:: the eagle has landed

Yep, Faye arrived this morning, safe and sound and bang on time, and looking tanned. We had a cup of tea and a good catch-up chat before she hit the wall: no sleep to speak of for over 24 hours, plus jet-lag. I've put her in my room: I figure she has greater need of the comfy bed than me!

She starts her new job on Monday, which is a shame -- not that she's starting a job, but that it's so soon. Bertie is thrilled to bits to see her again, and it's mutual.

I had a great few days off. I drove through sleet and high winds to get my Palm -- and got a little karmic payback for not using public transport. The shop has a parking building right next to it, so I though, aha, I won't have to go outside. But I had to collect the Palm at its customer pick-up depot, which is across the road! Damn. But it was worth it -- it's the coolest thing out, so little and neat.

Sunday morning I met up with a work colleague and his wife and their dog for a walk -- Bertie and Oz are great pals. Then Andrew turned up with Faye's car and we had another walk before I drove him into town to catch his train back home. Then I went on to Fiona's for dinner -- that was fun, there was a good crowd there.

Yesterday was mainly practical stuff -- cleaning, laundry, supermarket shopping, entering data into the Palm. I also had a good walk on Blackford Hill, Bertie's favourite venue. Many, many dogs, mainly labradors.

My knees are much better just now. One of my neighbours was having a clean-out and found a couple of (unopened) tubs of high-strength glucosamine sulphate tablets, so he passed them on to me. They seem to be working: the inflamation has gone down and my knees feel much stronger and more stable. Still get jolts of pain, but nothing like the same constant aching. I've still been using my stick though, it helps on downhill stretches.