S P Oldham S P Oldham

2023 so far…

You might find this update in total contrast to my previous hopeful, happy wishes for the new year, despite our Christmas having been a relatively stressful one (see previous blog post.) So be warned. I have decided, for once, to let the cynic in me have a say. Nobody comes here to read or comment anyhow, so I think I am safe to have a rant (there’s a small one, right there.)

So far, 2023 has been nothing but a bag of the proverbial shit. I am usually a very upbeat, positive person who manages to see the bright side in most things. I have something of a reputation for that in my family. It takes a lot to make me otherwise, but so far this year, it has come close.

Firstly, I realise how blessed we were to get mum safely out of hospital and both she and my sister much healthier and on the mend now. Since then though…

Properties on my husband’s place of work (where he manages) have been broken into three times already since New Year’s Day. Three times. Count ‘em. The most recent one was into a charity shop. Just how much of a lowlife do you have to be to steal from charity shops? Stressful for the property owners, a headache for my husband who has to deal with the fallout. This is on top of the usual pain in the neck trouble makers who have nothing to do but hang around and make life a misery for other people.

Five or six items were stolen out of my husband’s car. One of the scumbag thieves had the nerve (and the stupidity) to throw a First Aid kit and its contents over my railing. Trash he had no interest in, obviously. The bloody nerve. Never mind, he was kind enough to leave us his fingerprints. (There that cursed bright side again!)

Our elderly neighbours, friends we look in on and look after as best we can, have both been very ill. They stayed with family over Christmas. However, shortly after they came home, the man (I won’t use his name here) went out in the rain to nip to the chemist around the corner. Why he didn’t message me and ask me to go I will never know. Anyway, long story short, he slipped and fell, banging his head. A lady saw it all and called for help. Two men rushed over and carried him home, where he was later checked out by a nurse. He’s okay, but at 80 he looks like he has done a couple of rounds of MMA.

Our friend’s elderly mother fell in her home and broke her leg. She was taken into hospital, where she has since contracted Covid. She has to stay in indefinitely.

Our other friend’s brother suffered a major stroke and is now in an induced coma. Who knows how long he will be hospitalised for?

My nephew had his hand trapped in a door and broke his knuckles (grown man, not a child, but even so.)

So there you have it. That is the first week of the new year. Nothing but trouble, stress, crime, stress, illness, stress and injury. Oh, and did I mention stress?

It’s okay. I think writing that was therapeutic in a small way. I won’t dwell on misery or fall into ‘woe is me’ mode. There are a lot of good things in my life I am very thankful and grateful for.

Even so, it does you good to have a moan now and then.

Happy New Year everyone.

By the way. 2023; you can start getting better from here on out, if you like…

Got a moan or a complaint, or just want to get something off your chest? Fire away below. Just bear in mind that bullying, racism or general abuse will not be tolerated here.




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