Friends and Music

It's been a while since I posted, but there hasn't, until now, been much going on. I've been looking at houses, and not liking any of them very much, and I've been having a nasty cold, and not enjoying it very much, and none of that would be interesting to read about in any detail.

However, on Wednesday evening, Thea Gilmore was playing in Bath, and I had a ticket.

I went straight into Bath from work, and spent some time looking around the Christmas Market (not too crowded at that time) and had a quick pub supper, (well, as it turned out, a very slow pub supper - I think they forgot my order half way through. But it was tasty) 

I met up with friends, who (as we worked out, eventually) I haven't seen since I bumped into them at the last Thea Gilmore gig we went to, which is about four years ago. It was good to catch up, and as the shw started a bit later than advertised, we had time to chat!

The show was opened by  Nigel Stonier, who is Thea's husband and a talented songwriter in his own right, and who played us several of his own songs, then, after the interval, returned in his capacity of Thea's guitarist/keyboard player.

Thea was also accompanied by a wonderful cellist, and a violinist, and in two songs, by a 2nd violinist, her 7 year old son, Egan.

It was a fun evening. as it's now December, THea sang some of her Christmas song, although we were a little disappointed that we didn't get to hear Sol Invictus. But even without that it was wonderful! 

The only down side was that when I got to the car park to drive home I found I had to scrape ice off the windscreen before I could drive home. I don't approve. It's one thing on the  morning, but when going home it seems unreasonable!

Errands and things

I had a day off today, so have been catching up with various errands, on the basis that shopping and such are likely to be less stressful today, than on Saturday when no doubt everywhere will be busier.

I had planned to have a nice lie-in before starting everything else, but naturally, having made that plan, I then work up at about 5.30 and couldn't get back to sleep, so ended up getting up in disgust a little earlier than on a normal working day. And as there's a lot of cloud around, I couldn't even take the opportunity to try to spot some of the Geminid shower.

After all the ice and frost of the last few days, it's turned very wet (somehow without feeling any less cold, which seems illogical) so I had no encouragement to linger when I got into town.

This morning involved:

• A trip to the Post Office, to post 9 parcels (amazingly, I didn't need to queue, which I am quite sure would not be the case on Saturday morning!)
• A trip to Boots, to pick up my repeat prescriptions to ensure that I don't run out of anything over christmas.
• A trip to the vet, to ensure that Tybalt doesn't run out of his meds over christmas
• A trip to the paper shop to pay my account off, and sort out what papers I want when.
• A trip to Big Supermarket, initially just to pick up an extra pint of milk, and some chocolates to take into work, but in fact, as it turned out, also to pick up some booze and chocolates, mostly either as gifts or to take with me to share over christmas.

Then this afternoon I made a start on wrapping gifts for the people I shall be spending time with over christmas (unless I've forgotten something, all the ones which need to be posted, have now been posted) I'm starting to feel just a little bit festive..

Tybalt

I had a day off work today - I have been pretty busy, and not as organised as I should have been, so I have ended up with 5 days of leave to use up before Christmas. when I booked today, I planned for it to be a day when I could make a start on some Christmas shopping, hopefully avoiding crowds, and also perhaps do some baking and cooking meals to stock the freezer.

In the event, it didn't work out quite as planned.

Tybalt was very slighty lame on Saturday, and by Sunday was not putting any weight on his (front) right paw, although I couldn't find any problem with his pads, and nothing seemed to be swollen, or hot, or even tender. So the first thing to do this morning was to call the vet. Of course the only available appointment was right in the middle of the day.

The vet identified that the problem is with his elbow: There is  no obvious fracture or swelling, so it may be that he has jumped or landed awkwardly, and strianed it. Tybalt is nearly 13, and gets very stressed at the vet, so being aneasthetised to be more thoroughly examined would be quite a big deal,so on the vet's advice he is having painkillers for now, to keep him comfortable and  see whether it improves on its own, before we try anything more drastic.

The vet gave him a shot while we were there, and within 15 minutes of being back home Tybalt was using his leg (including bearing weight on it) almost as usual, which I think is a good sign, so I am hoping that it will turn out not to be too serious.

After the visit to the vet, I did make it into Bath to do a little shopping, but wasn't very organised. I feel another expedition will be necessary, although I shall see what I can do online, first. I do enjoy finding gifts for the people I care about, but I hate shopping in crowds.