Thursday 12th and Friday 13th September

Goodness me; I had only just spotted that it was Friday the thirteenth as I typed it into to the title of this blog post.

Just as well, as I might have attributed the various trials of the day to the date and not to just ordinary life...

My downstairs oxygen concentrator kept showing an orange warning light. We went through the usual tests and procedures - making sure the long snakey cannula was unkinked, changing the bit that goes in my nose, cleaning the filters, all to no avail. But technician appeared in the afternoon and swapped out the machine which now appears to be running happily.

We had attached little thingamajigs to the two front castors as the snakey cannula catches as I walk round into the kitchen, pulling me up with a jerk like a dog on a choke collar if I haven't spotted what is happening in time. Then we removed them in case that was causing the orange light, but I can't think how. We'll put them back later and find out.

The past couple of nights have been properly cold. We were caught out on Wednesday night; I couldn't get to sleep, and in the end prowled as quietly as I could round to where I knew there was a crocheted blanket. Just as I got there BB rose up like a surfacing whale, a dark shadow in the dark room, and said he was too cold too. Luckily there was a patchwork quilt as well as the crochet blanket, and we've slept soundly. 

Both blankets have 'history'. Each crochet granny square was a complete ball of Adriafil knitcol DK wool. There were so many enticing colourways that I just bought one of each. I used to work on the granny squares in the car on the tedious one-and-a-half hour journey to and from my godmother's house every week during the final six months of her life; she had always been an excellent knitter and crocheter, and the colours and feel of the wool gave her huge pleasure, as well as encouraging me along. I put the squares together during the first months of lockdown.

All the fabrics in the patchwork are reused; a skirt given to me by a church friend whose daughter didn't want it, two Laura Ashley garments that had been worn threadbare by another church friend, a dress of my mother's and a bridesmaid dress I wore for a friend's wedding the month before our own. The backing is n old pink sheet, and the padding is a Man Utd (!) fleece I bought in a charity shop!

I said I'd post a picture of my new garden bench, bought with some money left to me by my godfather. It's immediately outside out french windows. 

Today turned out to be a perfect day for taking out a tray to sit in the sun. 

  Such a change in the weather in one day - I'm sure there was an air frost this morning, and this afternoon I had to move into the shade after a while because it was too hot!

I said 'trials' as in more than one; suddenly the telephone bit of my mobile phone has stopped working properly. It's a bit weird; when I make or receive a call it's as though the speaker  doesn't work. However there's no problem with the sound when I listen to youtube, or use voice recorder, or phone using whatsapp.

One for the mobile phone shop, we reckon. BB will take a stroll into town tomorrow and see what they say.

STOP PRESS; BB has just announced that he has found something that might be a solution... you will have to wait for the next installment...