Poor Honey

I am fuming. Since having her latest op on her leg Honey has been seeing my own vet weekly to have her leg checked and dressed. A badly padded splint gave Honey sores, a bit like bed sores during the 2nd week. The vet  said the skin was 'bit red', but the vetinerary nurse assured me they'd added extra padding underneatn the splint and she'd be fine. It was a bit better but Honey wasn't happy. They redressed it again the following week and said she was doing well. Honey did not seem to be making much progress with using the leg to walk on, but I put that down to the size of dressing and amount of wadding they had used and the fact she was walking on tip-toe. Yesterday I went back to the VERY expensive orthopaedic vets who x-rayed her leg. They showed me the x-rays and it all looks good. She has a state of the art, thin, lightweight metal plate and 8 pins holding her wrist in place. The bones are well fused now and the op wound site is all clean and healing well. However.... he was very concerned about the scabby crusty sores! There is a high risk of infection in early weeks and having open sores is not good! They gave her 3 injections of various anti-biotics and anti inflammatories and have redressed the leg without the splint.

This dressing has to be checked and changed twice a week at my own vets. As I am away from Thurs to next Tuesday, I have had to ask Jenny to take her Friday and make an appointment for me for late Tuesday. These injections were only necessary because they failed to notice the sores early enough or treat them properly. Otherwise Honey would be bare legged by now and making progress. I am very upset she has been in pain and discomfort at times for weeks. I expected some reaction to the operation and could not tell the source of her discomfort. Now it will be a couple more weeks of treatment before she can get rid of the dressings.

I am so sorry she has had to go through all this. I feel guilty for not making more of a fuss between visits but I had no idea how bad the sores were. Honey did not get the level of care and treatment she needed. I hope this is rectified now.

ok steam let off now... I am calming down.

We said goodbye to Jen's old Mitsubishi Pinin today. After efforts to sell it it for spares or repairs, and only getting piddling offers we have sold it to a scrap dealer for more! They came and collected the car today. It went off in style belching out some ominous smoke (or maybe steam) from the exhaust as the guy drove it off the drive. This is its final journey. Goodbye leaky rusting hulk.  Now Jen can clean up the marks on the drive :-) ... maybe!

I am having a clean around day today clearing the decks before I go away for a few days, off to the wilds of Shropshire and Shrewsbury Folk Festival. The kids are doing a rota over the weekend of houseminding and dog sitting. I hope Honey will be ok.

The kids can fend for themselves LOL.

 The healthy eating is going well and I have lost 9 pounds in about 6 weeks. I hope I can get through this weekend with minimal impact on my weight. I know I won't lose any but I hope I don't put any back on. I am taking fruit with me for breakfasts and snacks.

My tent is already enroute to Shrewsbury and will be all erected by the time I get there so I can move straight in. It is camping but in relative comfort. I have a 4 man tunnel tent to myself. Plenty of headroom to stand up in all parts of the tent. A large bedroom for my super sized double thickness single air bed and a chair. I need something solid to sit on or hold on to getting my knickers on and off LOL I have packed a second quilt, winter thickness just in case it turns cold at night. Past years have had a nip in the air, even a touch of frost by morning! Nothing worse than waking up in the middle of the night with cold feet!

Last year all the local supermarkets sold out of duvets as the cold nights caught out a lot of people.

I just hope it stays dry as much as possible. The forecast is not good but could be worse! Showers do not happen everywhere!

Whatever your plans are for the weekend I hope you have a good one. xx

Food, exercise, aches and pains

I got back from Cropredy to find the dog in fine condition having been fed and watered well by my oldest son and daughter. Thank you both!! I got a huge greeting from Honey and she tried to get on my lap! I have a small lap.
She is a big dog with a banadaged leg. We compromised with her leaning up against me while I cuddled her with my arms round her. Lots of squeaking in pleasure (from her!). Since then she has stuck closely to me, following me everywhere I go. She is going to hate me going away again.

I ate what I fancied at the festival but tried to have the healthier options where possible. I did not have chicken and chips or hot dogs. I did have a buffalo burger once and an organic beef burger once but no chips with it. I had a burrito once - chilli con carne, rice, cheese,  salsa and extremely hot chilli sauce. It was delicious and filling. I twice had the noodles with tempura veg and some chicken dish. A really good plateful and not toooo fattening.
I did put 2 lbs back on over that weekend but I've shifted those plus another pound since coming home. :)
I am following a healthy balanced diet as recommended at the hospital, just watching the portion sizes. They gave portions as individual items, 1 apple, 1 banana, 2 egg sized potatoes, or spoonfuls - easier to visualise a portion than having to weigh it out.

No food is banned but obviously things high in fat and calories like pork pies should be taken infrequently and in small quantities.

