It’s A Boy!

I’m tempted to quote the immortal words of Margaret Thatcher: “WE are a grandmother,” but they don’t quite fit. So I’ll say that I am now a great-grandmother. My first great-grandchild was born this morning at 5:45 am, weighing in at 7 lbs. 14 oz. and he’s to be called Jago. Both mother and son are doing well, and the father is extremely proud too. They should be home already as, unless there are any problems, they don’t keep them in hospital long these days. The birth only took just under 12 hours from start to finish and, according to my daughter, my granddaughter was exceedingly brave. So it’s congratulations all round.

There’s also news about the friend I mentioned in my previous blog – the one who had suffered the heart attack. He’s home again now, but he had a dreadful time, and it was apparently the second one he’d had. He’s so used to being in pain, he’s very arthritic, that he waited 12 hours after the attack before calling for help. Then they didn’t do the angioplasty correctly and managed to nick a vein that kept bleeding into his muscles until they found out by giving him an X-ray and scan. Now his leg is black, just being treated with painkillers, and he’s on crutches. Apparently they’ve told him that he’ll probably be on the crutches for the rest of his life! But they’re arranging for the social services to go in and help him for a while, doing shopping and that sort of thing. He already has a cleaner once a week; she’s the same lady who cleans for me and she’s wonderful – a real treasure. Social services are also going to try and help find him a place in Sheltered Accommodation to move to as he really can’t stay where he is now. I, of course, wish a flat would become available here, but I doubt that will happen.

And, here’s an update on the new speakers for my computer monitor, that have now arrived. It wasn’t until I had to order them that I realized you could get digital ones as, before I had some built into my old screen, I’d only had ones that connected via a jack. This time I got some digital ones that connect via a USB, and they were only cheap albeit a good brand. Having installed them I was blown away by the sound quality. However, I made one mistake with them. I was trying to talk to my cousin in Spain on Skype and, although she could hear me, I couldn't hear her. I spent a couple of days Googling to try and find the problem without success. Then I logged on to Skype again and took a more careful look at how things were connected. And, of course, I found that I hadn't changed the old audio to the new speakers. Once I'd done that it all worked fine and we were able to talk. The lesson from all of that is not to do things in such a hurry, LOL.

I’ll also take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy Christmas and New Year. Or, if you prefer, Holiday Season – although personally I still refer to it as Christmas and New Year even though I’m not in the least religious. In fact, if I were asked then I’d say I fall into the Pagan category. That’s probably a reaction to my father having been a Church of England vicar, and having been sent to a boarding school run by Church of England nuns! There, we had to attend church twice a day and three times on Sundays.

Be that as it may, I hope everyone has a wonderful time, and with any luck I’ll be back sometime in mid-January. Meanwhile may whatever deity you subscribe to, (mine being the who/what I call the Universal All), send you a peaceful time.