![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Xmas
Xmas was very good overall, apart from one slight hitch...
We had one of those excellent days when everyone got presents they actually liked and no one had to pretend to look interested. Even the little presents (between people who are only loosely connected) turned out to be hits. My sister Gillian scored espcially well with a range of presents that weren't expensive, but gave us a lot of fun.
We had our usual pillowcase of stocking fillers. We hand these out gradually during the day and they're particularly handy if some people have more presents than others as they can have one out the bag. They're all silly little things like swanee whistles (Kelvin is surprisingly good at getting a recognisable tune out of a cheepo swanee whistle). We had lots of board games as gifts, aided by the fact that Henry is close to a really good games shop now he's at Manchester university. The Paranoia card game is very funny and does have some tactics to it. (It's always fun trying to decide whether you actually want a particular mission to succeed or not) Shooting the other players is fun and landing treason points on them is even more so. It's only drawback is that it seems to need a couple of hours to play (though reducing the number of clones could easily reduce the playing time)
Tried 'Ticket to Ride' - clear, simple rules, but a lot of scope for different tactics in play. I think this one will come out a lot. 'Primeveal Soup' - they're playing that at the moment and seem to be enjoying it. I got 'Shadows over Avalon' which I've heard a lot of good things about and am looking forward to playing.
The fly in the ointment? My asthma has been getting worse this last week. This morning (Boxing Day) I had to go down to the hospital outpatients department - it's the first time I've ever been put on a nebuliser.
There has to be something triggering the current batch of asthma attacks - this is my third bad attack in under two months and more than I've had in total in the last few years. Kelvin had some asthma yesterday and today (nothing like as bad as mine, but still way above what is normal for him). That pretty much confirms something in this house as the culprit. But what? We've lived here for 25 years and we haven't changed anything recently (we've just double-glazed, but I'd already had two attacks before we did that).
THere's a slight leak in one pipe that just might be casuing some damp patches. That's my current test candidate. (It may not sound like much, but if it's causing any mould, then mould spores are a well known asthma trigger and I often get asthma at my mother in law's house - it's a very old house and the water table is very high). If we manage to cure the leak (it's a very slow drip and Richard's tried twice before to totally seal it off), then I'll see if that makes any difference.
I'm clutching at straws - I've got to try everything as I'm taking the absolute maximim of all the medication I'm allowed to take (which is four times what I normally take of salmerterol and 8 times more than I normally take on salbutomol). Something is very wrong.
We had one of those excellent days when everyone got presents they actually liked and no one had to pretend to look interested. Even the little presents (between people who are only loosely connected) turned out to be hits. My sister Gillian scored espcially well with a range of presents that weren't expensive, but gave us a lot of fun.
We had our usual pillowcase of stocking fillers. We hand these out gradually during the day and they're particularly handy if some people have more presents than others as they can have one out the bag. They're all silly little things like swanee whistles (Kelvin is surprisingly good at getting a recognisable tune out of a cheepo swanee whistle). We had lots of board games as gifts, aided by the fact that Henry is close to a really good games shop now he's at Manchester university. The Paranoia card game is very funny and does have some tactics to it. (It's always fun trying to decide whether you actually want a particular mission to succeed or not) Shooting the other players is fun and landing treason points on them is even more so. It's only drawback is that it seems to need a couple of hours to play (though reducing the number of clones could easily reduce the playing time)
Tried 'Ticket to Ride' - clear, simple rules, but a lot of scope for different tactics in play. I think this one will come out a lot. 'Primeveal Soup' - they're playing that at the moment and seem to be enjoying it. I got 'Shadows over Avalon' which I've heard a lot of good things about and am looking forward to playing.
The fly in the ointment? My asthma has been getting worse this last week. This morning (Boxing Day) I had to go down to the hospital outpatients department - it's the first time I've ever been put on a nebuliser.
There has to be something triggering the current batch of asthma attacks - this is my third bad attack in under two months and more than I've had in total in the last few years. Kelvin had some asthma yesterday and today (nothing like as bad as mine, but still way above what is normal for him). That pretty much confirms something in this house as the culprit. But what? We've lived here for 25 years and we haven't changed anything recently (we've just double-glazed, but I'd already had two attacks before we did that).
THere's a slight leak in one pipe that just might be casuing some damp patches. That's my current test candidate. (It may not sound like much, but if it's causing any mould, then mould spores are a well known asthma trigger and I often get asthma at my mother in law's house - it's a very old house and the water table is very high). If we manage to cure the leak (it's a very slow drip and Richard's tried twice before to totally seal it off), then I'll see if that makes any difference.
I'm clutching at straws - I've got to try everything as I'm taking the absolute maximim of all the medication I'm allowed to take (which is four times what I normally take of salmerterol and 8 times more than I normally take on salbutomol). Something is very wrong.
no subject
The leak in the pipe seems to be a good thing to chase up. The only other thing I can think of is if there's something which has started breaking down after 25 years, I dunno, plaster flakes or insulation or something. Or maybe a sneaky leak in the roof causing some damp patches also.
{hugs}
no subject
no subject