2019 Summary
The last year has been like no other. In Jan/Feb my waste disposal system was still not working (following a simple hospital procedure that went badly wrong last November and resulted in me having a rectal prolapse which did a lot of damage). I was in a pretty dreadful state physically and mentally. Life revolved around changing pads every few hours, cleaning up, and applying creams.
And Helen had a really bad time of it too, seeing me deteriorate and not being able to do anything to arrest things. Without her unstinting round the clock help though I can't imagine how I'd have coped. Thankfully things improved from the end of February and I started getting out again. By April I could actually sit down, and in May I went out on my bike for the first time - something I'd come to think I'd just never do again. It took six months to get to a state where I could claim some degree of normallity. So a traumatic start to the year, and there has been a lot of related fallout.
Firstly I decided to sell my apiary. I was tiring of all the work anyway but I'd not been able to look after the bees since November and the busy spring period was coming up so I decided to sell them, back in March.
Then we decided to sell our lovely Puck touring caravan, simply because I now really needed a van with a toilet. So that went in April and we bought a smart new Sprite with all mod cons.
Next thing to go, in August, was the Hobby caravan and with it our membership in Western Sun Folk. Our new Sprite highlighted the fact that we simply could not keep up with the time demand of two vans. And we wanted to be away in the Sprite more than we wanted to be at WSF. We've had at least 6 trips away in our new van, including Holland and Scotland and we are delighted with it. We always take the electric bikes; we have done a lot of cycling!
All these decisions were tinged with a huge amount of regret, but I still think they were the right decisions. The bonus has been a lot more free time. I've picked up my glass work again after several years of semi-neglect. I've become involved with Extinction Rebellion and spent 3 days in London with a group from Birmingham. This was the October Revolution. XR has soaked up quite a bit of time, not sure where I'm going with it all at this point in time. I've a feeling XR may have achieved all they are going to. COP25 has shown how much inertia there is in the global community when it comes to making the necessary changes for alleviating the worst of the oncoming climate crisis. It's going to take more than XR and Greta.
In August I decided to try to get into watercolour painting. There are loads of videos and courses on the internet and I've become a bit obsessed with it all. I'm staggered by how much there is to learn. So far I see no sign of any latent talent, but I'm improving all the time. It took me 6 months before I produced anything I was pleased with on the glass fusing front so I'm cautiously optimistic that one day I'll produce a painting that I won't be too ashamed of!
Politically, 2019 has seen a seismic shift in voting patterns. to all intents and purposes the UK is now a right wing dictatorship fully supported by the majority of the press and without an effective opposition to apply the brakes. Our totally undemocratic voting system means that things will not change in my lifetime. So my efforts will go towards furthering coping mechanisms for the even bigger crisis of a 3 to 4 degree global temperature rise. Interesting times ahead.
So this year has for me been dictated to a large extent by that fateful day, 29th November 2018, when I went in for a haemorrhoidectomy. As it happens, this year on that same date, 29th November, I was back in hospital - this time to get the result of a biopsy. At the end of September I has a growth sliced off my leg and I went back to get the results of the analysis. It seems it was an early stage squamous cell carcinoma. Not a melonoma, so that's all good. Healing is good and I have no need to go back. I was given an all over skin examination and there are no other serious issues, just a few actinic keratosis patches - treated with a cream. So leaving the WSF naturist club was a doubly good move, I've always known that too much sun exposure is not sensible, now I have the proof!
And Helen had a really bad time of it too, seeing me deteriorate and not being able to do anything to arrest things. Without her unstinting round the clock help though I can't imagine how I'd have coped. Thankfully things improved from the end of February and I started getting out again. By April I could actually sit down, and in May I went out on my bike for the first time - something I'd come to think I'd just never do again. It took six months to get to a state where I could claim some degree of normallity. So a traumatic start to the year, and there has been a lot of related fallout.
Firstly I decided to sell my apiary. I was tiring of all the work anyway but I'd not been able to look after the bees since November and the busy spring period was coming up so I decided to sell them, back in March.
Then we decided to sell our lovely Puck touring caravan, simply because I now really needed a van with a toilet. So that went in April and we bought a smart new Sprite with all mod cons.
Next thing to go, in August, was the Hobby caravan and with it our membership in Western Sun Folk. Our new Sprite highlighted the fact that we simply could not keep up with the time demand of two vans. And we wanted to be away in the Sprite more than we wanted to be at WSF. We've had at least 6 trips away in our new van, including Holland and Scotland and we are delighted with it. We always take the electric bikes; we have done a lot of cycling!
All these decisions were tinged with a huge amount of regret, but I still think they were the right decisions. The bonus has been a lot more free time. I've picked up my glass work again after several years of semi-neglect. I've become involved with Extinction Rebellion and spent 3 days in London with a group from Birmingham. This was the October Revolution. XR has soaked up quite a bit of time, not sure where I'm going with it all at this point in time. I've a feeling XR may have achieved all they are going to. COP25 has shown how much inertia there is in the global community when it comes to making the necessary changes for alleviating the worst of the oncoming climate crisis. It's going to take more than XR and Greta.
In August I decided to try to get into watercolour painting. There are loads of videos and courses on the internet and I've become a bit obsessed with it all. I'm staggered by how much there is to learn. So far I see no sign of any latent talent, but I'm improving all the time. It took me 6 months before I produced anything I was pleased with on the glass fusing front so I'm cautiously optimistic that one day I'll produce a painting that I won't be too ashamed of!
Politically, 2019 has seen a seismic shift in voting patterns. to all intents and purposes the UK is now a right wing dictatorship fully supported by the majority of the press and without an effective opposition to apply the brakes. Our totally undemocratic voting system means that things will not change in my lifetime. So my efforts will go towards furthering coping mechanisms for the even bigger crisis of a 3 to 4 degree global temperature rise. Interesting times ahead.
So this year has for me been dictated to a large extent by that fateful day, 29th November 2018, when I went in for a haemorrhoidectomy. As it happens, this year on that same date, 29th November, I was back in hospital - this time to get the result of a biopsy. At the end of September I has a growth sliced off my leg and I went back to get the results of the analysis. It seems it was an early stage squamous cell carcinoma. Not a melonoma, so that's all good. Healing is good and I have no need to go back. I was given an all over skin examination and there are no other serious issues, just a few actinic keratosis patches - treated with a cream. So leaving the WSF naturist club was a doubly good move, I've always known that too much sun exposure is not sensible, now I have the proof!
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