe it as I am telling her so.

Later today we have the annual CIVIC SERVICE for the Town Council, this will happen at 4pm in St John’s Church, all are welcome to attend as this is the event that the councillors swear to do their duty and behave themselves.

All the coming week and weekend you will see activity around the town, getting it ready for the South West In Bloom Judging that will happen on the 12^th of July in the morning. I do hope we will be able to keep the town clean and tidy for the judging day, we will be relying on everyone being vigilant; and tidy; with their rubbish, “PLEASE” if you are reading this “FIND A BIN TO PUT IT IN” and “DON’T” throw it on the floor for someone else to pick up. The SSDC horticultural team have done a grand job with the flower displays again this year and I hope I speak for everyone in Yeovil when I say a Big Thank You for all your efforts, but please remember that the flowers are only a part of the judging on the day, the judges are looking for Pride of Place, cleanliness, neighbourhood participation and general overall involvement of the people of our town, in the past this has been very sound, you only have to visit places like Kenmore Drive, to see true Pride of Place.

That’s all for now as the Boss is champing at the bit to go out so I must be a dutiful husband and OBEY the call.

Thank you for reading, and please feel free to leave comments if you have something to say on anything written here.