Just not good enough!

Note to readers (my lovely Baggees): For the avoidance of any doubt - every character in this blog is me!!! No Baggy was harmed in its writing.

Baggy's daily state!
Depression (Black = really bad/Grey = not great/Blue = okay/Yellow = sunny day): Grey.
Anxiety (From 1 = barely any to 10 = gibbering wreck standard): 4.
Tears: No.


And the trend continues. A Baggy could start to feel picked on by the universe. But Clever Bird is not going to let Hormonal Hannah think like that. Yep, spring has sprung off into oblivion once again in little old Suffolk, meaning that it's so cold, that the heating is back on, and so dark, that the lights are on! Which of course, is bringing Hannah down again - she definitely feels better when the sun is shining. But more so, as there is now a severe weather warning for the weekend in the east of England - heavy rain, high winds and possibly even snow! Gloria Gardener is therefore worried about her little plants, and for that matter, also Creative Clara's 'beach', it will be interesting to see whether it stays in place if there's lots of rain.

Baggy has packed her baggy summer dungarees and t-shirts away again, and retrieved her warm baggies and jumpers from the wardrobe ready for the cold.

Of course Hannah is also bringing Baggy down because she's just had Calum home with her for nearly three weeks, but as he can see the doctor this evening, he's back off to work tomorrow, so she won't see him again until next Friday. The pooch won't be too happy about it either.

In a bid to do something positive, Baggy headed off to give blood today. Freda Fretter was a little worried because last time they rejected her blood, because her haemoglobin level was too low. To donate it has to be over 125 something or others, to be safe and healthy it has to be over 115 whatsits. Last time (in January) it was 116, so safe, but not good enough, basically meaning that there is not enough iron in her blood. Baggy had to wait three months to try again and today was the day. And guess what Baggees, even Baggy's blood is not up to muster at the moment. An hour wasted to find out that she couldn't donate, and even more worryingly, that her thingy level was now only 111. So not only not good enough, but Baggy has to go to her doctor to see whether there's an underlying problem. As Clever Bird cannot bear the thought of dealing with the surgery receptionist again, she will be getting Calum to make her an appointment when he's there this evening. And breathe........

What else is going to go wrong?

Note to readers (my lovely Baggees): For the avoidance of any doubt - every character in this blog is me!!! No Baggy was harmed in its writing.

Baggy's daily state!
Depression (Black = really bad/Grey = not great/Blue = okay/Yellow = sunny day): Grey.
Anxiety (From 1 = barely any to 10 = gibbering wreck standard): 6.
Tears: No.
Pancakes (Yes/No): All kinds of lovely stuff!!
Weight in her terrifying naked state (Stones and pounds): Clever Bird has decided that Baggy has enough to worry about, without adding her weight to the list!

You know that beautiful swan Baggees? No, you do! The one that swims serenely along looking relaxed and effortless, but actually its little legs are going thirteen to the dozen against the current, and its panicking inside that it may be swept backwards. See - told you, you knew the one! Well, currently that is how Baggy is feeling. Everything looks okay on the outside - well, kinda, anyway, if you just ignore the fact that she is once again overweight - but inside is nothing except panicky flapping about, just trying to keep the momentum going, but feeling as though she could be swept away into some dark void at any moment.

It doesn't help that as per usual in the life of Baggy, just when things were beginning to go swimmingly, along came a backwards current, full of detritus, to make her feel as though she might drown again at any moment. It's not a pleasant sensation, as you can appreciate Baggees. Clever Bird took some of the pressure off, by not making Creative Clara blog every day, but still, everything is seeming a bit much. It started with Cal and Baggy getting their finances re-sorted by taking out a bigger loan, the first payment being due this week. All good. Until the DVLA has so far had Cal's licence for nearly two months, meaning that he has been unable to work for the last three weeks, since it 'expired'. At which point his car decided to need a service, and two new tyres. Then he needed new glasses. Then Clara had to get insurance for her market trading. And so on, and more things going wrong, and stress upon stress.

Poor number one furry has been getting more and more stressed about being mucked about, so Freda Fretter has been walking on eggshells, as his sense of humour has disappeared to be replaced by a very, very short fuse! Clever Bird decided to see if she could help, and phoned the DVLA. She got somewhere - just needed to get Cal's doctor to say that he was okay to drive, and he could drive under 'Section 88' . No problem. Yeah right. Calum phoned the doctor's surgery to explain. Freda Fretter watched him going red in the face, then white as he repeated himself. Freda knew he was about to explode, so Clever Bird took over the call. Within two minutes Hormonal Hannah had totally lost her temper with the receptionist who would not listen to a word Baggy was saying. 'Would you please just listen to what I'm saying? We just need the doctor to confirm that he's fit enough to drive, until you can fit him in for his medical'.
'Well the doctor can't do the medical until he has the paperwork.'
'Please listen! He just needs an urgent appointment so that the doctor can confirm he's okay to drive.'
'But the doctor can't do that without the paperwork.'
'Okay - seriously, I now know why my husband looked as though he was going to explode! You are not listening! Forget the medical for now, the doctor just needs to confirm that Cal can drive.'
'But he can't do that without the paperwork.'
Baggy took a very deep breath, then said, 'So if you were to walk into your doctor now and ask them if you were fit to drive, would they be able to tell you?'
'Well, no I wouldn't think so, not without a medical questionnaire to fill in.'

