Category: Uncategorized

……..and a bit of Jupiter, of course.

Once more, the moon is shining so brightly into our home that it feels like we should be outside playing outside in the garden. Jupiter too, has been making its appearance for the last few days and there it still is, a little further away from the moon now, but still very visible. Marvellous. Exciting.

In other news, we were up betimes this morning waiting for the shopping delivery at 7.30 a.m. Naturally, I’d ordered loads of stuff but there is always something you forget isn’t there? “Did you order any of the Paleo breakfast cereal (with no cereal!)?” John asked. “Oh….. no, I forgot that!” I exclaimed. There’s mountains of everything else, but not that. Darn it!

It took forever to put the shopping away. John abandoned ship half way through and went off to take his medication and have a shower – sensible chap – and left me to it. Just a modicum of re-arranging one’s cupboards required…..

John was busy on the computer this morning but I felt like I needed a breath of fresh air and threatened to go out for a walk. The walk never transpired, but I did get out into the garden and planted a root of horseradish that Pete had donated to me yesterday. Will it survive? We’ll see. Will I remember what it is when it comes up next year? Hope so! Will John think it’s a weed? Maybe….. but fingers crossed we have something harvestable next year! I love a bit of creamed horseradish with my beef, don’t you?

This afternoon we had the pleasure of babysitting Oliver for the very first time. Danielle was taking Thomas to a speech therapy group this afternoon and so left the baby with us. It was delightfully easy. He slept all afternoon and only woke up a nanosecond before Danielle walked back in through the door. John, too, slept like a baby this afternoon and only woke up when Danielle walked in through the door too! Hehehe!

Take care everyone. God bless.

Crikey! I don’t know what it’s like where you are, but who needs electricity in the house when you’ve got a moon shining in through the windows as bright as sunlight?

It’s an absolutely stunning sky out there this evening. A few clouds floating through, but they are making it all the more interesting. Aah…… nature, eh? A wonderful balm for the spirits. And certainly the spirits in our household still need shoring up, despite all the exciting things that happen around us or we generate.

I’d like to offer you an amazing photo of said moon, but none of the photos I’ve taken have done it justice….. but I like this one with the cotton wool clouds enveloping it. Seems to draw you in, doesn’t it?

As I have said before, I think Susie Dent reads my mind. Her Word of the Day yesterday was: ‘ramfeezled’ (18th century): feeling worn out, used up, and particularly enfeebled. Ha! We recognise that!!

Because we are feeling worn out, used up and enfeebled, we both lay in bed this morning and stayed there until noon. John got out of bed and made a cup of tea, had his medications and watched the Grand Prix, then promptly went back to sleep. I faffed about on social media, did a few puzzles and read my book. I mean, I didn’t even want to get out of bed to watch the church service online today……. it just felt too heavy and overwhelming.

Michael phoned. “What are you up to today?” he asked. Erm…. our plan was just to swan about really….. which is what I did mostly. John, however, was halfway through repairing the guttering when he was interrupted with a hospital stay the other week, so he thought he’d have another go at it this afternoon. I wasn’t going to stop him. After all, we want to feel useful even in our enfeebled state.

He did well at the job but I have to confess I think he may have overdone it….. fingers crossed he feels better tomorrow. He was feeling particularly out of breath again this evening!

I had thought I’d go to yoga this afternoon but, after a lovely meal and a glass or two of red wine to accompany it this afternoon, I realised that alcohol and yoga don’t really mix, so I didn’t go. This is the second time this has happened……. must have a word with myself. Arrrggh!!

Take care everyone, God bless.

Oh, and in case I forget to mention it, stay safe – masks an’ all that. There’s another Covid wave coming, you know!

Mañana, mañana….. that’s what I’ve been doing this week. ‘I’ll blog tomorrow….’ I think to myself, and then tomorrow comes and I don’t and I didn’t and I haven’t! So here we are, with a few days worth of news!

