It's been a funny sort of week

The title of this post is a paraphrase of what were almost the last words in every episode of Open All Hours, a sitcom starring the late Ronnie Barker and David Jason which was broadcast back in the 1970s.  Barker played the part of a lonely, late middle-aged bachelor running a corner shop and as he took in the potatoes, brooms, buckets and other things placed or hanging outside the shop at the end of the day he would cogitate what had gone on, always saying, "It's been a funny sort of day".

I suppose, when I come to think of it properly, it hasn't really been a funny sort of week.  It's been perfectly normal; which is to say, I have enjoyed (?) a variety of experiences interspersed with longish periods when nothing much was happening.  So let me tell you about those experiences and maybe comment as well on things that have been going on around me but not directly affecting me.

The first thing of note was the receipt of a letter, a copy of the letter my consultant rheumatologist sent to my GP.  It told me pretty much what he had said at my consultation last week about decreasing the daily dose of prednisolone (the steroid I am taking) and starting a low dose of methotrexate and gradually building this up - subject to no adverse reactions shown in blood tests.  These will need to be done every month while the dose of meth is built up and then every 6 to 8 weeks.  I knew I would need to have regular tests once on this new drug but I had assumed they would be every 6 months or so, not every 6 weeks!  This drug must be more dangerous than I had realised but I must at least try it.  If I am crippled by arthritis the way I was a month or so ago I can be no help whatsoever to Mrs S as her condition gradually worsens - and it is.  I will see my GP next week and will take it from there.

I didn't do bingo on Wednesday.  The Lions run bingo sessions twice-monthly in each of two retirement homes and I volunteered to stand in for one of the Lions who was on the rota for Wednesday when it seemed he would be unable to go along.  As it happened, the Australian couple who had said they would arrive with him and his wife on Wednesday afternoon changed their plans and came on Tuesday for one night.  But I did do bingo yesterday where I distributed invitations to the pre-Christmas tea party we are organising.  They were well received.

Of course, I nearly forgot that the Old Bat and I went out to eat on Thursday.  I had wondered if the local Italian restaurant had pasta with barolo sauce on the menu but they don't.  Instead I tried rigatoni with boscaiola sauce.  This sauce is made with thin slices of mushroom simmered with Parma ham, garlic, tomatoes, onions etc.  Very tasty it was too, although not quite as tangy as the amatriciana which the Old Bat tried for the first time and very much enjoyed.  Desserts were tiramisu for me and panna cotta for her ladyship.

Well, there is more I could write but I think that will do for today.

~~~~~

We were looking at châteaux in the daily pictures but got slightly diverted yesterday in Vitré.  Château is French for castle but the building evolved from the defensive forts such as the one at Pouancé into the hunting lodges and mini-palaces that are a feature of the Loire valley.  Our village is some distance from the major châteaux but there are some minor gems not far away, such as this one at Challain la Potherie.