Gabby came over yesterday. I had written a to-do list for all those little jobs which have been neglected and nagging me for weeks (ahem, months some of them) and all but the ironing got ticked off.
We discovered that the huge chunk of moss which had slid off the roof needed a Man On a Ladder to sort out and that the down pipe is completely blocked with moss debris too. Another job for the chap who is coming to put my greenhouse up (he's an Odd Job man.) I got the loungers away, put the seed stack in the stables too, got Gabby to fix my new-as-of-last-year camera/computer connection as new photos were disappearing though it said they had been loaded. I even got around to dead heading the pink Echinacea and bringing in seed heads to dry for next year's sowing.
We checked out the supposed (very convincing) scam email from Ebay which said I couldn't get payouts until I had given them my FULL credit card details, CVC number included. Do I look that stupid? It got deleted.
She set up my Youtube account on Sky and I can now use it (hooray). I've just bought a Yoga mat and I did my first set of simple moves yesterday which eased my sore back. Many years since we last did Yoga (we used to go as a family). Pippi decided Yoga couldn't be done unless she was on my back!
When she'd gone home, I got Keith what he fancied for tea (he doesn't have much of an appetite these days.) He just wanted some streaky bacon and a fried egg in a roll. As he was eating it, he suddenly began to choke. Really badly. He's had this in the past (since Parkinsons arrived on the scene) with dry biscuits or too-dry toast, but this was throat-blockage. He struggled desperately to breath and I instantly knew I needed help/advice and phoned 999 and a young man who must have a PhD in calm talked me through what I needed to do whilst he sent us an ambulance. I had to join my hands into a fist around his body, below his ribs, and then jerk into him to try and dislodge what was stuck. It took 3 goes before he coughed up a 3" piece of bacon which had apparently stuck to the egg (he'd opened the sandwich up to eat the contents as it was too thick.) The egg had spread in cooking and had to be folded in half. Oh my goodness, I've never been so scared in my life as at one point, as I was talking on the phone, Keith's arms dropped right down and his body folded forward and I thought he was dead. With the bacon out, although coughing and spluttering, he was able to breath and speak a tiny bit.
Just after that, two lovely medics arrived in an ambulance - flat out up our hill, sirens wailing - bet the neighbours know all about it now! They gave Keith a complete check up and he was deemed as not needing to go to hospital. I am going to have to be very careful about what he has to eat now and make it soft and nothing dry. At least I didn't panic (like I do over technical problems or legal jargon) but I bet my blood pressure was sky high. Now we are waiting for the Dr to phone about another more mundane but uncomfortable problem as the Syrup of Figs didn't work for Keith!
I am having to do a rethink of being away from home (say at Malvern) at Keith's mealtimes and think one of the family will have to be here.
Gosh, just doing the ironing seems like heaven today as it won't involve anything too demanding. I need an easy day.
