A monkey .....

I go to bed soon after posting last night due to headache and inability to concentrate any more . I fall asleep quickly , wake as N comes up and hearing her look into my room ask if I can have a drink from the water bottle she is carrying . That's the last thing I remember ... headache pills having knocked me out .... D arrives up a bit later to see if I'm still in the land of the living and asks me if there's anythinghe can get me ( he's lovely like that ) .

Apparently I then say "yes , a monkey" .

He then says " Im not sure Im going to be able to get you a monkey at this time of night to which I reply " oh well thats all right then " ( see how accomodating I can be . )

This morning he tells me this is his sign that the medication has kicked in . Apparently Ive asked for a monkey on several occasions.

I wonder if this is connected to when we were little reading the Enid Blyton books and one of the characters has a monkey as a pet and another has a parrot . We would have given our eye teeth for either of these , not content with our smooth haired fox terrier and our cat ( oh and the garage full of pet mice ) . But we were refused . For some reason there was a view in our family that a monkey would wee in the teapot .

I guess my desire for a monkey has endured across the years , to emerge at times of stress...

Drowning in a swamp ...

Drowning in a swamp these last few days ....

After eating something at the weekend I then had a migraine arriving so took Immigran which then gives me rebound headaches . Coupled with anxieties about what if ... what if it doesn't clear and I can't manage the Day Job this week when I'm due back , what if it doesnt get better and I have to take more medication leading to more problems , what if what if ?
Problems with my left eye making my usual distraction of reading when the headache is not s bad , or dulled with painkiller , not an option . So the worrying increases .

But oh the bliss of taking Immigran when the head is throbbing and the neck is stiff and its unbearable .... the little pink tablet that you can almost feel dispersing into your veins . The feeling of lightheadedness it brings on is not pleasant but when you start to feel it there 's a sense of relaxation which starts , if you're in a safe place and not trying to drive home or drag to the end of a working day . It starts as you perceive the beginning of the End , the end of pain . It can take minutes to dissipate , or it may not work at all . Usually when there's going to be no relief its because youre already past the point of no return and nothing will help except time and maybe the vomiting which sometimes relieves the pressure that seems to build up . And when the light headedness comes thats a sign usually that its going to help .

I'm still trying to figure out the food allergies or triggers . Eggs is one . Some heavily spiced foods don't help . Dark expensive bitter chocolate is best avoided .

One more day at the Day Job then I can relax , know that even if the migraine persists its ok , CatCalls is quite manageable . Cats in fact seem to know when I am less vibrant than usual ... I do everything slower and sit down with them more and they will often jump up to me and purr and do whatever it is they do to show affection .

I smile at the memory of an afternoon visit some time ago to a fabulous apartment overlooking the sea . It was painted mostly in white and as I walked in, the sun glinting off the white walls caught me unawares and bang I was into a classic migraine where I was unable to see properly and knew I couldn't function sufficiently to drive home . I fed the cats , sat down heavily on one of the leather sofas and next thing I knew it was an hour later and I had fallen asleep . A soft beige throw was across me ( I must have pulled it over myself as I slept ) and a huge grey cat was parked right on top of me , also fast asleep . .....

Alnwick Garden

Wierd shot and Tree House .

Argh .... left my camera on macro setting after taking some flowers in the yard last night at the barbecue .... and all my photos today are blurred and Blurgh ..... a bit how I feel for some reason unknown and unquantifiable ...... will be back when I'm back in focus ....

Rogue Sausage

Last night we had a barbecue and as ever there were some deliciously charred looking sausages left . Having resisted all night to have just one more , I finally succumb at bedtime and take a half sausage upstairs with me . So , carrying the usual mobile , Times 2 ,and half a sausage , as I call at the bathroom I pile up the items outside the door . Somewhat surprisingly , as our cats don't usually eat " proper food " ( you could leave a roast chicken out on the bench and they would walk past it sniffing in disgust ) , when I emerge a few minutes later , Toby and Jessie are squabbling over the half sausage .
I shrugg ( in my head ) and go back down for the other half ( I sound like an expat in India) .
Later ,I hear D come up to bed and can track his passage across the landing then his double take at the rogue sausage mangled on the cream carpet . I hear him tut to himself as he realises what it is and as he comes into the bedroom he relays the story . Kitty was hard on his heels and did the same as him , though with much exaggerated gestures as she turns the corner and screeches to a halt at a safe distance from the offending item , playing the cartoon cat with gusto . I wish I had seen her .
This morning the sausage is gone .

The Guinea Pigs have such different personalities . Hedgehog , on the left , just looks benign and pleasant , genial to the last and its hard to work out why exactly . Altogether more confident and forthcoming , she seems to enjoy life more than Tinkerbell , right , who when looked at in close up has a definite wariness to her . Something about the set of her eyes , or maybe its the colour .. red eyes being generally linked with "something other ". Question , is the personality a result of the appearance or vice versa ?

To be continued , with comments on Germaine Greer and Princess Diana .....and yes there is a connection with guinea pigs ..

Corbridge afternoon ...

Sofa Girl and Cat

So many late nights , finally a girl has to rest ......