After the excitement of shifting and cutting up the oak tree branch on Tuesday, it felt like life was going to be a little bit flat come Wednesday, but no such thing. Well, you wouldn’t expect it to be so, would you? Us being Sleaths?

I finally got to attend an online Stress Management Course (SMC) on Wednesday morning. Interesting! Homework? i) Use relaxation techniques ii) Increase exercise iii) Set yourself goals. Hahahahaha! If only…….. maybe next week?

Mid-course, my phone rang. It was the solar panel people. They’d got a slot for one of their engineers to come and unhitch the batteries and take them away. “OK to come in an hour and a half?” they said. I said ‘yes’ thinking that I’d have finished my course by then. Nah…….. the engineer arrived about 11.15. Had to break off what I was doing, leave the group chat and deal with him. Pffft! But I was pleased that the ball is rolling. Not heard a peep from them since, mind you!

We relaxed in the afternoon, had a bite to eat and watched a bit of telly when, just before tea-time, I had an episode with my eye. Nasty, dark-ish grey splodge in the lower part of my vision. Tried to shake it off, blinked my eyes a few times, ignored it for a bit. Was it a migraine? No. Was it a bit of sleep in my eye? No. Then I remembered I’d had a similar experience in 2015 in my left eye, with a posterior vitreous detachment (PVD). I promptly lay down. Just in case, you know?

John phoned 111. They said a clinician would get in touch. The clinician said go to A & E. So, at 9 o’clock at night, Paul took me down to Warwick Hospital. Waiting time was displayed as 6 hours. Groan….. six hours? We saw the triage nurse a couple of hours in, however, and that turned out to be helpful….. ish. “The Registrar says there are no eye specialists on duty, so you’re better off going to the University Hospital in Coventry tomorrow,” she said. “Here’s the number to phone to get and an appointment.”

Honestly, Paul was brilliant. Organised everything for me and generally looked after me wonderfully well. “I’ll take you to the hospital tomorrow, Mum, if you need to go.” Wow. So grateful.

As it turned out, the lying down seemed to have done the trick and the symptom disappeared, so I stopped worrying.

Meanwhile, John joined in the Quiz evening. I am not sure how well they did, but I know that John certainly enjoyed himself. There was a wine bottle half-empty and nibbles to hand, so he’d clearly settled in.

Thursday dawned and we fulfilled our promise to Skype Graham and Gail in the morning. It was lovely – had a really good chat and really didn’t want to say our goodbyes. Half-way through the chat I took a phone call from an eye specialist to discuss the state of my eye. “Come down to the emergency eye clinic this afternoon,” she said, “and we’ll take a look.” Righty-ho.

Paul took me down as promised and was very patient as we waited to be seen. In the end, the consultant said that the eye was OK and that whatever had happened had resolved itself. Not a PVD then. Nothing to see here! Phew!

After all the excitement, we treated ourselves to an early night on Thursday, what with me exhausted and John still being a bit under the weather, although definitely making an improvement. His breathing is a bit easier so the antibiotics are doing their job. One suggestion from the consultant, however, was for him to try and build up some muscle, so that any effort or exercise calls for less oxygen. He ordered some weights for his wrists and ankles, so he’s wearing those now. Looks like he’s an escapee from prison…… hehehe.

Friday. Had planned to go to yoga, but decided against it. Didn’t want to be doing lots of down dogs with a dodgy eye. Instead, I went over to Michael and Danielle’s to babysit the little ones. No down dogs there! Both parents had work to do, so an hour or two of child care was required. As it turned out, it was lovely and gentle – a little bit of TV, some jigsaw puzzles, a bit of baby dandling and then sorting out lunch. Fab.

