Another BBC News article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr45v7ey91eo
I can’t help wondering why people pay so much for items like this. I struggle to imagine the prices are even remotely representative of the intrinsic value of the items. How much will they be worth in, say, a hundred years when the artists are largely forgotten? Are people paying so much just as a way of showing off their wealth?
The first major rain after the dry Summer last year resulted in quite a lot of water ending up in my workshop. Not for the first time, and as most of the units I was using were made of chipboard (old kitchen units in the main) resting directly on the floor the damage was fairly predictable. I didn’t have a lot of choice but to rip them all out and do something new. Only then health issues intervened and I ended up with a workshop with large piles of tools and the accumulation of twenty years of “stuff” all over the place, not to mention two 220 litre barrels of cider, making the workshop impossible to use.
So between “blood pressure rests” today I started trying to sort it out. A major consideration this time around is that wherever possible anything in contact with the floor should be metal or plastic, so it won’t absorb water. I have some clip-together racking in the other half of the workshop which has been pretty good, but I didn’t really want anything quite as deep (and I couldn’t justify the cost at the moment) so I picked up a lighter-weight, narrower version of the same product.
I got a bit over-excited making it up and did too much at first which meant fitting the corner unit was a bit of a pain (especially as I also had to move an electrical socket over a little), but eventually I got that in.
And then the two other units I’d already made up.
For the moment I’m just trying to find a space for everything which will allow me to actually use my tools. It’s just a case of finding stuff and dumping it on the shelves.
And finally having made a bit more room I could add one more rack.
Now I can actually use my table saw again, the next stage is to make up some kitchen-style cabinets from sheet material offcuts to go in this space. I’ve put together and/or butchered quite a few of those over the years, so hopefully it won’t be too difficult. And standing on plastic feet this time. I have quite a lot of offcuts lying about, but this might take a day or two depending on how physically demanding it turns out to be.
Only around three hours after I took my Ramipril.
Perhaps it’s time to start getting my affairs in order and writing up all my passwords etc. for my family 😀
No idea which of the drugs I’m taking might be the cause or even if it’s the combination, but not only do I have a slightly “chalky” taste in my mouth all of the time these days, but my tongue also feels as if it’s slightly swollen. This means it’s always pressing against the inside of my teeth and rubbing against them, leaving the edges of my tongue slightly irritated and sore.
Yet another thing I’m not enjoying 🙁
From the BBC News website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c07jv23lz4po
It’s almost the more startling thing that there is still a library to return it to.
Though only a few months this time, and not entirely of my own making.
A few months back I had a general “check in with the doctor” type thing and my blood pressure was so high that they wanted to send me straight to hospital. I wasn’t really into that idea as hospitals are not an environment I find at all relaxing, so I ended up being prescribed Amlodipine and Rampril and sent home.
That didn’t go well at all. I could manage about four hours a day after taking the drugs (in the morning, it said on the prescription) before exhaustion overtook me and I spent the rest of the day completely wiped out.
Several weeks later I managed to get the Amlodipine switched to Lacidipine. The effects weren’t quite so extreme, but still sufficient that I wasn’t useful for anything much in the afternoons and ended up reading close to the entire stock of Amazon. My BP didn’t seem to be improving that much though, so the dose of Lacidipine was increased and I ended up seeing the same sort of effect as with the Amlodipine along with a few other problems. My resting heart rate significantly rose, for instance, and if I did pretty much any form of exercise I’d be short of breath and exhausted within a few minutes. My arms and legs often ended up shaking, I’d get dizzy if I stood up too fast and occasionally I’d get blurred vision. Basically I couldn’t really function as a human being. Walking down stairs became a challenge and I didn’t dare drive or, for example, use any tools that have the potential to cause injury if I lose focus or am clumsy.
Eventually I got sick of the way I was feeling and started taking by blood pressure at intervals during the day. It would start in the morning at about 190 (systolic) and after taking the drugs would drop down as low as 110 in the early afternoon before climbing back up again in the evening. That early afternoon low coincided with my exhaustion, so eventually I got hold of the GP again and it was agreed that I should reduce the dose of Lacidipine again and start taking the Ramipril in the evening.
That last change has toned things down a bit, but I’m still struggling and really not enjoying life. I had so many plans for this Spring and pretty much none of them have happened 🙁 And I’m not sure the medication is actually achieving anything meaningful either.
So, that’s where I am. Life is miserable, I can’t plan that much, I’ve become forgetful, I can’t concentrate that well, it’s making me increasingly frustrated, I’ve lost confidence that anything is really likely to improve and if I’m honest, I’ve become quite depressed. Trying to avoid attempting to make all the problems go away for a while using alcohol is a major struggle at times. It feels as though my entire life is defined by efforts to sort out my blood pressure.
Perhaps the most irritating thing is that the blood and urine tests I’ve done have come back with no cause for concern and I have no other symptoms. The weekend before I was diagnosed I spent five hours solid shifting the contents of some friends’ barn when they expected it would take me double that.
So, expect a fair bit of whinging about this topic now. I’m hoping that perhaps not continuing to suffer in silence might help.
I see Brewdog is up for sale. A shame, even if they have had a few issues over the last few years. I’m not a fan of all their products, but some are very pleasant. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the large brewing companies buys them, closes everything down and just keeps the name for half a dozen of their most popular beers.
Just in case, I’ve made sure I have the most recent copy of the “DIY Dog” recipe book.
It has been reported that Sleepy Don’s response to Canada signing a trade agreement with China was that China would “eat Canada alive”. And what’s more,
The first thing China will do is terminate ALL Ice Hockey being played in Canada, and permanently eliminate The Stanley Cup.
Well, quite. I’d imagine stopping the Canadians playing ice hockey is right up there amongst the concerns of the Chinese government. You can’t have people going around playing ice hockey willy-nilly, after all. Where will it end?
I mean, what the hell was wrong with this person? How do you get to be so entitled? I’d say they ought to be banned from driving, but they’d probably continue doing so anyhow.
Apparently some winners have reported that their 2026 Olympics medals are falling apart.
Well, this is Italy we’re talking about 😀
