Tuesday-Thursday 3rd-5th January, 2012

Getting back to normal after Christmas
 

Tuesday

What a difference a day makes. We woke up to howling winds and driving rain and the prospect of trips out to fix two cars and also the prospect of getting back to normal life, with work and swimming lessons.

We have come to expect the Swimming Pool at Cranbourne School to be closed immediately after the Christmas Holidays, but with the mild weather, Sue was optimistic that the pool would be OK. That proved to be unrealistic, so we had to reorganise the day to give Sue time to send out lots of texts and e-mails to parents and tecahers.

Getting my car fixed proved to be easy. The local Kwikfit dealer had the tyre in stock at a special offer price of only £135 and completed the job in less than an hour, while we had a cup of coffee at a cafe in town. On the way home, we called in at Staples to get a reasonably heavy duty shredder followed by a visit to the PIzza Hut buffet. My project to scan statements and bills has been successful to the extent that I had around 2000 sheets of paper to shred.

After lunch, I sat down to get on with work. In the middle of the afternoon, Clive, the rector of St. Mary's came round to find out how I was and to pray for the upcoming scan that will tell me the extent to which the chemo-therapy has been successful. Although he did pray for a successful outcome, the more important prayer was that we would have the strength and peace to accept the outcome.

The evening provided more time for work.

Wednesday

A lot of Wednesday was spent working.

In the late morning, Sue and I went shopping. My hair has started to grow again and I needed some clippers to tidy it up. I am never going to back to longer hair again and if all I need is a "number 3", I don't need to pay someone to do it.

In the evening, Sue was starting to suffer from stomach cramps. We still decided to go the house group bible study which this term is looking at Paul's letter to the Romans.

Thursday

On Thursday morning, Sue and I both had appointments with a chiropodist. Neither of us can currently reach down to our toes without pain. I have the chiropodist more work that just clipping nails, Overnight, I developed a blister on one of my toes and there was some evidence of athlete's foot. Salt water soaks and foot balm were recommended. Sue has already been applying cream to my feet every night for the last couple of weeks.

We followed up with light lunch in town.

Early on Thursday afternoon, I had to meet an electrician to get all of the devices that we use for running swimming competitions PAT tested. Rather like Criminal Records Bureau testing for people, this actually proves very little. It confirms that the main lead was safe and fitted with an appropriate fuse on one occasion. It does not prove that any appliance is safe or indeed that the mains lead remains safe. This is a legal requirement for all equipment used on the side of a swimming pool, so I had no alternative other than to comply.

The rest of the afternoon and some of the evening was spent catching up on work. Sue had swimming lessons at Queen Mary College in the late afternoon.