Baggy was left speechless. She didn't dare to respond. She let the silence hang. Eventually, the receptionist said, 'Well perhaps I should speak to someone and call you back.' Seriously - you think? thought Clever Bird.
'Okay, that would be great, thank you so much for your help,' she said, trying not to say what she really thought. Meanwhile, Baggy was now as wound up as Calum, but they needed to go into town, so Furry Mama went too and they took the pooch to the park. They did lots of ball chasing. Baggy needed the loo, so she left Pepper with Cal and went in to the one in the park. While she was in there, she heard Cal yelling Pepper's name, sounding cross. Now what? She opened the loo door, to find Pepper sitting outside it waiting for Furry Mama. She didn't know what to think.

They went back out to the park, where there was no sign of Cal. It turned out that the pooch had chased his ball, picked it up and hurtled off to find his Furry Mama. As he couldn't see her, he shot back under the viaduct to the car park, through the cars, to Fred Volvo. Then back to the park, straight across a really busy road!! Then into the loo. Poor Cal was frantic as Minty Mutt nearly got killed when he was run over by a car, shortly after he and Baggy got together, for which Cal blamed himself. So stress levels went off the Richter scale for Cal and Baggy and the pooch. When they got home, Baggy decided to go and take Hormonal Hannah for a lie down (out of the way), while Calum listened to music to try to calm down. The pooch joined her. Cal woke them a while later, to say that his Doctor had called, he didn't understand why on earth Cal needed another medical and of course he was okay to drive in the meantime. He arranged the medical for next week (not the end of May which was the earliest that the receptionist had said was available). Thank goodness.

Stress levels have now returned to somewhere approaching normal and Cal can get back to work on Saturday. But seriously, why don't people listen Baggees? And why do receptionists feel that they have the right to be as difficult and obstructive as possible? But at least it's almost sorted now, and because Cal is feeling much more his normal cheery self, today for the first time in weeks, he asked Grotty Groom if she wanted to see her Boy. Well as she's been desperate to see him, Baggy grabbed Cal and the pooch and took them to the yard before Cal could change his mind. It was so lovely to see the Boys, especially as it was the first time this year that Grotty has seen them out in their paddocks. As always Wessles was delighted to see Grotty, Bless him. There aren't many horses who'll stand loose in a field full of lovely fresh spring grass and let you groom them, but both Wesley and Joey do just that, and very contentedly too. Grotty happily got Baggy totally covered in white hair, while Wesley let her know which bit to do next.

Hannah is hopeful that the list of things going wrong might just stop now - well she tries to stay optimistic Baggees.........

Happy days.

Note to readers (my lovely Baggees): For the avoidance of any doubt - every character in this blog is me!!! No Baggy was harmed in its writing.

Baggy's daily state!
Depression (Black = really bad/Grey = not great/Blue = okay/Yellow = sunny day): Yellow.
Anxiety (From 1 = barely any to 10 = gibbering wreck standard): 2.
Tears: No.
Pancakes (Yes/No): Icecream!!
Weight in her terrifying naked state (Stones and pounds): Fortunately the scales have broken.

 
As number one furry still has an enforced holiday, as the DVLA now want even more hoops jumped through in order for him to renew his HGV licence, but they haven't yet told him what hoops, Clever Bird told him to just enjoy it. Every year since Baggy and Cal have been together there have been weeks or months when he hasn't been able to work. More often than not he's had to have time off to look after Baggy through illness, or bereavement. Or he's been ill himself. So this time, as he's not in pain or looking after any of the gang, and there's absolutely nothing he can do about it, even Freda Fretter has told him not to stress over it - just enjoy. As a result, as well as helping Gloria Gardener out, he has spent lots of time with Furry Mama and Pepper the Pooch visiting the wonderful east coast of England.

And if any of you international Baggees have ever wondered why the Brits are always talking about the weather - well, this is why:

This was the 9th April, having a coffee to warm up at Southwold. The wind was absolutely biting cold and there was no sign of sun.

This was Calum's birthday on the 10th April at Aldeburgh. They arrived at about 9.30 and the sea fret was so bad that it was difficult to see very far. It was bitterly cold!

 

Just a couple of hours later, Baggy was taking off layers of clothing because the sun decided to come out!

 

 

Then there was today, the 18th! (Well, and yesterday, but Creative Clara didn't take photos yesterday) - it felt like summer. This was Southwold:

 

Paddling was required!

Especially for the pooch.

After nearly three hours on the beach, they retired to Billy Bob for coffee and a relax. It was only looking at these photos that Baggy realised that she might have had a bit too much sun!

 

And Pepper seemed to have picked up a crab.

 

Happy days, and it is still only April.......