Meanwhile, John was off on a jaunt! He went with Pete for a joyride in a classic Jaguar. A gift to Pete for his 70th birthday to which he was entitled to take a guest. How nice that he thought of John, eh? Apparently, the car went well. I mean, Pete put his foot down from what I can gather……

And today? Nothing really. Not a lot going on. We faffed about a bit. John had a snooze this afternoon while I did a spot of ironing in front of the TV. Then, just before 5 o’clock, John woke up and thought he ought go outside and get on. Hmmm…. by then, I’d had an exciting exchange of messages and confirmation that a surprise delivery was due just then. “Drink your tea,” I encouraged John, thus delaying his desire to go outside. And then the door bell rang and the delivery was here:

Cool, or what?

Take care everyone. God bless.

Well, yesterday wasn’t so good, but we had an exciting day today!

John was feeling very under the weather on Monday – not only was he having trouble with his breathing but he was struggling with his mental health, too. There really wasn’t much I could do to cheer him up at all yesterday.

My feeble attempt at lightening the load was to offer to take him for a trip out in the car and go for a COVID jab. Ha-Ha! We were successful in our mission and came home suitably prodded and poked with resulting sore arms this morning.

Other than that, it was a miserable day in front of the TV mostly and, for me, tiddling with my jigsaw which is now finished! The 199 steps at Whitby. Nice, eh?

I did also add to the excitement yesterday by contacting the solar panel people and giving them a piece of my mind in the morning, however.

I was put through to the Manager of the Installations Team and she authorised the removal of the batteries for them to be inspected at Head Office. I doubt we’ll see those again. She promised to return them within the week if they could repair them. Hahahahaha. Otherwise, I suspect it is likely to be weeks, or maybe months, before we get new batteries. The fix would be coming from China, of course……

Not unreasonably, I thought, I said we’d be claiming money from them if the delivery of the batteries is delayed. Watch this space, folks. Name and shame? What say you?

This morning neither of us wanted to winkle ourselves out of bed. John was up before me though, and brought me a nice cup of tea about half past ten. Lovely. Then I had another snooze while he trundled off to breathe in his medication on the nebuliser. I finally got downstairs just before noon and had breakfast. Or was it Brunch? Who knows?

I sat in the lounge in front of the TV and flicked the programme on to Bargain Hunt. John came and joined me. It is such a gentle programme that, blow me! – there I was, drifting off to sleep again! Missed the last ten minutes and only woke up when Paul arrived an hour later. Ooo-er! I’m blaming the COVID jab for my tiredness.

What a fabulous surprise to see Paul. He’d been playing golf locally so thought he’d shoot in for a quick cuppa. Ha! We had other ideas, didn’t we?

Last week, the strong winds had brought a branch down from the oak tree across the road. The neighbours had dragged it onto the grass verge and there it lay. “Oooh, look at that!” we’d said to each other, longingly. “Look at all that lovely wood to burn.”

When Paul arrived, our thoughts turned to the very large muscles he has. “I wonder if you could drag it over to our house, Paul?” John said. Paul went off to try – and came back with a shake of the head. “It’s blooming heavy,” he said.

“What about if we all go and help?” I suggested. So we toddled across the road and inspected said branch. “We haven’t even asked if we can have it yet, though,” I observed. “Well, go on then – ask!” urged Paul. The lady-from-over-the-road-said: “Yes!” So Paul, all by himself and with John and me looking on, dragged the branch across the road and onto our drive. I wasn’t half impressed….. it wasn’t too heavy, after all.

After Paul had left, we sat and had a cuppa. I popped upstairs to check something on the computer when I heard the doorbell go. It was Michael calling in. Well, our cup was full. Two boys in one day! Boom! He’d been up to Staffordshire for work and was on his way back. How very lovely.

We chatted for a while and then he had to go. “Come for tea?” he asked. “Oh, that would be nice,” was our immediate response. And then, after a bit of thought, maybe not. I was going out to my ‘Exploring Faith’ group in the evening for one thing and, for another, I wasn’t sure John would be up to the hurly-burly. So we declined and said our goodbyes to Michael.

