Thank you all for your patience. I know how much you like to read about my weight loss journey and I’m sorry that I’ve been a bit remiss recently with my weekly updates. 

It’s been an interesting few weeks. There have been some ups and downs, not just with my weight (that’s mainly been up!) but with Mum and the house and oh my life!

So, where to start?

The House

Well, the house had been taken off the market as an offer had been received for it. The offer wasn’t the best and was a bit off what I was hoping for. The Equity Release company had said that as mum has been put into nursing care, they would waive the early repayment fee and that in itself would have made up the difference. The buyer had said that they had the finances sorted out so I agreed to the sale as I had hoped it would be nice and quick. 

Nah. A week after the offer was made, it was revealed that they hadn’t sold one of the properties they were looking at selling. We gave them a couple of weeks to complete the sale. They’ve not manage it and as a result, the house is back on the market, looking for buyers. 

There are a number of viewings booked for the weekend and early next week so I’m hopeful that it won’t be there for too long and that a sale is completed soon.

The Mum

Finally after a good six months, I’ve been able to get to see the Mum and to talk to her one on one. You can’t imagine the relief that I’ve felt about being able to see her and share a cuppa with her.  I’m hopeful that tomorrows Welsh Government review will open up care homes so that I can go and sit inside with her for a bit longer. 

She was very good and quite attentive but as the conversation progressed I could see that it was getting a bit much for her and her concentration started to waiver. I had a call from her in the week and she was a bit upset about things and hadn’t really slept very well. I spoke to her for a few minutes and she calmed down so I hope that the sound of my voice is enough to reassure her that everything is going to be well.

(Update) She rang again this evening (Thursday) again very confused and upset. Not really much I could do. She wanted to be taken home. It’s so difficult to tell her that she won’t be going home. Her short term memory is really poor so she just can’t retain the fact that she is in care for a reason. As per the earlier call, I hope that the sound of my voice did enough to reassure her that things are the way it is. 

I’ve sent on the usual magazines and some of her favourite chocolate bars for Mothers Day this weekend. So I hope that those will give her a bit of comfort.

Me.

So, the diet has completely gone out of the window over the last few weeks. It’s been a bit of a stressful and slightly odd time in my life. 

After the last 20 years as a single person, I somehow managed to bag myself a lady friend. We’ve got lots in common, music, where we spent lots of time growing up, gigs we’ve been too, elderly parents and lots of other stuff beside.

It’s been a nice few weeks. We’ve chatted online regularly and she’s already booked us to go and see Sarah Millican in Plymouth or is it Portsmouth? I always get those two mixed up.

It’s been a very nice few weeks! 🙂

The Diet

It has not been very good over the last few weeks and I’m feeling exceptionally guilty about it. I’ve been binging on chocolate and hot cross buns. I’ve had a few beers and I’ve been trying to wean myself off my Pepsi Max Cherry addiction.

I hope that the local restrictions will be relaxed over the next few weeks. If it is then I hope that I’ll be able to find a new Slimming World group to go to. 

I spoke to the doctors about the pain that I’ve been getting in my back during my walks. He suggested that its muscular and that I may need some physio but getting this can take months as there’s a very long waiting list. He asked me to take some blood pressure readings too and that is sky high.

I’m back on the tablets for this and taking one a day again. I had some bloods taken this week as it’s been over two years since I last went to the doctors. I’m not expecting any issues but I so need to get my self out walking again and hope that I can get some time to go out on the bike again. 

I met up with Alex for a wander last week. I hadn’t seen her for nearly four months so we took a wander and we covered a good 4.5 miles. We just chatted for ages and it was so good to see her again. Even though she humiliated me by going and doing 13 miles the next day with her friend. We’re hoping to go to Roath Park for a walk tomorrow which will be nice and good to get a bit more exercise. 

Anyway.

Apologies again for the lack of posts over the last few weeks. I hope to be back to normal very soon and will hopefully have a good week, monitoring the calories and exercise. 

Thanks as usual for taking the time to read my rambling rubbish. See you next week.

Phil.