A Derby Day

After a good night's sleep, we were up and about in good time and pottered with various tasks until it was time to get the 10.22 for Derby. It wasn't too late today, for which we were very thankful, it being a cool, damp sort of day with rain ever-threatening.

The main aims for the trip were the purchase of a new pair of shoes each, a visit to Lakeland, checking out the price of some stuff in Wilko and getting my six-monthly hearing aid check. Lakeland was no trouble and we found some shoes for me quite quickly, in Clarke's, but Sheila's needs were harder to fulfill. All she wanted was a pair of simple flatties, deck shoes or loafers for preference, but none of Clarke's, Debenhams or M&S had anything like.

Abandoning the search for the moment, we had lunch in the food court, Indian street food on naans, very yummy, and then went to Wilko where we bought some vin ordinaire glasses, one of ours having got broken the other night. At 95 pence for four, we won't be too worried if another one goes west.

Adrian the audiologist saw me on time and we were soon done there; next time in March will be longer as I'm to have a repeat hearing test. Amazingly, I've had this aid for nearly two years now.

We had time both to buy a loaf of nice bread from Sainsbury's and to take a wander through the Eagle Market, where Sheila found a pair of basic flat courts which fitted well, had leather uppers and cost all of £15. We still had most of half an hour to wait in the bus station before an exciting ride back on the V3.

We've been taking it easy since, recruiting our energies for tonight's quiz mastering. It's the first of the season, so we've tried to keep it reasonably easy, honest, guv.

Pleased but weary

It's been a good day but a wearying one. After rising a bit later than when we are boating, we pottered about for a bit. Actually, Sheila was very busy changing the bed and doing yet more laundry, with occasional input from me.

We then caught the 10.25 into Derby and did some shopping before and after lunch. Our favourite food stall in the intu centre, which served Thai street food, has gone, so we tried a new restaurant, Joe's. The food was OK and the ambience quite trendy without going over the top in the way the Boardwalk has. But it's nothing like the mental image created by one of my favourite tracks, Eat at Joe's by Suzy Bogguss.

For us, we'd rather go to Wagamama.

Sheila's gait analysis went just fine and included the pre-op record on her right toe as well as the post-op one on her left, which was pleasing as it means there's nothing to stop her having the second op as soon as she comes to the top of the waiting list.

We got the three o'clock bus back and are now looking forward to a quiet evening.

 

Could be better, could be worse

Peter from Inkling very kindly gave us a lift into the Royal Derby this morning, saving us a load of hassle with either the nine-thirty bus or getting a taxi. The Eye Clinic was very busy but I was seen reasonably on time. My pressures had not been improved by the last dose of laser but aren't desperately high. The choice is to watch and wait, which would mean using the drops still and being seen very regularly in clinic, or having the surgery which should effect a permanent cure.

I'm going to wait three months before making up my mind about it. My eyes are standing up to the raised pressure well, but I have chronically inflamed conjunctivas from all the drops. We'll take ourselves off to the Owners' Weekend, come back in early October and think about it. My next appointment should be in November, so there's plenty of time to ponder.

Meanwhile, we treated ourselves to a meal in Wagamama, making three excellent meals in one week. Some shopping was done and we managed to get the 1.00 bus back.

As I say, last night's meal was brilliant as was the company, of course. We had a good old roam around a lot of subjects in the course of three very pleasant hours indeed. Tonight, Elanor and Sally for the last time for a bit, then off out of it tomorrow on what is forecast to be a very pleasant day for boating.

Brief note

I know I said I wasn't going to post today, but am back on the boat, though much cheese biscuited and thought I should do a quickie update.

We spent pretty well the whole morning in the Eye Clinic, not because they were running late but because my pressures had drifted up again :(. So they fitted me in for a second blast of the laser and then gave me a prescription for some anti-inflammatory drops to use for three days. So that meant another 40 minutes in the Boots operated OP pharmacy to get it filled.