We were galvanised though, weren’t we, by the excitement of the oak branch? “I’m not feeling too bad” declared John, “Let’s get it cut up and shifted into the back garden.” Righty-ho! And away we went. John got his electric cutter out, I got my secateurs and a wheelbarrow out and quick-as-a-flash, there we were with a cleared drive and pieces of wood down in the Man Shed.

John assured me that the use of the electric cutter required no effort at all. But he was beginning to struggle towards the end of the exercise. Mind you, so was I! We both fell into the house for another cuppa and a glorious text message from Michael revealing that they were having roast chicken for tea….’just in case you want to come’.

Naturally, we couldn’t resist. Time with family is so, so precious, isn’t it? And we’re allowed a ‘U’-turn, aren’t we?

We were both tired when we came back so John rested, but I was determined to go out to the little Bible Study/Prayer Group, so I went and enjoyed it. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the ol’ man hasn’t overdone it though…….. we’ll find out tomorrow I expect.

Take care everyone. God bless.

So the ol’ man came home yesterday. The medics had decided that the antibiotics, administered through his nebuliser, could just as easily betaken at home rather than in hospital. Ah… OK. Nice.

He was chipper in the car, and we even talked about trundling down the M40 to visit Christiana on Sunday. Should we go? Too early? No, we thought, we’ll make the trip!

Ha! That was on the way home. By the time tea-time had set in, John wasn’t feeling quite so chipper. In fact, he wasn’t feeling the best at all. Never mind, perhaps an evening with Pete and Dawn would perk him up and do the trick.

Of course, it was lovely to see them and we really enjoyed their company, but even they could see that John was beginning to struggle as the evening went on, so they didn’t stay too long. After they’d left, I wondered, out loud, if it was wise to make the 230-mile round trip to Christiana’s on the morrow? Hmm…. maybe we had been over-ambitious? Perhaps we ought to think again? John looked at me bleakly. Needless to say, we decided we’d stay home and be gentle with ourselves.

So, Sunday…….. We had a slow morning and just pootled about. After lunch, I planned to have a bath and a pamper while John watched the Grand Prix. We did both, which was lovely.

The Kenilworth Sleath Originals phoned mid-afternoon to see if we’d like an afternoon visit? Yes, we would. That would be very nice indeed. So they came and stayed for tea. Lovely to see them and it cheered John up a bit. Here they are, the beautiful people, listening to John intently!

Unfortunately, John wasn’t feeling great and, although he did enjoy their visit, he found it hard, and was struggling with a hefty downturn in his mental state. Oh joy. A bout of depression? Hmm, we think so. Grrr…….. poor John, it’s very, very tough on him.

Anyway, can we re-wind? To something else lovely and positive?

While John was in hospital, I was, naturally, just pottering at home minding my own business on Friday when the doorbell rang. It was Rachel, from church. With a bunch of flowers! Wow. Wonderful to see her and have a fabulous door-step chat. She was sorry that John was in hospital and thought we needed a cheer-up. Not only were flowers on the list of ‘cheer-ups’ but there was a voucher for afternoon tea at Oakes’. Could’ve knocked me down with a feather. Such generosity. Such a thoughtful act. My, oh my. I was overwhelmed. But so, so grateful. Brought tears to my eyes. There aren’t half some lovely people in the world, aren’t there?

Friday felt autumnal to me. I don’t know if it did to you, but I decided, in the absence of the warmth of John’s company, I’d light a fire to stave off the chills. I loaded the fire with some of the coal that we’d recently had delivered. Too much, do you reckon? Hehehe! It was lush!

So, hey-ho, here we go. Fingers crossed for a better week ahead. Oh, but hang on a minute!! What’s this? A phone call from Orchard Blythe where Mum resides….. there’s Covid in the camp. Oh, OK, thank you for letting me know. Yes, but half a bit…..another phone call from Orchard Blythe….. Mum has now contracted COVID. What the heck? Oh, Lord…….

And would someone at the solar panel company please come and sort out our system? Anyone. Just someone. For weeks, nay months, we’ve been on and on to them to let them know that the system keeps tripping and setting off an alarm. But are they doing anything? No!

