The view from my window

The view from my window
The view from my window

Thursday 25 May 2023

Old lady knees!

I'm still waiting to hear from the plumber - he said he would call this week to set up a final walk through - so until that's done I don't really feel like I can make any plans. Trust my luck they'll end up starting work the week of 16 June - which is the day my fireplace insert is also being installed!! I foresee a stressful and dusty few days ahead, but I suppose it'll be worth it in the end!

I spent a few minutes the other day deleting blogs from my favourites list again because while I obviously liked them enough to bookmark them, I found I just wasn't reading them. Can you believe I actually deleted about 50 blogs???? Just as well really I suppose because if I'd spent my time reading all those blogs I'd never get anything done and in any case, do you really want to spend your time reading about someone else living their life while spending your own life in front of a compter? I think not, right? I also cleaned up my main email address too. Not that I ever let it get that bad but I really hate having a ton of emails sitting there in my inbox. I was just thinking to myself that I hadn't had so many scam emails lately either - you know, Colonel Ghadaffi's only surviving daughter who wants to give me $10 million! But then as I was playing Words With Friends on my phone the other day, xfwxyag.na tried to start a game with me and then immediately sent me a "hallo Treaders" message, so I hit "block" on that one right away!

The last few evenings I've watched a couple of episodes of Social Catfish on Youtube and boy are some of those stories sad. It's mainly women (although not always) who are getting scammed out of quite a lot of money and I find it hard to understand how they can fall for this crap, although I guess when you're lonely it must feel nice to have someone who seems interested in you. One woman was convinced she was in an online relationship with Johnny Depp???? and another one with an Australian actor from Stranger Things who was "getting tired of his beautiful girlfriend but had to be careful because she was very jealous"! Say what??? They did do an episode on a rather lovely English woman who turned out to be the first person who did not send any money. She said she was not on any dating websites but had been contacted by Mr. Handsome via her Linkedin profile and while she was initially cautious, he did manage to draw her in after a couple of months chatting. Where she was smart though was when he started telling her that he just needed $5,000 to buy a plane ticket because his bank account had been blocked in the Middle East, she would just ask him what he was going to do about it. She must have driven him nuts because he kept getting more and more angry and demanding, to which she just kept on asking him what he was going to do about it. Smart lady!

Things are still just as fraught here in France as the protests are not going away. Macron was due to give a speech about a month ago and I reckon all of Paris took to the streets with saucepans and wooden spoons - so much so that they tried to ban the "casserolade" but that didn't fly! So now every time he or his senior ministers go anywhere they are greeted by a saucepan serenade!



I did manage to get my back terrace pressure washed the other day and it looks decidedly better with most of the winter muck washed off. I suspect at some point I'm going to have to redo my terrace but that will have to wait for the time being. Then later that night my bloody knee gave out. Oh it wasn't anything like arthritis, but just felt like something had been dislocated. So then I was stuck trying to get around without putting any pressure on my right leg. I can tell you, getting up and downstairs was a laugh a minute (not)! The worst thing was that I had to go into Geneva that night to pick my friend up from the airport but luckily my leg didn't bother me at all to drive - just when walking about. This has happened before but after a night's sleep it had cleared up by the morning. So yesterday morning when I couldn't feel any pain in my knee, I swung myself out of bed - and went down like a sack of spuds! Seems it hadn't cured itself overnight this time after all! But I'm stubborn as hell so I was determined to go out shopping and duly hopped into the supermarket on one leg. The strange thing is though, when I was leaving the store and putting my cart back, I realized the pain had completely gone! I don't know, maybe the act of walking (hopping?) was what cured it but either way I'm glad it didn't last too long! On the way home I stopped in at the Chinese market and at the cash register I realized I'd forgotten to buy ice cream, so I picked up a tub of strawberry ice cream for later. When I got it home I looked at the label and saw that it was "red bean ice cream"!!! Seriously, red bean, as in the stuff you put in chili!! God it was gross - I won't make that mistake again!

So today I took my granny basket down to the market and when I finally found a parking space (it isn't easy) I had a good old wander and bought a week's worth of fruit and veg. On the way home I got stuck behind one of those little "licence-less" cars - the cars that have an engine about the size of a sewing machine and which you can drive without a licence. That thing must have been going about five miles an hour all the way home, but when I saw it swerving in order to avoid pot holes, I realized that the back bumper was held on with duct tape and it was looking very rough indeed. I know how you feel mate, I know how you feel!

21 comments:

  1. As someone who has lower back issues, I will tell you that walking cures so many ills, the problem is that people get achy and decide to wait it out. Red Bean ice cream! That did make me laugh. Over here we have Ranch Dressing ice cream. They might go together well.

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    1. It did make me realize that if I did have more permanent problems I'd be in trouble in this place. It's on four floors and the bathrooms are on the first floor, so I'm glad it sorted itself out. It was weird though because I remember hopping into the shop and by the time I came out it had righted itself, so you're probably right about keeping moving. Oh and I felt I had to try that ice cream and it truly was disgusting!

