Day Thirty Eight - Variety is the Spice of Life

Yes, as you can see I've renewed my subscription to findacliche.com! Variety? I changed my music method for this morning's walk. Yesterday I dug out my old iPod shuffle. It must be 15 years old at least I think I got it even before I had broadband!! I wasn't even sure whether it would still work but I dug out my old lap top and fired them both up. Hey Presto. I think you have to ring the changes sometimes. They say variety is the spice of life and there's not too much of either at the moment, variety or spice! So you gotta try somehow.  I used this old 'pod primarily for workout music. It's a miscellaneous mix chosen for the beat. I used it when I went to the gym. So there's some sadness there too. I stopped going to the gym regularly after Mum died. It wasn't a conscious decision it just happened. But all these songs reminded me of those days when I cared for Mum. She liked a nap in the afternoon as old ladies often do. But she worried that I got bored!! So I used to go to the gym when she had her nap and that satisfied her. Songs I haven't heard in a while - Martha and the Muffins Echo Beach - great for working on the cross trainer! I got a good rhythm going this morning.

Then I continued with my cleaning programme and added a little rearrangement to the shelves.  They used to hold a car boor sale in the station car park on a Sunday morning. I attended occasionally but rarely bought much. But one day a curious Chinese figure caught my attention. I passed it by telling myself I had enough tut around the hose, I didn't need any more. But I couldn't get this figure out of my head. So I returned to the stall and paid £1 for it. When I started to research its origin I found that it is a Chinese mud man figure of Confucius! Variety? Right? Whilst researching the figures I found many other poses. And I learned that some of them are quite valuable. They all seem to be very collectable. And you have to examine the marks on the bottom to check whether or not they are old. But I also saw pictures of Chinese mud men in various tai chi poses which I found very interesting. I ended up collecting a few which I found in charity shops and on Ebay.

They get dusty along with everything else on my dresser. But it's a mammoth task to remove everything, wash it and put it back so I'm doing it bit by bit. Whether I'll manage the top I don't know. Because that means getting the steps out and that really plays havoc with my back. But I was pleased with what I achieved today. I even did some gardening. Not for very long though. It's very difficult. .As well as my back being painful the arthritis in my wrists was really what stopped me today. Nevertheless, in an effort to try and stay positive I did manage some which is an improvement on last year. So I slapped some tiger balm on my wrists and hope that they'll calm down a bit.

My next door neighbours had their other daughter in this afternoon with her two sons, their grand sons. I believe they were keeping a distance but nevertheless it does go against the protocols of lockdown. We are not supposed to have visits even from friends or family. And my NHS friend who is off work with a hamstring injury says she wants to go back to work because she is now bored! I suggested that it was better to be bored than to run the risk of picking up coronavirus. I'm not sure how well that went down. Her partner has gone back to work because he says the wifi at home isn't fast enough. It's all falling apart........

No more news on Auntie Pat. I'm hoping that no news is good news. I haven't  looked at or heard any of the news today, I've been that busy! They could have found a cure for Covid-19 for all I know. That would be good wouldn't it? Not overly optimistic if I'm honest.