Tips on how to make them sit up and take notice, please…… ‘cos we’re being trampled on right now. Well, at least, it feels like it anyway……

Such are the ups and downs of our lives. We’d be disappointed though if it wasn’t exciting, wouldn’t we? The trouble is, I am not sure that this is the sort of excitement I was after!!

Take care everyone. God bless.

In no particular order – Thank you to:

• all those lovely people who got in touch once they heard John was in hospital to wish him and me well.
• Linda and Brendan who are lending John a laptop while we wait for a new screen for his.
• the NHS staff who are looking after the ol’ man.
• our dear, dear sons who step up, every time.
• our daughters-in-law who offer company when I/we need it.
• our grandchildren for being their normal, cheeky selves
• And to John, for his ever-present love.

Tough times and, when emotions are high and raw, any offer of support is so very gratefully received; and we’re sad when support is withdrawn due to misunderstanding. A common occurrence, I believe, when a loved one is ill but the friend or relative has no exquisite comprehension of what they are going through.

So, we’re on Day 3 of Hospital Holidays. The initial reaction of the medics was to pump John full of antibiotics. They came in today, stroking their beards and rubbing their jaws. “Hmmm, we’re thinking that the IV antibiotic route may not be the best thing for you, John.” Oh?

‘They said it might be better for me to nebulise with ‘Bibitof’….’ John texted. Bibitof? ‘Bob-it-Off!’ I texted back – one of our running jokes for a drug whose name we can never remember. Transpires it’s actually called ‘Bramitob’. Starting tomorrow. Well, that might be good news. He can probably do that at home. Watch this space, folks.

In the meantime, I picked some Honesty today. Thought it might help…. you know, float in the ether a bit. Waft down the M1; drift down the A41 and glide into the Houses of Parliament?

Whatever. These branches have brought a sparkle to the porch, anyway.

And Susie Dent’s Word of the Day yesterday? ‘Arsle’: when you have the distinct impression you’re going backwards instead of making progress. Honestly, I think that woman reads our minds!

Take care everyone. God bless.

It’s not been a great day for us today. John had two hospital appointments. The first one, with the oncology department, wasn’t vastly encouraging – which prompted John to share his anger with the doctor and nurse who were there, explaining that if the hospital had been a bit more proactive in the last couple of years we might not have got to this point just yet.

They were very sympathetic and the nurse recommended that John complain. Which he probably will do, but it doesn’t help where we are now, does it? We are at the stage of no curative treatment, and onto the stage of containment. The drug of choice is enzalutamide, which John may, or may not start taking today. Why is there any doubt? Well…….

At the second appointment this afternoon in the respiratory clinic, the consultant took one look at him and said, “You’re not very well, are you?” John shook his head. No, he wasn’t feeling great. The pseudomonas infection that has dogged him for the last couple of years is back and making breathing difficult. Two lots of oral antibiotics have not shifted it so…… “I’ll just go down to the ward and see if there’s a bed available,” said the consultant, briskly. Yep, snatched from under the nose of the Bed Manager, there was a bed, so hop in, John!

IV antibiotics for the next few days or more – we’re not quite sure yet, just how long the ol’ man will be in hospital for. As I left this evening, some of the drugs, including the brand new one for the prostate, have not been written up on his chart. So who knows when he’ll start taking it? Hey-ho, it’s a roundabout we go!

We’re both knackered now. And my knees are sore from kneeling on the prayer mat…..

Take care everyone. God bless.

Susie Dent’s Word of the Day? ‘Mulligrubs’ (16th century): a state of despondency or sense of doom.

A weekend away is just what the doctor ordered! It’s a pity John didn’t have the same experience! I came back from my yoga retreat very zen. It was lovely. Good company, good food, good weather and, above all, good yoga!

