Doing a Tom Stewart

By -

Many years ago, when I was a student, I had the pleasure of listening to Tom Stewart giving a keynote speech at a conference. I think it might have been the IEA (International Ergonomics Association) Conference in Bournemouth. He was reporting on his research looking at "right action, wrong move" incidents ie: why do we sometimes do incorrectly a task that we have done correctly many times before? The example he gave was that of making tea (in a pot) and coffee (in a plunger). We have done this thousands of times without a problem, so why do we sometimes put coffee in the tea pot? We did the right action (substance into brewing vessel), but it was the wrong move (either chose the wrong substance or the wrong pot).

On Monday, while parking the car on a customer's drive, I did a Tom Stewart. Right action (press a pedal), wrong move (it wasn't the brake pedal). Result: I drove into a tree. The tree came out of it pretty well, and I wasn't hurt, but the front of poor Lilly (the car) was badly bent and the radiator was no longer holding itself together. The customer was very understanding and helpful, and I was only a couple of doors away from Claire, so she came round to give me some TLC. The insurance company organised a tow truck which arrived about 15 minutes later, and I got the bus home after chatting with Claire for awhile. We are now waiting for the result of the insurance company's assessment, but as Lilly is 15 years old I think there is a good chance they will write her off.

Tuesday was a quiet day at home for me, just doing the routine household things and coming to terms with to consequences of the previous day's events. On Wednesday morning I picked up a text from the husband of one of Nicky's work colleagues offering to lend us a car. After a quick chat with Nicky I accepted this very kind offer, so we now have wheels again, for awhile.

The other major event this week has been the weather. It has been tropically wet all week until yesterday. On Thursday we had some torrential rain and very strong winds, and north-west of use three men were killed by a tornado. They were in a truck on a building site when the concrete slab walls they were erecting were blown over by the tornado and crushed them. Our landlord and landlady also suffered. The storm water drain by the property next to us couldn't cope, and somehow by the magic of plumbing which is supposed to get waste water to flow up hill, back-flowed into their house, on the other side of us.

After such a week, is is good to report that we had a change in the weather yesterday, as the sun came out and stayed out with gorgeous blue skies which we have again this morning. The forecast suggests that the better weather should be with is for a few days, possibly even a couple of weeks.

On Friday evening I went to a BBQ, which was both an end-of-year thing and a farewell for Glen, the pastor up at Nicky's church who is moving on early next year. It was an good evening of conversation, and I enjoyed some Stoke Oatmeal Stout and the black pudding, bacon, tomato and mushroom kebabs which I had made, along with other (mainly meat) culinary delights.

Yesterday while we were pottering round the house we both enjoyed listening to "The Fabulous Fox Twins", a book about two Northern comedians (from near Featherstone) on the Working Men's Club circuit in the 1950's. We also went to see Skyfall (James Bond) early evening as we have Movie Money again, purchased with our FlyBuys rewards points that we get at the supermarket and the like. We enjoyed the film, but the cinema was cold, again.

Today has been a lovely sunny day. After church Nicky went up to Barefoot in the Bay with Jan for morning tea and a good long chat, so this gave me plenty of time to get the ironing done. After lunch Nicky made scones and I enjoyed the sun. While she Scrabbled I made ale house a bread and broccoli, potato and bacon soup, which we shared for tea with Kim, Shaun, Shani and Tai, followed by the scones and lovely strawberries and mince pies which Kim brought. It was good to see them all again.

That's all for now,
Take Care, Rick

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Challenging week

By -
Image
 It has been a challenging week. At the beginning of the week Nicky was still getting worse, so she arranged an appointment with the GP on Tuesday afternoon. The GP confirmed that Nicky had bronchitis and sinusitis, but that her chest sounded clear. With the infection being viral, there was no medication that could be prescribed, but some additional painkillers were in order to manage the symptoms and assist with the pain caused by congestion, coughing and vomiting. As the week progressed Nicky started to improve slowly. The periods of incessant coughing and coughing induced vomiting started to subside yesterday. She was able get a little more sleep and keep a little more food down. The washing machine has been very busy with regular changes of PJ’s, dressing gowns and bedding. Some of the laundry has been dried outside but the winter weather has deteriorated over the last couple of days. While Nicky has been unwell she has cancelled all her commitments. I have been running errands...
Read more

Tea and Tissues

By -
Image
 We have had a quiet week at home, doing jigsaws and listening to Harry Potter. Nicky seemed to be getting better at the beginning of the week but it was short lived. As the week has drawn to a close she has actually started getting brighter and felt like doing some things round the house. Nicky got dressed for the first time this week on Friday to go to the hospital for a blood test, and we did a little shopping on the way home. Yesterday she made a couple of lemon cakes and delivered one to Eleanor for her birthday. Nicky found the few minutes walk there and back exhausting. Meanwhile, I gradually got worse through the week until Friday. On Wednesday and Thursday I ploughed through a whole box of 240 tissues, and most of a packet of throat lozenges. Paracetamol helped with the general aches and temperature fluctuations. This weekend is the first time I have done my morning exercises in over a week, and I even managed a short amble this morning in the lovely (almost spiring-like) ...
Read more

Easter

By -
Image
 Steve continued his convalescing with us at the beginning of the week, and continued to improve each day. He decided to start the journey home on Tuesday by driving to Te Kuiti. As Monday was going to be his last evening with us he provided another take-away dinner from the Spice Guru, which we enjoyed as much as the previous one. Steve and I were a little early collecting it, so while we were waiting I was having a look at the buildings at the bottom end of Victoria Avenue and spotted this: I think Whanganui rivals Napier for the quality of its Art Deco architecture. Before Steve left on Tuesday morning, he and Nicky went to the Splash Centre to have a wallow in the thermal pool. This had been recommended by Nicky’s physio when she had seen her on Monday. Nicky had a short swim too and they both enjoyed their time. We were very pleased that Steve felt sufficiently recovered to start his journey home, as it was not good seeing him in as much pain, as when he first arrived. It was ...
Read more