A - Z Challenge 2024 - O is for Optician

This year I'm blogging about my local area.  

My area?  Highams Park which is in the borough of Waltham Forest in North East London, (UK) a little known place that nestles between Chingford and Woodford that most people only come to if they have a specific reason to - if not we usually get bypassed.  Suits us.

Having lived in Forest Gate in East London for 36 years (and for my husband 65 years!) moving was a big deal for us.  But we've been in Highams Park since September 2020 so I feel I know enough about it now to fill out 26 posts! 

We've only moved just over 5 miles but we didn't know this area at all before moving here.  Although of course we did have a good look around when looking for a house and there were a number of things we wanted on our check list.

Phew I'm flying by the seat of my pants now as I'm preparing this post the day before it will be published and I don't have any other posts ready yet either.

But aptly today I had an appointment with the optician.

The optician is on the parade of shops opposite the station so just a 10 minute walk away.  I hadn't been since late 2021 so I was a bit overdue for my check up.  Fortunately it all went well.  In fact I'm less short sighted now than before which is good but of course meant new glasses.  I could have opted just to change the lenses in my current pair - I thought that would mean being without them for days but apparently they can fit new lenses on site and it only takes about an hour, maybe two.  But, as I have to wear them all the time, I felt justified in getting new frames.  That means I will still have the old pair for emergencies.

It was a very thorough check - as well as ensuring they prescribe the right lenses they also do an electronic scan, do a pressure test and an electronic test of peripheral vision.  

I'm thankful that everything seemed fine and hopefully my new glasses will be ready in about 10 days time.

Hubby has also been to this optician and they picked up a slight problem with his eyes and were able to refer him to Moorfields - a London Eye hospital that again is within fairly easy reach of us.  So far it is just a case of monitoring him but at least now if things change he will get the treatment he needs.

A good local optician was on our checklist when we moved here and thankfully we have one.

A - Z Challenge 2024 - N is for Neighbours

This year I'm blogging about my local area.  

My area?  Highams Park which is in the borough of Waltham Forest in North East London, (UK) a little known place that nestles between Chingford and Woodford that most people only come to if they have a specific reason to - if not we usually get bypassed.  Suits us.

Having lived in Forest Gate in East London for 36 years (and for my husband 65 years!) moving was a big deal for us.  But we've been in Highams Park since September 2020 so I feel I know enough about it now to fill out 26 posts! 

We've only moved just over 5 miles but we didn't know this area at all before moving here.  Although of course we did have a good look around when looking for a house and there were a number of things we wanted on our check list.

Of course everyone wants good neighbours and we've been lucky on that front.

Due to the layout of our plot we only usually see the neighbours to our left at the front of our house.

We found it quite amusing that Jeff was cleaning his car on his front the afternoon we moved in.  Jeff likes to know what's going on and talks to everyone passing by that he knows.  No doubt he wanted to check us out lol.  Actually he's a lovely guy and we've been more than happy to leave a set of keys with him.  Sadly his wife Anne, died this New Year's Day.  She had respiratory problems for many years and gradually deteriorated.  We didn't get to know Anne that well because of that.

Sue and Stuart are the neighbours to our right.  We chat over the fence sometimes and she's been good at giving us surplus veg and fruit from their garden which is so much better than ours - and probably bigger.  It's laid out beautifully.  

Across the road we're now on first name terms with 4 households.  We all tend to keep an eye out for things like lights left on in the car or parcels being delivered when someone's out or putting dustbins back into the front garden after they've been emptied.  Just little things like that.

We might not be in and out of each other's houses but I'm sure we'd be there for each other in an emergency and I'm happy with that.  

A - Z Challenge 2024 - M is for Music

This year I'm blogging about my local area.  

My area?  Highams Park which is in the borough of Waltham Forest in North East London, (UK) a little known place that nestles between Chingford and Woodford that most people only come to if they have a specific reason to - if not we usually get bypassed.  Suits us.

Having lived in Forest Gate in East London for 36 years (and for my husband 65 years!) moving was a big deal for us.  But we've been in Highams Park since September 2020 so I feel I know enough about it now to fill out 26 posts! 

We've only moved just over 5 miles but we didn't know this area at all before moving here.  Although of course we did have a good look around when looking for a house and there were a number of things we wanted on our check list.

One of Hubby's pastimes is playing his guitar.  In Forest Gate he would meet up with other musicians for jamming sessions in the local pubs.  Although we've only moved a short distance away the journey back to Forest Gate is not that easy by public transport.  I hoped he'd find something similar here but actually he's become very involved in the Open Mic  sessions that take place in various locations nearby.  He can get to many of these by bus or train and he often gets a lift home.  He's made some new friends and it's something he really enjoys.

There are also quite a few venues near enough to us that have live music acts and The Waltham Forest Music Society is based in Highams Park. 

We also have our own local community radio station hSpark Radio.

Plenty of music then to keep Hubby happy.

Friday's Fave Five - 12/4/24

Well I'm a day late here but it's still good to look back on the week and find the blessings and then share them with Susanne and other like minded bloggers here.

1)  Warm weather.  We've still had some rain showers this week but we've also had some lovely spells of sunshine.  Plus it was a lot warmer!  I went for a walk today in just a short sleeved top.  Well I started out with a cardigan on but that soon came off.  It was lovely to be out in the sunshine, smell a few BBQs and hear lawnmowers with the lovely smell of freshly cut grass.

2)  I've completed the Diabetes Prevention Programme.  The last session was last Monday.  Thankfully my last test results show I'm no longer in the pre-diabetic range so it's been worthwhile doing the programme.  We started with a group of 15 but only 5 of us stuck it out to the end.  

3)  We've had a few quiet days this week after having family here last week so it's been nice getting the house straight at a leisurely pace.

4)  A lovely morning with Granddaughter Ella on Wednesday.  She was very happy to come to our house.  She enjoyed helping me refill the bird food containers in the garden.  Then we had a good session with Playdoh

Followed by a lunch of plain pasta which she finished and then quite a big banana.  She can be a bit fussy about food but she was obviously hungry.

5)  As well as getting the house straight I also sorted out quite a few things this week and Hubby did 2 trips to the local recycling centre on Friday - we had a few bits and pieces in the garden that couldn't go in our usual rubbish bins so it was good to get rid of them.  I have quite a few items that I'll probably try to sell or give away on Facebook marketplace plus several boxes of things to take to charity shops but it feels good to have things a little bit more organised than they were.  I'm thankful that Hubby does trips like that.  And he cut the grass!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend all.