Misfits Mid-Life Crisis Adventures in Surrey, East and Essex.

Week 397, Saturday 22^nd until Friday 28^th January 2022.

To start this week an update on Chewie the Hamster.

Ten minutes after I posted last week’s ramble Week 396, Chewie appeared from sleeping all day in his bed.  His left cheek which had been inflamed looked normal; the abscess appeared to have gone, earlier that day it had definitely been still swollen.  During the rest of the evening of 21st I realised that his fur appeared to have fallen out I could actually see his bare skin.  Had the abscess burst, or did he catch the area with his paw.  The Vet we saw the week before pointed out they were not a specialist when it came to dealing with small furry creatures.  So we took the plunge and found a surgery 30 miles away which had a vet who specialises in Hamsters and other small mammals.

Cutting a long story short I have been to this practice a few times this week.  The abscess has gone; the new vet was very happy with his condition and has given him another course of meds just to make sure that there is no chance of any further infection.  My friend and I have become experts in giving a small creature medication; we bribe him with his fave food.  The vet explained that Hamsters pouches are not just in the cheeks as I thought, but go down to their hips.  To check for any obstruction they wanted to do a couple of X-rays, this meant dropping him off really early one morning and collecting him later that afternoon.  To X-ray an animal so small the vet needed to knock him out to keep him still; because he weighs just 46g the amount of aesthetics needed was minute.  Looking at any X-rays is always fascinating, but ones of a small creature are even more interesting.  A small piece of food was found deep in the pouch that had been infected and washed out just to make sure that the pouch was empty.  The Vet has reassured us that fur should grow back which will be nice as at the moment he looks like a Sensorite (an alien from the seventh Doctor Who called The Sensorites from summer 1964).  We are just so pleased that Chewie is better, we have had him 22 months and both realise that little creature like this don’t have long lives.  All we have ever wanted is for him to be happy and healthy.  Looking after a Hamster like this might seem strange, but others wouldn’t think twice if it was a Cat or a Dog.  I genuinely love all creatures, each time I have lost a previous animal companion I have always said “never again” because it’s always so heart breaking I hope we have this little Hamster for a while to come.  But of course we are prepared.

And Now For Something Sort Of Related……

Working from home I spend a lot of the day looking out of the window watching the birds in the garden and on the many feeders.  This weekend I will take part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch spending just one hour counting the different birds that visit the garden during that time.  This will be my 2nd year helping to collect stats like thousands of other bird fans.  I am planning on doing my count on Sunday, but really wished I had had time earlier today (28^th Jan).  The reason for this was because I spotted a female Sparrowhawk with her back to me looking beautiful just sat there.  I snapped away excitedly until she moved slightly so I could see that she was sat top of either a House or Tree Sparrow pinned to the soil by in her talons.  By the time I reached the spot the Sparrowhawk and the victim had gone.  I searched the area just in case there was a body lying in the soil, I don’t know if the little bird got away or was carried aloft by the predator to be enjoyed later.  Seeing this remaindered me how truly wonderful and amazing nature is, but of course it is also so brutal.  Couldn’t the Sparrowhawk have waited until I was actually doing the count on Sunday, my results would have looked a lot more impressive.  Over these last 2 years while working from home this is the 2nd or 3rd time a beautiful bird like this has sat in the exact same spot.  The camera is ready if they return.

And Finally……

My niece celebrated her 10th birthday last weekend.  The highlight was being asked to go with her and her family to Go Ape.  I particularly made her smile and laugh every time I attempted the Zip Line at the end of the tree top course we completed together.  I really felt sorry for employee who had to rake over the crater left by my huge lardy arse because I landed each time on my BUM.  One of my favourite parts of the trip was watching a Robin watching us as we got strapped into the various safety harnesses and listening to the briefing about what to do.  This little bird seemed very comfortable being near people, it was a delight to watch and hear it.

Spending time with “my” little girl on her very special day is something I will always remember.  I really love being an Aunty and really can’t believe its 10 years since I was first introduced to her in Hospital aged 1 day old.  I really look forward to many more adventures in the future as she get older.  HAPPY B’DAY ANOODLE.

My Mid Life Crisis Conts……

This week I have watched:

