Cant beat a good storm....

Monday was a surprisingly good day. As I am currently off work with stress and depression a lot of the days seem to merge into one another identifiable only by whether I need to put out my bin for collection and the weeks are punctuated with Drs appointments and reviews with the Occupation Health Department at work.

Monday, however was quite a change to my normal routine, despite the prerequisite of a Drs appointment. Suddenly finding out at 31 that you have developed an allergy to diclofenac is a shock. I have used it in the past to control pain caused by both my back and Trigeminal Neuralgia (a facial nerve spasm condition). However, using it over a week ago I had a funny turn flushes, ringing in the ears, extreme nausea and dizziness; not relating it directly to the diclofenac I again took some in the early hours of Sunday morning. Big Mistake!
At 7am Sunday I was ringing for an ambulance, not only had I the previous symptoms but I was fighting to breath, itching intensely all over my body and covered it in a white blister like rash. Anyway, now I am confirmed as allergic to Diclofenac which is sadly also used in Voltarol another pain reliever I find helpful.

Oh well.

Anyway, I am digressing, Monday, yes it was a good day. Despite feeling rotten after the allergic reaction and yet another trip to the Drs I received a message from a colleague asking for my address as she wished to visit me. Considering she lives very close to work and I live 26 miles away I found this a very sweet offer. She came all that way, brought me depression relieving strawberries, peaches and bearing hugs. It transpires she is also off with work related stress and is suffering as much as myself. From a very selfish standpoint, but hey if I cant be honest here where can I, it does back up and support my absence also. As she is Lithuanian she is having some trouble understanding the companies absence procedure and the new 'fit note' system so as well as discussing our feelings about work I was able to advise her on how to deal with the system. Its a very true fact that helping others helps someone suffering from depression.

I then made a special effort and cooked a nice dinner. After dinner it was getting dark very quickly, the clouds were forming and I could feel the storm building in the air, plus hearing it on the weather forecast helped!..

The cloud formation was beautiful so I took some snaps..

this shows the approaching cloud...




















this I think shows the lovely clash of stormy cloud and blue sky...




















and this... well!





























This is the picture I was dreaming of achieving but never dared hope I would get. Yes, the land is a little blurry, and the overall quality could be much better but with a basic 6.0 Mega pixel digital camera with no fancy speedy shutter I am well 'chuffed'.

I am now very inspired to get back out there with my camera and practice a bit more of my favorite macro photography, and as my garden is in bloom what better time..