I decided it was time to upgrade my trusty camera. I’ve had it about 5 years and 3 mega pixel is getting a bit passé now – besides which, its already been repaired once and sees an awful lot of use and abuse so I have no idea how long it will last. Of course, the real reason is that I saw my dream camera online and it was in my price bracket, so I was just looking for any kind of excuse so that I could justify it to myself!
Having made the decision, I went online, only to discover that the link to the page with the best deal didn’t work so I thought I’d phone the company in question and do it the old fashioned way and order over the phone. I spoke to a very nice man (a very very nice man*1) who told me that the new range is due out in November, so my dream camera was now a discontinued, out of stock model and there were no new stocks available from Canon. He advised me to buy one now as the replacement did not have the same features and he also advised me to do it soon as lots of people were trying to get them before stocks ran out altogether!
Thus ensued the usual thing of web searching and price comparison sites until I had narrowed it down to a best price but no stock levels shown, so, heart in mouth, I phoned them. Yes, the lady said, we have 2 here in stock but please can you order online, it’ll be easier for us. My fingers flew over the keyboard as I spoke to her....it was to be mine....mine..!
That was Friday. Monday, I had an e-mail saying that they couldn’t fulfil my order as they were out of stock! So, in best seething fashion I phoned them and squeaked my story down the phone.
“Ah” the lady said, “we had 4 orders over the weekend and only 2 cameras are in stock”.
“Grrrrr” I said (only much more politely), “I ordered mine Friday and I bet my name came first alphabetically too AND I was on the phone to you checking stock levels while I was ordering!”
“Oh” said the lady (very quietly), “let me see what I can do” (there is the sound of whispering in the background from her end). “Um, let me see”, she said, “We could cancel one of the later orders and give you the camera, how does that sound?”
Now, that’s a result.
....oh yes, and my camera arrived the very next day and is everything I dreamed of so I am content....
So, a little while ago hubby took me to the cinema (I can’t remember now what it was to see but we have had a superhero glut with Iron Man, Incredible Hulk *1and Hellboy 2....and we love all that fun stuff!). Anyway, we went to the cinema, did the usual – hubby bought exorbitantly overpriced popcorn 
and I went for the strangest Ben and Jerry’s combinations I could find (Cherry Garcia with Chunky Monkey 
anyone?). We headed into the auditorium and sat down, all excited like and that’s when the trouble started.
“I can’t move my leg” I whispered to hubby....
Well, that’s not completely unknown in my world of wonky wiring so I gave hubby my ice cream and started tugging on my jeans...
“I really can’t move my leg!” I squeaked (feeling a little alarmed that it had maybe gone into some kind of spasm and was locked in place)...
Hubby gives me the drink, popcorn, ice cream, his coat and the ticket stubs for me to juggle while he gets down on the floor and grabs my leg....
“OMG!” He says “I can’t move your leg either!”......then.....”Oh, you dope, you’ve got your leg brace trapped under the seat!”
Turns out that when I had sat down on the flip down seat, the back of my leg brace had got trapped under the folded down seat (being exactly the length from the floor to the underside of the seat) and just wedged me in.....all I had to do was stand up and lo and behold, my leg started working again!*1 Marvel have been very busy over the last few years
Now reading the last heading, I’m sure friends of mine nodded sagely as if they were sure what was coming and then were completely confused. You see, I have been choking a lot while eating for a while now...well, not exactly choking, more a kind of eyeball popping effort to get my dinner down as food seems to be getting stuck in my gullet. I’ve had the camera down the throat thing (yum yum...not!) and it showed, well, nothing actually, and now I am waiting for more tests. I can’t eat my dinner properly and the NHS tell me that I should be seen in around 5 months time. This means a visit to the BUPA hospital as I just can't stand waiting that long....mind, don't forget, we do have the best National Health System in the world.....don't we?
Anyway, I have had various suggestions from people as to what the problem might be and while they all sound plausible, there’s no answer yet. Someone even suggested that I have a screw loose and it’s poking in the wrong direction – I do hope not as it would be a long way off target! It is interesting though as this problem started after my surgery and has gradually got worse over time. So, watch this space, maybe I will make medical history yet....
So, it was Friday so the FNG was coming round (unsurprisingly) and he loves curry so I decided to cook a Kashmiri Marsala. I read the jar and duly started spooning in the required quantity to the pan – so far so good! That didn’t last long though as within minutes we all started coughing - hubby and the FNG deserted me and I soldiered on, trying to lean out the window as I stirred. I wouldn’t mind if I had started to burn the food or that annoying little bit of something had stuck to the underside of the pan and was merrily sizzling just where I couldn’t see it....oh no, nothing simple like that, it was just the mixture of spices in this particular curry that really caught you in the back of the throat when you heated them (as if you were likely not to heat them, making a curry!)
Anyway, I carried on cooking and eventually we sat down to eat. It was at that point I decided to throw out the rest of the jar! Now don’t get me wrong, it was fine to eat, but, As I said to the FNG, it’s just not so good that it’s worth asphyxiating myself during cooking again!
