Decs on the Lamp

A good session this morning with Halim and Len, learning Arabic. I'm delighted that I can now spell words in Arabic script after merely listening to Halim. Learning the diacriticals makes all the difference.

It rained hard during the morning. Colin rang to say that his Santa session at the model railway venue in Coalville had again been cancelled. The ground was flooded. Feel rather sorry for the steam train men. This was probably intended to be family fun and perhaps a bit of a fund-raiser.

But this is a busy week. I drove to Loughborough to buy up several packets of gluten free sausage goodies at Tesco, before they ran out. I used to spend all day in the kitchen making dinner so that I could eat it with everyone else. Not anymore if someone has done all the finicky bits for me. Will still make my own stuffing. Chestnuts and apricots sound good.

The store had to close at 4 pm. I made sure to get six bottles of Malbec before the no-alcohol curtain came down.

Struggled with the trolley to get out of the store and realised I couldn't hold it on the travelator. A kind young man said I shouldn't worry. The trolley would stay still on the travelator. He and his companion steered it to the car once we got to the bottom. I was so grateful.

It's something of a shock to realise just how incapacitated I have become with this arthritic knee. Not so long now until January 11th. I hope the operation won't be put off, although it's not at all uncommon.

Photo taken quickly in The Rushes shopping centre in Loughborough.