We were at Braziers Park again, which is a commune, so it was all very grounded and great fun. This neo-gothic house is where Ian Fleming lived when he was a little boy – and there were still two hooks in the beam of what was the nursery, where he had his swing. Fascinating!

Back to it at home now though, and the humdrum beckons. Hospital appointments will be interspersed with time among friends and family this week, however, so it’s not all bad.

We are off to see the oncologist tomorrow to see what they have to say. We are both feeling anxious about the progression of John’s prostate cancer and are hoping for a miracle. We’ll see. Everything crossed and on my knees in prayer.

In the meantime, while I was away, John decided that he’d change the guttering at the back of the house……. honestly, that boy! He’s done a very good job and there’s only one area of a drip, drip, drip as the rain falls, which we’ll sort out in the next few days. Naturally, he overdid it though, didn’t he? He was exhausted when I got home yesterday and was still tired today. Didn’t stop him having another fiddle with the bit that still needed doing this morning, though.

Now then, on a totally different note – what’s the consensus? Put your heating on or not? The temperature is going to drop over the next few days…….. We have succumbed to lighting the fire in the lounge so that our evenings are not totally chilly, but it’s a bit of a shock when we come out into the rest of the house! And we might put the heating on for an hour in the mornings – even though it’s still September. Or we might bring our bed into the lounge……. what d’ya reckon? Hehehe.

Nothing much to report on activities today. John slept for much of the afternoon and I have done nothing and have simply whiled away my time, trying to retain that zen feeling…… it doesn’t last long, unfortunately. Never mind, there’s a yoga class tomorrow morning!

Take care everyone. God bless

Apologies for the radio silence, everyone. Thought I’d have a bit of a break on the Blog front; and then, of course, one thing let to another and the break lasted longer than I intended. Ah, well, back on it today …… although I’ll be back off it again tomorrow. All being well, that is! I’m going on a lovely yoga retreat for the weekend, don’t ya know!

It’s now a week ago, but we had a great weekend with Malcolm and Caroline coming to stay so that we could all go to the Centre Stage play last Saturday. Really enjoyed their company and really enjoyed the play. Everyone did their parts very well and the play was amusing. Just the light relief we were after.

Slightly anxious week for me afterwards, of course, because one of members of the group, who sat at our table as we had after-show drinks, has now gone down with COVID. Fingers crossed our mitigations were enough. Ha! Given our luck, what are the odds do you reckon? LFTs are still negative so far……

Our week since then has been mostly taken up with birthday celebrations for William, who was 5, and hospital appointments. We had a cracking family party for William on Sunday to which we took the birthday cake that Grandpa had created. Andrew had baked the cake this year; and had John modelled it. “What would you like as a birthday cake this year, William?” we had asked. “A dinosaur!” came the quick reply. “What sort of dinosaur?” we wondered. “A Stegosaurus….” Oh, crikey!

But, as usual, John came up trumps and mastered the art of crafting something that impressed William. It may look a bit scruffy in the photo but I assure you, it was pretty impressive!

Monday was a fabulous day at the Kenilworth Originals’ house. We all piled round there to watch the Queen’s funeral, eat and drink well, and take a dip in the hot tub. Mission accomplished and a very nice day we had too, despite the sad and momentous occasion.

Tuesday was a hospital visit for a check on John’s oxygen levels – which turned out to be quite good apparently. Always the way, isn’t it? He can’t breathe, but: “You’re alright John. There’s plenty of oxygen in your lungs,” they tell him. He doesn’t believe them when he’s half-way up the stairs gasping for breath, but hey-ho.

After we’d been to the hospital, I trundled over to visit Mum. We had arranged for a Social Worker to go and do an assessment so that we can sort out some new funding arrangements. Mum was on top form and very chatty but couldn’t remember much. “Who’s this?” asked Debbie, the social worker, pointing to me. Mum looked at me thoughtfully, grinned and then shook her head. “I can’t remember,” she said. And then, in more or less the next breath, referred to me by name. Bless.

