What a month was July! Boris finally resigned, it was a bumper month for sport, and we had a heat-wave to boot. Doreen and I celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary this month, too. To quote the old gag: “45 years! You get less than that for 1st degree murder!“
On the sporting front, there was more of it on TV than one person could possibly watch: A fabulous fortnight of Wimbledon tennis, the 150th Open Golf Championship from St Andrews, and international Rugby Union with all the home nations playing one of the southern hemisphere countries. Then we had England’s women footballers winning Euro 2022. And as the month ends, we are well into the Commonwealth Games! No mention of England men’s cricket? Well, yes, lots of that too, all diligently watched (it would be churlish not to!). England did score a record 4th innings total to beat India in an amazing test match, but they have performed dismally in all their one-day and T20 series. Perhaps I should change allegiance to Scotland after all!
A major positive this month was the arrival on 22nd of my long-awaited wheelchair seat cushion. It has made a big difference to my comfort. On the negative side, my new reclining shower/commode wheelchair also arrived, but despite the supplying company’s rep measuring our toilet pan, the chair wouldn’t fit over it! I’m still awaiting a replacement. Sitting upright for long is becoming very difficult so I’m hoping I won’t have to wait much longer. Ironically, on the same day my seat cushion arrived, my right foot became quite painful. The district nurse came out next morning, diagnosed cellulitis, and organised antibiotics, but a week later it was no better. I’m now taking an alternative antibiotic but still not much improvement.
Nottinghamshire Hospice came back into my life this month following a referral by my Physio. Anna from the hospice now comes here to provide an hour of complimentary therapy once a week. Much of her first visit was about form filling and understanding my needs before a relaxing session of massage on my shoulders and arms. I am booked in for six visits initially, with the possibility of continuation if it proves beneficial. I look forward to her subsequent visits.
Turning to the heat-wave, who would ever have believed a temperature of 40oC in the UK?! Fortunately, it didn’t last too long, so not too difficult to survive. We have a ceiling fan in our/my bedroom which I kept on all night and during my afternoon rests. The biggest problem for me was sweaty arms. I can’t lift them any more so depend on sliding my forearms up and down the wheelchair armrests to move the computer mouse. Hard work under normal conditions, but with sweaty arms sticking to the armrests, using the PC became almost impossible.
During my years working internationally, I spent long periods in several hot countries, but usually with the benefit of air-conditioned hotel rooms and offices. Many/most of the local people did not have that benefit but as they had always lived in that climate, it was not so uncomfortable for them. In practice, they had the opposite problem in cold weather. In the depths of winter in Chile, I just wore my suit jacket on what seemed to me like a lovely Spring day in the UK. The locals, meanwhile, put on thick overcoats, gloves, and scarves around their mouths!
Writing about the heat-wave reminded me of the wonderful video clip I included in my August 2020blog. Posted by a Scottish farmer/comedian, bemoaning the intense heat (“It must be 14½ or 15 degrees!”): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3e0_hwUvt8. Everything is relative! Worth another look, even if you do remember it from two years ago.