They gave guidance on lower calorie alternatives to things or ways to cook foods to reduce the fat content. So I can still have a bacon buttie once or twice a week, but in granary or multi grain bread, with grilled bacon with the fat cut off. Just about halves the calories and still tastes lovely. 

I am also being more active at home now Honey can go walkies again. She is a bit reluctant to walk on her bad leg yet but I think that will improve once the splint and dressings are off. She is going to the Orthopaedic vet Tuesday for a check up and X-ray. ££££ :-( I hope they will leave the dressing off now so she can use her paw more and walk more easily.
While I was at the festival my knees were not too bad on the whole. I walked up and down to the loo and food/drink at regular intervals and stood up and stretched my legs between acts. Since coming home it has been a different matter. Perhaps the hard water here is a factor?
I have had a lot of pain on occasions and woke in the middle of the night Weds night with searing burning pain in both knees. I could not find a pain free position and tossed and turned and wriggled about for about an hour and a half before I could get back to sleep. It may have been the after effects of having the grandsons for the day on Wednesday, but I took them to Wilton House and sat while they ran amok on the adventure playground, so it should not have been a strain on my knees. The pain was not too bad Thursday day time but started up again during the evening while I was at the folk club. I took some Ibuprofen at the club but it only helped reduce the intensity of the pain. My friends even noticed I was not right so it must have been bad. At least it eased off when I went to bed. It was a good evening at the club too! We had a young lady visitor of about 9 or 10 yrs old so I changed what I was going to do. Try listening to the Arrogant Worms' Assumption Song on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TywmpMQYojs
It is almost rude, but only in your mind! It is definitely an adults only song! It has the folk club laughing their heads off.

I am now sorting my camping stuff out again ready for Shrewsbury Folk Festival next weekend. The kids are doing house and dog minding in shifts for me while I'm away. I will not put Honey in kennels unless I have no alternative option. I do have an option to consider now though as my neighbours 3 doors down have lost their dog and have not yet got a new one. They have been having friends dogs to stay for holidays so maybe I will have a word with them and see if they would have Honey.



My new tent

 I am happy to have mixed weather at the moment because it increases the chances of a settled few days for Shrewsbury next weekend. I am not too optimistic though because it is a Bank Holiday weekend and notorious for bad weather :-( Last year we had a mini whirlwind slice through the festival site destroying gazebos and flattening tents in a swathe. There were a heap of bent and broken gazebos put out for the rubbish collectors at the end of the festival. We lost ours that day, ending up with a lovely cover and a pile of twisted and snapped poles. They were lucky no one was injured. The site stewards did a valiant job and picked up the debris and tied the remains up in bundles.
I am happy to camp there all weekend. My own tent is spacious and comfortable and my double height air bed is very comfortable. I am taking an extra duvet as the nights can get very cold! If I get desperate I can sleep in my dressing gown, a warm soft fluffy one.

As all the concerts are under cover there is not so much need for good wet weather clothes. Just an umbrella to get from A to B will do, rather than golfing umbrellas and waterproof ponchos you need when sitting out in the open.

I am out to a dinner party tonight with a bunch of friends, 9 of us I think :-). Looking forward to it.
Hope you have a good weekend wherever you are and whatever you are up to. xx

More Cropredy

I've covered the music side of things in the previous blog, now for the fun side.

I had a brand new tent for this festival. John helped me find a good one and it was on half price offer so not only is it spacious but it's a bargain too! I've gone for a tunnel type. My only 2 requirements for a tent was I had to be able to stand up in it, and it had to have a separate inner bedroom. The one I got is actually a 4 man tent but to fit in the sleeping space you'd have to have 4 stick insect people with tapered coffin type sleeping bags. It would just about take 3 air beds, but not if they are all the size of mine LOL. As I have trouble getting down on the floor and even more trouble getting up I have invested in a double height air bed that is a metre wide too. Room to roll over without falling out!It is brilliantly comfortable too and no danger of your bum hitting the ground if it deflates a little. With 2 separate air compartments, it's got twice as much air between me and the ground.
I only used a light weight 4 TOG duvet at Cropredy and was just right but I know the night time temp at Shrewsbury can drop quite a lot so I will be taking my 10 TOG too. If it gets REALLY cold I can use both!
We tried sitting in a different spot at Cropredy and thoroughly enjoyed our choice. We got space on the front edge of the back half of the field, with a wide walkway in front of us. Easy to get in and out to the bar, toilets and food outlets and a steady procession of all kinds of humanity passing by (some may be questionable on their status but presumed human), and some canine specimens, many sporting trendy kerchiefs.
One lucky family found a stray dog on the road to Cropredy, no collar, tag or microchip and after checking with police decided to keep the dog themselves. She was a toffee coloured greyhound/saluki cross by the look of her and so sweet natured. I was tempted to offer to have her myself but she looked happy with her new adoptive family and they were delighted to have her. They already have 2 dogs so one more is not such a burden. I don't think my Honey would have been impressed if I had returned, after three days away without her, with another dog in tow. I do hope she is happy with her new family. Well done you kind people!