We popped over to see William on Tuesday tea-time on his actually birthday. I had thought we wouldn’t stay long as I was planning to go out for the evening. However, we had bought him one of those ‘Tonie’ things which tells stories – and you can record you reading your own on them, too. So that was a little job that I couldn’t resist. Record a Mr Men story and then sit with William at bedtime for him to listen to it. Great fun and such a lovely idea.

Wednesday was full of medical stuff. Blood tests and telephone consultations – one of which was for me. I’ve been feeling a bit low so I toddled off to the GP in August, who referred me for a mood assessment. Chit chat on the phone yesterday and then the verdict: a bit depressed and anxious. Yep. That’s right……. Anyway, the upshot is that I’m going to do a stress management course for six weeks and see how I feel then. Let’s keep ours fingers crossed it’ll do the trick, eh?

I had a lovely morning today, though. I went out for breakfast with one of my church friends and then went on to Yoga. John, however, is also feeling a bit depressed and anxious and so spent most of the day having a bit of a snooze, and then venting his frustrations on the oncology nurse who’d been assigned to talk to him about a questionnaire he’d filled in. Bless her – she answered his questions very patiently. But really, we don’t know what to say to each other at the moment.

Take care everyone. God bless.

I was hoping for a quiet week, but we haven’t half been busy!

Wednesday saw us charging over to Heartlands Hospital for John’s immunoglobulin treatment, then swiftly changing into mourning clothes for a funeral at St Nicholas’ Church in Kenilworth. We couldn’t quite face the burial and the wake, so we trundled across to the Kenilworth Newbies to drop off a couple of pieces of wood before we came home to collapse on the sofa.

There was no Wednesday Night Quiz for reasons of others being elsewhere, so we sat and caught up on our TV programmes, which was rather nice.

Yesterday, we spent time with Dave & Chris and George & Sue at Brixworth Country Park. And we had some great fun. John is not the only one to have a mobility scooter now, though; George has treated himself to one, too. And, guess what? Did they race? Or did they not?

I didn’t capture the moment of the racing, nor did I capture the moment of the two engineers putting their heads together to compare models and consider adjustments that might be made, but I did capture the moment when they told me off for taking the photo! Hehehe.

It was a beautiful day, weather-wise, and we walked all along the lakeside path as far as ‘the beach’ before we turned round and came back again. Chris, in particular, did well to walk that far, having had recent surgery on her knee. Bacon butties and coffee were then the order of the day as we piled into the café and carried on nattering to our hearts’ content. It was such a wonderful day with dear friends. As ever, I thank our lucky stars that we’ve got such good mates.

John, despite feeling less than on top form this week, enjoyed the day out and has generally continued to battle on. Sleep eludes him very often and he wakes with aches and pains.

But he never gives up! Today was just such an example. He had a good morning because, despite getting up a bit late and having to deal with medical bits and bobs, he went out with Bryan for breakfast. Marvellous. He had a great time, managing to put the world to rights, which always helps, doesn’t it? I was delighted that he’d enjoyed his time out. Makes a change for him to go out instead of me!

Then, this afternoon, he has got on with creating a birthday cake for William, whose birthday party it is on Sunday. Although it hasn’t quite turned out as he thought, he’s adjusted the design and his execution of it until it’s something like. I am sure William will be happy, whatever Grandpa makes for him! But it hasn’t been an easy job so far…..

I spent the morning faffing about at home and taking delivery of some coal that John had ordered ready for the winter. Have we got enough though?

On the health front, we have heard back from Graham and Gail. Following the biopsy, it transpires that Graham doesn’t have temporal arteritis, after all. ‘Yay! Whoop, Whoop! Phew!’ and words to that effect was my reply. That’s a big relief. Thank goodness for some good news, eh?

Take care everyone. God bless.

Susie Dent’s Word of the Day is ‘dumfungled’ (19th century): wearied, befuddled, and just a little used up. Oh, yes! Now that’s a very good word, isn’t it? Another one to adopt!