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  2. We must be kindred spirits because I saw the same exact episodes of catfished people just recently. I don't know how they popped up on my screen but they did. I guess I usually watch criminal documentaries and may be the AI behind my feed decided I could enjoy seeing people scammed. I have a hard time believing how people can be so gullible. I watched one woman who is a complete jerk. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOV8t00M-Sk She is so annying and disgusting. Hope, her husband divorced her.

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    1. I haven't watched the episode in your link yet but if it's the lady that was going to divorce her husband (who was a good provider but boring) I agree with you. How cruel was she! The English lady was smart and attractive, but she's the first one I've seen so far who didn't get taken in. I agree that it's difficult to understand how they fall for it, but I suppose if you're lonely and looking for love/attention/affection it's easier than you might think to fall for it!

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    2. I've called up that Catfish episode and it wasn't the same lady as I saw. I haven't watched it yet but she doesn't seem a very nice person at all, does she!

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  3. I wonder what's wrong with your knee! Just this morning I went to go up the first step (to go upstairs to work) and my left knee just gave out for a second. Then it was right back to normal. This getting old is for the birds.

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    1. To me it feels like a ligament "dislocates" and it was really painful, but I felt pretty sure it would right itself eventually - which it did. But you're right, getting old has nothing to recommend it, does it!

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  4. I can relate to the knee. I feel bad for people caught up with catfishing. Believe me, I understand the lonely and they are clever.

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    1. Hi Sam, yes I believe you've had a jippy knee for quite some time too haven't you! It's not fun, is it! While I guess it's easy to criticize the people being catfished for being "stupid", as you say, these people are good at what they do and if a person is vulnerable that's what they play on!

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  5. It is so very sad to see vulnerable people being scammed. But it does indeed happen. I would hope that that there's a special place in hell for those who prey on the elderly.
    My knee goes out sometimes for no reason. And I'm surprised I don't creak like that old lady in the video. That'll be next.

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    1. I really can't see how they fall for it as it is just such a load of bollocks BUT I know these guys are good and as you say, many of these people are simply vulnerable! As for the creak, I guess we're all getting there aren't we!!!

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  6. I am right there with you on the knee thing. My left knee pops slightly out of joint unless I am very deliberate with it. Mostly I just call mine "having a hitch in my get-a-long"
    I loved the commercial. Made me laugh out loud!

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    1. My knee occasionally pops too, but this is only the second time it has stayed "popped" (and bloody painful it was too). Mind you, if I lost 40 lbs my knee would probably thank me! And that commercial made me laugh ages ago (which is why I remembered it) - plus the young man is really cute!

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  7. Glad the knee took care of itself, and you are feeling better. I think walking and stretching are two of the best things we can do for our bodies and I can tell whenever I haven't done enough. These scams that go on are always so sad to me that someone can be so lonely to believe this. But like someone said, some of them are really good at it.

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    1. I don't worry about my back because yoga takes care of that and in any case I know which exercises to do. My knee, however, is another thing. Mind you, as I said, it probably wouldn't hurt to lose some weight AND get back to walking! In any case, at least it sorted itself out after about 12 hours! As for the scammers, their stories are so pathetic and so alike but I guess if you are vulnerable they are easy to believe. Heck I did a post a couple of years ago about the diamond miner and the doctor in Afghanistan who contacted me through Words With Friends AND the US Marine Corps General who (apparently) graduated from West Point at the age of six!

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  8. My knee gave out, my good knee that never has given me any problems at all. It took five days to be able to put any pressure on my leg. I had to use my walker, and even then, the least pressure hurt. It was sort of like hopping with a walker.
    Take down any items sitting around that you will have to dust after a dirty job. Use sheets to cover even tables.
    Red bean ice cream! Why? Why? Why?

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    1. It's only the second time that my knee has gone out like that but by golly it was painful. Made me realize how vulnerable I would be if it became permanent. And yep I'm going to cover everything I can when the plumbers get here. I'm dreading it but looking forward to the bathrooms being done too!

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  9. I had a friend who gave $80K to a guy overseas. I asked why she did it. She said he told her he loved her. It only took him two phone calls to fall in love. She was a lonely, desperate widow.

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    1. That's really sad. While I find it hard to believe people fall for that crap, I do get that people are lonely and vulnerable. So sad!

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  10. I honestly can't believe it but after a week away from checking in on the blogs I follow, I've just posted an update on my own blog covering a plumber and my knee, I now come to check on yours and find you've done the same!! Sounds like you could have suffered something similar with your knee to my long-term ailment which is several meniscus tears and degeneration of the cartilage which can get trapped causing untold agony as well as inflammation, arthritis and occasional buckling. When that happens I find I have to follow the RICE treatment (rest, ice, compression bandage and elevation) before I can exercise it again. Building up the leg muscles through exercise has avoided me becoming a couch potato and helps keep ongoing mobility in the knee joint as well as strengthening the muscles around it to try to help keep it stable. Glad you got yours going again so quickly.

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    1. Hi Twinnie, it's great fun isn't it. Honestly, I kept trying to move my knee to get it to click back into place but that didn't work. Nor did just lying down. For me at least, I think walking helped get it back into place but I realize I'd be buggered if it became permanent. Getting old isn't for the faint hearted is it!

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