Days 377 to 385

First of all many apologies for lack of entries over last week or so. This was partly due to me heading North for a couple of days(of which more anon) and partly because to be honest I don't know where the time goes(to paraphrase slightly the Sandy Denny song).

I would like to start this homily by saying the night time acid problem has all but disappeared. Well I would like to but...........

Things have been improving. Occasionally I have been waking up with a slight bad taste in the mouth but nothing worse. However last night it came back in all its gory detail. By that I mean much coughing, sore throat and heart burn. In reality it was no worse than other such attacks in the past but the fact that it followed a period of relative calm was and is a big disappointment. However life goes on.

Last weekend saw a visit by two great friends of ours Peter and Gill. They live in Norton on Teesside. I don't know about anybody else but when we get visitors from another part of the country or world it makes us check things out such as local visitor attractions. Thus on Friday we went for a short walk on the bit of the coastal path around Bembridge. Saturday we went to Tennyson Down and Allum Bay on the West of the Island and on Sunday we visited St. Catherine's Lighthouse,a quite fascinating place. I say we but poor Ev has had for the last 10 days or so a nasty chest infection. This meant she had to stay in the house. The Doctor has given her a course of anti biotics and asked to see her on Tuesday. I shall let you know how that goes.

Coincidentally I had been invited to an ex Revenue colleague's retirement do in Durham. Our original intention ws to combine this with a 2 week break at the caravan. However I got a letter from the Hospital for a follow up appointment in Southampton for next Wednesday which I didn't want to miss(and it would have been a moot point if Ev had been well enough to travel). Thus I went North on the train and stayed with Peter and Gill. They looked after me very well. The Lunch was great seeing former members of the training team in some cases for the first time in 5/6 years. Work wise it was the happiest time of my life so there was a touch of sentiment about it. It was also nice to be told by so many how well I was looking.

Of the journeys I would make two observations. Outbound the train was 30 minutes late. Oh horror but if I were flying 30 minutes is neither here nor there. Second on the return journey I of all people misread the ferry timetable and as a result got back 30 minutes later than I needed to have done.

Oh yes and I have two guests booked for the next fortnight on Angel. Today on behalf of Hospital Radio I shall be out with the collecting tin. This is something I hate but needs must. It is also a baking hot day.

My next blog will hopefully be on Tuesday.