“8 Extremely Strange Borders In The World”, (Facebook/Knowledge Junction)(TX: 30/05/21).  “Another Life”, (S2, ep 10).  “Archive 81”, (S1, ep 2).  “Bounty Hunters”, (S1, ep 4 to ep 6)(S2, ep 1 to ep 5).  “Click”, (TX: 22/01/22).  “Death In Paradise”, (S11, ep 3, TX: 21/01/22).  “Geometry & Illusions In Cinema Effects”, (Facebook/Extra-math)(TX: 19/01/22).  “Greed”, (2019).  “How Long You’d Live On Different Planets”, (Facebook/ right Side)(TX: 20/01/22).  “Imagine If Your Parents Owned A McDonald’s Store!”, (Facebook/It’s Gone Viral)(TX: 16/10/21).  “Into The Night”, (S2, ep 2 to ep 3).  “Jaws”, (1975).  “Junior Bake Off”, (S7 (S3 on C4), ep 10, TX: 21/01/22).  “Lexx”, (S2, ep 16).  “Love Thy Neighbour”, (S4, ep 7 & ep 8)(S5, ep 1 to ep 6)(S6, ep 1 to ep 7)(S7, ep 1 to ep 7).  “Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes Of Apollo”, (2017).  “Ozark”, (S1, ep 1 & ep 2).  “Silver Lining Playbook”, (2012).  “Snowpiercer”, (S3, ep 1).  “Stargate Atlantis”, (S4, ep 12).  “Star Trek Picard”, (S1, ep 5).  “Star Trek Voyager”, (S7, ep 24).  “Tales From The Darkside”, (S4, ep 8).  “The Apprentice”, (S16, ep 4, TX: 27/01/22).  “The Apprentice You’re Fired”, (S16, ep 4, TX: 27/01/22).  “The Expanse”, (S6, ep 1 to ep 4).  “The Mind Of Herbert Clunkerdunk”, (S2, ep 1 to ep 3).  “The Protector”, (S1, ep 1).  “The Weakest Link”, (S14 (S1 of Revival), ep 9, TX: 22/01/22).  “The Wall Versus Celebrities“, (S4, ep 2, TX: 22/01/22).  “The Walking Dead World Beyond”, (S2, ep 8).  “Winterwatch 2022”, (S10, ep 4, TX: 21/01/22)(ep 5, TX: 25/01/22)(ep 6, TX: 26/01/22)(ep 7, TX: 27/01/22).  “You”, (S2, ep 9).  “Zen Motoring”, (S1, ep 2).

“Doctor Who Watched This Week”……

“The Web Planet”, (S2, Prod Code N).  Ep 4, “Crater Of Needles”, (TX: 06/03/65).  Ep 5, “The Invasion”, (TX: 13/03/65).  Ep 6, “The Centre”, (TX: 20/03/65).

“The Crusades”, (S2, Prod Code P).  Ep 1, “The Lion”, (TX: 27/03/65).  Ep 2 (Loose Cannon Recon), “The Knight Of Jaffa”, (TX: 03/04/65).  Ep 3, “The Wheel Of Fortune”, (TX: 10/04/65).  Ep 4 (Loose Cannon Recon), “The Warlords”, (TX: 17/04/65).  

This week I have listening to:

“A Legitimate Salvage (The Expanse)”, (The Incomparable)(ep 36, 18/12/21)(ep 37, 24/12/21).  “Coronavirus Global Update”, (BBC World Service/Sounds) (22/01/22) (23/01/22)(24/01/22) (25/01/22)(26/01/22)(27/01/22)(28/01/22).  “Doctor Who: Toby Hadoke’s Time Travels – Happy Times And Places”, (30.1, “The Seeds Of Death”, 24/01/22)(30.2, 28/01/22).  “Farscape (Muppets In Space)”, (The Incomparable) (26/01/22).  “Lazy Doctor Who”, (The Incomparable)(ep 226, 23/01/22).  “Mystery Hour”, (27/01/22).  “NASA Houston We Have A Podcast”, (ep 229, 28/01/22).  “Nick Abbot Whole Show”, (22/01/22)(23/01/22)(28/01/22).   “Producing The Beatles”, (ep 11, 13/04/20).  “Rob Beckett And Josh Widdecombe Parenting Hell”, (S4, ep 3, 25/01/22).  “Screw It We’re Just Gonna Talk About The Beatles”, (ep 8, 02/03/17).   “Smersh Pod – Christsmersh Special – Love Actually”, (22/12/17).  “Smersh Pod – Christsmersh Special 2: Santa Claus The Movie”, (23/12/17).  “Space Boffins”, (28/01/22).  “Space Fall: A Blake’s 7 Podcast”, (ep 27, 23/01/22).  “Space And Things”, (STP25, 18/02/21)(STP74, 27/01/22).  “Star Trek Universe Podcast”, (15/01/19).  “The All New Angelos And Barry Podcast”, (27/01/22).  “The Audio Guide To Babylon 5”, (ep 62, 18/09/16).  “The Friendship Onion”, (S1, ep 37, 26/01/22).  “The Nick Abbot Habit”, (24/01/22).  “The Space Above Us”, (ep 150, 23/01/22).  “The Supermassive Podcast”, (28/01/22).  “What’s Your Problem With Nick Abbot And Carol Mcgiffin”, (ep 101, 24/01/22).  “Wolf And Owl”, (ep 57, 27/01/22).

Songs I Enjoyed This Week, Were By:

“Morrissey”,  “ABC”,  “Blur”,  “Biffy Clyro”,  “Bowie”,  “Deep Blue Something”,  “Elbow”,  “Evan Dando”,  “Gorillaz”,  “Hall And Oats”,  “Madonna”,  “Manic Street Preachers”,  “Snowpatrol”,  “Stereophonics”,  “Sugarcubes”,  “The B-52’s”,  “The Beatles”,  “The Communards”,  “The Killers”,  “Voice Of The Beehive”.