Hot tub, anyone?

Another scorcher today, wasn’t it? So much so that I decided to get up at a reasonable time and do a little bit of painting before the paint clagged together again. Frustrated that I am so slow but determined to get the ruddy thing finished. Ha! Just got second coats, plus one more wall to paint and one to wallpaper……oh, Lordy! Finished? Ha! Maybe next week?

Anyhow, I finished the spot of painting by 9.15 and thought I’d ‘go to church’. Haven’t done a streamed service for ages. It was really good, with a great sermon from Moira; some rousing hymns; and some quiet time for prayer and reflection. Felt refreshed afterwards.

The service done, I suggested to John that we go over to the Kenilworth Originals. They are back from their holiday and we’ve missed them. Paul said ‘yes, come on over’ so we hopped in the car, whizzed the roof of the EOS down, put our hats and shades on, and set off in the sunshine as if we were twenty-somethings.

It was so lovely to see Paul, Harriet and Freddie that we quite outstayed our welcome and Paul had to offer us lunch…… then he offered us a paddle in the hot tub. Well, it was a cool tub. I mean, who wants it hot on a day like today? Apart from Harriet, that is! Hehehe. We even got the old man to dip his toes…… smashing.

I mean, in the end, we stayed pretty much all day until we had to leave to get John to Solihull Hospital for his CT scan. It was so lovely to spend some family time together. And Harriet and I picked loads of apples from their tree, which I have brought home to freeze. They are early, of course, just like every other crop right now. Looking forward to some tasty apple crumbles, apple pies, and apple turnovers in the winter. Yum!

John was quiet as we drove over to Solihull Hospital and, although I am not a mind-reader, I could feel his mood. ‘Here we go again’ runs through both our minds and we wish we didn’t have to. But the scan went reasonably well – although John thought, given his past experiences, that only two passes of the machine may be pushing it to get a good image. Fingers crossed we don’t get to the appointment with the Oncologist in a couple of weeks’ time for him/her to say ‘do it all over again’……. (grits teeth and adopts the prayer position).

Despite it all, John is an amazing patient. Although he rails at fate and the ongoing nature of procedures, pills, hospital appointments and invasive investigations, he mostly gets on with it all very philosophically and has to remind me to be patient.

But really, although we do try to keep our chins up, it’s hard for us both just now as we watch others swanning off on their hols seemingly relatively care-free, fit enough to run into the sea, leap on a quad bike or brave the swell of the sea on a fishing trip. Only a little bit jealous.

Never mind, we have loads to be thankful for and plenty of wonderful friends and family who keep our spirits up repeatedly, for which I thank the Lord.

Take care everyone. God bless