God knows why but loads of people attending festivals seem to wear the most weird outfits. The general rule is every article of clothing must be a totally different colour and/or pattern to any other. Stupid hats are essential. If you wear wellies they have to be coloured and patterned to clash with everything else. Same goes for Crocs/sandals, the more outlandish the colour the better.

Young pretty girls HAVE to wear skimpy tops and short skirts or shorts, often over multi coloured and patterned tights or leggins. Young men have to wear T-shirts with rude slogans on. Old men have to wear T shirts that don't quite cover the beer belly promoting their favourite brewer of real ale, or some ancient rock concert they went to in 1973.  Anything goes in the way of hats. The bigger and more colourful the better.

I think everyone goes to a festival for a variety of reasons. Some go to meet up with old friends and talk incessantly. Some go to drink the three days away in traffic free safety. Some go to people watch.  Some go to eat their way round the world. Some even go to enjoy the music! Mostly people are tolerant of others needs, but there are a few at any festival who just do what they like with no regard for those around them.
You know who you are... the ones who insist on standing up and gassing away with mates with their backs to the stage, ignoring the music, and blocking the view of a huge swathe of the crowd sitting behind them. Never mind they are the only ones standing up in a sea of seats. I just wish they didn't stand in front of ME! Ok I am being a little unfair - this time round, the seating position meant we did not have to suffer the standers, just the odd photographer stopping right in front of us to take a shot of the superb view we had of the stage :-( Or occasionally friends meeting on the walkway going in opposite directions and stopping to chat. If they were there more than a couple of minutes there were usually shouts of 'move or sit down please' from the crowd behind us. How lovely to be with the oldies who can't stand up for the duration any more LOL

Having people walking past in front of us did not put me off, in fact I loved it! Could see all sorts passing us and many friends stopped to chat with us :-) It was amusing to see how drunk some people got and how hard it was for them to walk/stagger across the slope of the field.

It was also tempting when people walked past with plates of lovely smelling food all day and night long. It was the usual festival rip-off - a burger for £4 or £4.50 for a cheeseburger (organic meat or buffalo but still pricey). Fish and chips for £8. A platter of veggie salad or mixed veggie curries for £9 a plate!
The best value I found was a Japanese noodle bar - heap of noodles with veg, a ladle full of sweet and sour chicken or chicken in black bean sauce, and a pile of tempura veggies all for £7.50 - delicious too! The only problem being by the time you get it to your seat it's all stone cold.

There were the usual jacket potato stalls, chicken and chips, crepes, pies, pasties, Indian food, Chinese, and several vegetarian stalls. I did not see the Caribbean food people there, they may have been in a different slot or just not there. I do like a bit of jerk chicken, rice and peas, not to mention their rum cake! Maybe they will be at Shrewsbury August Bank Holiday weekend.

If you have never been to a music festival then do give it a try sometime. I recommend a folk festival as they are more relaxed than most and generally friendlier. The toilets are usually cleaner too!

If you are planning a visit to a festival then go and enjoy ... and don't forget your orange, green and purple spotted wellies! xx

Fairport's Cropredy Convention 2011

WOWWWW!! What a weekend! I spent 3 days in a field in North Oxfordshire at a festival called Fairport's Cropredy Convention. This has been running for  over 30 years and brings in somewhere in the region of 25,000 people currently. There are generations of 'Croppers' people. Couples meet there, get engaged there, celebrate wedding anniversaries, and bring along their children from tiny babies to young adults. Ther are many mature Cropredy attendees, aging along with the 'boys' of fairport Convention.

The gates are open

Is it a folk festival?  a little. A rock festival? a little. Is it good fun? Oh YES!! It's warm and friendly and highly enjoyable. Are there chemical toilets? Yes rows of thunder boxes, kept clean and well stocked with tissues! There are also posher flushing loos on trailers for the priviledged, as well as showers for all. There are acres of camping, well laid out and organised, and stacks of food outlets for the hungry masses.
The music? Well....we had an opening set from Fairport themselves in their acoustic mode to get everyone in the mood. Some younger performers then held stage, Katriona Gilmore & Jamie Roberts, followed by Blair Dunlop who's only 19! Kat & Jamie are lovely and performed a wide variety of songs delightfully. Some more senior artists followed in the form of the Home Service, headed by John Tams (he who sang in 'Sharpe') supported by a group including a brass section which gave them a real depth to the sound. They have been apart for nearly 25 years and recently reformed, and had the crowd at Cropredy ecstatic. The 'mosh pit' really came to life with them in full swing.

