Tedbiker: Blog

I've noticed a continuity error in chapter 4 - Helen Penwithern in chapter one has become Kate Morris. I have submitted a corrected chapter with apologies all round.

A new Devastation Diary entry posts today. I hope to be able to post every other day. As always, I welcome feedback and comments. While I try to make sure there are no typos or other errors, even with Jerry and Peter's efforts, they do slip through.

I'm an old foggy. Back in the day when I was learning about engines, cars had 'fan belts', which, apart from turning a mechanical fan which drew cool air through a radiator, also drove a dynamo or alternator. But now, the fan is electric and only works when the water temperature rises above a certain point - great idea, I think. However, that means that the belt which drives the alternator is no longer a 'fan belt'. So - is it an 'accessory belt" or what? All of which is to introduce a moan that the... drive belt? of my Ford Focus broke the other day. It appears to be totally inaccessible and I haven't bothered to work on a car for years; it seems to me to be better to allow trained mechanics to fiddle with all that sophistication and buried machinery. Only trouble is, when something critical stops working, how do you get the workshop to fix it in a timely manner? TWO weeks without being able to use the car! Not that I really don't prefer the motorbike, but there are times when the bike just isn't capable, collecting bulky stuff, for example.
Oh, and I ought to be able to post a new Devastation Diary entry soon.
Ted

One of the occupational hazards of nursing is back trouble. I think it's a particular problem as a male who is called upon to lift the heavier patients, and to do so with another nurse six inches or more shorter than oneself! I've been out of the profession for over twenty years now, but I still get the occasional period of disabling pain which prevents me from doing anything involving bending over or lifting more than a mug of coffee. It will get better, but in the meantime there will be no riding of Oscar; particularly annoying now the Advanced Rider training has restarted.
I suppose the good news for loyal readers is that it doesn't stop me writing and just at the moment my Muse is co-operating quite enthusiastically with a new Devastation Diary entry. I'd have preferred to complete the 'Jenni' story first, but for some reason that isn't going to happen and 'Norma' will join the queue of unfinished tales in my documents file. Peter in New Zealand is undergoing something medical, so I'm not sure when anything I write will get edited. There are options.
Here's hoping for an end to Covid and a return to something approaching normality.

Some time ago I was started on a statin. (Let's not get into the pros and cons?) Anyway, I needed to renew my repeat prescription, and the doctor required me to have a set of blood tests. As a result I was found to have a raised LFT (liver function test) which required further investigation. Okay, so, off I go. After an ultrasound which revealed a gall-stone, it was seen that there was something untoward in my bladder. A cystoscopy was followed by a TURBT. Yes, there was a tumour in my bladder that might never have been noticed until it was too late to do something effective about it.
I suppose it was a good thing. Now I'm waiting for histology results on what was removed...
Writing is slow, I'm afraid. I have two chapters of a Jenni story, with a third under way. It is, as a matter of interest, another 'older woman' story. What will happen to her? Well, I don't know yet. But I am in favour of happy endings, on the whole.
Ted