Briefly…..

…. we had a very nice weekend, thank you!

We spent the weekend at Malcolm and Caroline’s in North Dorset travelling down on Friday and arriving about tea-time. The journey was quite good on the way down thanks to the SatNav. As we neared our destination, a message flashed up on John’s phone: ‘Car crash’. Oooh, right….. but the SatNav steered us all round to avoid it, ensuring we came off the A303, wriggled round a few back roads then came back onto the A303 to very empty road. Not a car in sight behind us. Good for us, but obviously not good for the car crash victims.

Malcolm and Caroline were the perfect hosts and made us feel very welcome, providing great food, decent drinks and great company.

On Saturday we had a potter into Sherborne, tootling up and down the main street, browsing the shops and then the Abbey. I was very taken with the Abbey and felt very at home there.

A little light refreshment was required after all our exertions, of course, and we popped into a coffee shop, where they had a very pretty courtyard at the back. We were out of luck with regards to a cream tea though, as we had left it a bit late in the afternoon. Never mind. We’d choose something else. Dorset Apple Cake? No, sorry, that’s off, too……. Chocolate brownies and toasted teacakes were on the menu, however. Caroline declined the offer of anything else, but Malcolm had to wait hours for his teacake. They had forgotten to put the order through. Hmmm…. there was a bit of argy-bargy about that.

Despite the wait and John taking a trip up the step and then thwacking Caroline in the eye as he fell, we enjoyed the surroundings and the chat.

On the way back, we took in a visit to the pub, The Buffalo. I mean, it would have been churlish not to, wouldn’t it? It was quaint and old-fashioned but lovely.

We had thought we might stay until Monday, but John’s hip was giving him jip and his eyes were sore, too. He had forgotten his specialist eye serum and by the end of the day he was struggling to open his eyes, so we thought it would be best come home on Sunday. But not before I’d visited the stables with Caroline to see her horse!!

On Sunday morning, we left the men at home and drove up to Shepton Mallet to see ‘Red’. What a lovely horse he is. Glossy and looking as fit as a fiddle. Caroline groomed him and said, “Do you want to brush his tail?” Erm…. me? Oh, OK then. I was brave and brushed his tail. Although, to be honest, I didn’t need to be brave because he was as good as gold.

Caroline took him into the indoor riding area to lunge him which I thoroughly enjoyed watching. Once again, he was as good as gold. Smashing.

After lunch John and I came back to Balsall, only to find Jack still at our house. Having fed the cat he was thoughtfully watering some of our plants. What an amazing boy he is! Can’t do without him!

Today we have tinkered about at home – me slicing up carpet to get at the skirting board in our bedroom to paint it; and John having another look at his car.

The only mar to our enjoyment was a phone call from the urology nurse telling John all about his results from the biopsy. Yes, it is prostate cancer. We knew that. It will need more intervention now. We didn’t know that. It’s classified as T3 cancer and on the Prostate Cancer Gleeson Score it is 9. Hmm…… the nurse was very good at explaining it all and said that his case has been referred to the oncologist who will be in touch. Soon we hope? “In due course.” Ha! I wonder how long that will be?

Take care everyone. Prayers appreciated if you are so inclined. God bless.