 The next band were Hayseed Dixie - a hill-billy AC-DC style band. Rocking with amazing banjo playing. They were loud, funny, clever, and highly entertaining. A great find for Cropredy. Headlining the thursday night were UB40. THE UB40 (Red red wine etc) Lovely music! So easy to listen to and so polished. A great set to go to sleep too after a long day LOL I could not make the end of the set so I headed to bed.

We were camped in the guests field just in behind the stage area along with many of the artists, just a short walk from the main stage field. So it did not talke me long to stagger to the loo then fall into my bed. Even with the band still blaring out I was gone in minutes. I did wake a few times but just to roll over and sleep on. The group of young ladies in the tent next to us were late night chatters and seemed to be still talking around 2 am +.



We had a an early wake up call as the first train of the day went past at 6.30am full of poor commuters heading to London no doubt. But I managed to sleep on after that excitement. The next tent the other side had a very new baby who demanded a feed at 6.30 too so it was all go! We finally gave in to the noises around us at about 8. A full bladder necessitated a hurried dressing and a short walk to the toilet trailer. We had a great coffee and some breakfast before relaxing for an hour or so listening to the sound checks.



Filling up!



We had planned where we were going on the field, a different spot to previous years. We used to head to an area near the front of the seated bit and in the middle to get a good view. This was a nightmare once the field filled up around us and we found no clear pathway through the masses to get to the bar/loos/food. We also had problems come the evening when the mosh pit standing crowd spread back up the slope and engulfed us. My crook knees stopped me standing for more than the odd song and sititng down on a chair in the middle of a standing, dancing crowd was scary and stopped me seeing anything on stage.

This year we sat further back, almost twice the distance from the stage but so much more civilised. We had a great view of the stage and BIG screen for the whole weekend, and by sitting by the walkway across the field, it was easy to get in and out and meet and greet people walking past. We only had the occasional stander-upper and they got shouted down by those sitting behind them! Yayy seated oldies rule!! The stewards and safety officers kept the walkway clear so it was a super spot to sit. It was also closer to the bar so got a big tick from John. He spent most of the festival 'networking' with other festival organisers, and various artists at the bar :-)

Friday was THE day for great bands and top music. The music went from mid-day to midnight and not a dud anywhere. We had this year's BBC young folk musicians award winners Moore, Moss & Rutter opening - very folky and great young musicians. The Travelling band followed them with something much more rock than folk or country and had the mosh pit jumping. Great stuff! Steve Tilston and the Durbervilles gave us something more sedate but no less enjoyable, a bit more folk and not quite so rock but still lively.

Charlie Dore was on next and gave us a lovely set of her own songs plus a few covers.
One of the highlights of the weekend for me personally was the Dylan Project, just superb music - Bob Dylan's songs but done the Dylan band style, more rock than anything else - not a cover band - just great music. Following them we had The Urban Folk Quartet who were very folky and brilliant!
The Coral - yes THE Coral followed them and were noisy and very rock and good.
The night closed with the wonderful Seasick Steve, highly entertaining and enjoyable.
We slept like logs despite the noises around us - usual camp site stuff, dogs barking, babies crying, all night drinkers, girls chatting etc etc.
Saturday dawned bright and warm - we were so lucky with the weather all weekend - cloudy mostly but dry! with occasional sunny spells.
Saturday's programme was  Richard Digance, The Shee, the Blockheads, Lau, Horslips, Badly Drawn Boy, and the big final set from Fairport Convention & friends.



Hankie waving with Digance

 Richard Digance makes a very funny warm up man and got the crowd going. He told stories and jokes and sang a few songs, including one with actions for the crowd to participate in (see photo) everyone waving hankies.

The Shee were an excellent all girl folk band, fairly traditional with a Celtic touch now and then.

The Blockheads were brilliant and got everyone rocking.
Lau were technically superb but oh so boring with their long drawn out Celtic tunes. Watching 3 men sitting on stage is not visually entertaining for an hour, even if they were brilliant musicians.
The act everyone wanted to see were Horslips. This is an Irish rock band from the 70's, reformed in 2007 and now packing venues. There was a passing nod to Celtic folk but most of it was just pure rock n roll! They were amazing and loved by everyone. The queue for autographs was half way up the field by the time they came off stage.

Badly Drawn Boy now has a new name - Foul Mouthed Badly Behaved Boy. A great singer-songwriter BUT way too much bad language for a family festival with loads of children. And he swore at the sound guys!

The final set with Fairport was brilliant! Ralph McTell joined them and a few more friends for a great finale.
Roll on 2012.!!