Full marks to the Eye Clinic, nul points to the pharmacy. Was a time you just got a prescription you could take to any chemist, just like the ones you got from your GP, only green, I seem to remember.

We'll need to come back in six weeks for follow up but still plan to go to Stourport in the meantime.

My skin, on the other hand, was pronounced all better and I was in, out and discharged from Dermatology in about ten minutes. Not all bad today, then.

More done than expected

Things started off pretty much as expected today, with a relaxed start and then the wait for the Ocado order. Mark in the Onion van was early and only gave me five minutes notice of his arrival, so I did a bit of power walking to let him in.

We'd just got started on the checking and putting away when Jo popped in. She was going to Derby in the late morning, and did I want a lift in to get the 3 SIM sorted? Since this would save giving up another half day to do it, I was very pleased to accept. We had time for the checking and storage and even a cup of coffee beforehand.

Things were very straightforward in the 3 shop in Intu, chwarae teg, as they say in Wales. It cost me a fiver to have the micro SIM in the old phone replaced by a nano SIM in the iPhone. It all seems to be working fine, though there are one or two things I need to get used to, rather different ways of doing stuff compared to Android or Nokia systems. Enabling the hotspot is much quicker, though the connection seems to drop with non-use, something to explore over the next couple of days.

After lunch we took a walk round the marina, stopping to admire Ian and Alison's new mobile home with which they are very pleased. It's been a quiet afternoon, pottering and playing with the new toy. Wynne is coming round later to talk about wifi aerials and routers and Elanor and Sally are due at some point too.

Tomorrow, more of the same, like as not.

Into Derby again

We woke early but had a quite lazy start, as we didn't need to be off the boat before ten. Sheila got a washload running and we did a bit of pottering before setting off. Things went smoothly when we got there; shopping was done and we walked up to the London Road Community Hospital where Sheila was seen pretty promptly.

This was an interesting session for both parties as the physio had never seen a toe joint replacement before, the op not having been available on the NHS until this trial started. He confirmed that the exercises she's been doing are what's needed, so it's a case of carry on as you were. They discussed whether she needed to be followed up, but the conclusion was no, in the end. If a problem does arise, she can always be referred back by the GP.

We hopped on the bus back to the Intu centre and indulged ourselves with excellent Thai noodles for lunch. Some shopping at Sainsbury's and a look at waterproofs on a stall in the Eagle Market completed our business. We had half an hour to wait in the bus station before the V3 took us home.

Once there, it was a case of unloading the goodies, setting the washload to tumble and going round to the office where my new-to-me iPhone was waiting. I've had a quick play and all seems to be well; we'll need to go back into Derby later to get my 3 sim swapped for the nano version to use in the new phone.

We needed to pop into the lodge to sort a couple of things; the ironing board cover has died, for example, and needs replacing. It's been a case of sitting down quietly since, a strategy that we plan to pursue into the evening.

An "interesting" day

After all the exercise yesterday, we slept quite well last night, despite the wind and rain. As often seems to happen when we've been on shorepower for a long time, the battery bank has got a bit lazy and lost a bit of capacity. A couple of serious charges whilst boating usually brings it back up to strength, though since it's over three years old now, it will sooner or later need replacing. Mind you, they are Trojans, so should go a bit longer than the basic cheapo ones since I've done my best to look after them.

After a quiet time after breakfast, we set off for the bus just after eleven, crossing Potlocks and walking to the stop over the field path. It came on time, which was welcome as the weather continues to be spasmodically wet and windy. Once in Derby, we made another determined attempt to get the wretched dollar cheque into a bank or otherwise cashed. We queued for twenty minutes in the Post Office, but no, they wouldn't take it. Thomas Cook's Bureau de Change likewise weren't interested.

We could try The Money Shop which is supposed to handle pretty well anything, but at a serious discount, of course. Before doing that, I'll email my sister in New York and see if she can pay it into her checking account.

After lunch we got stuck into a final burst of shopping, Wilko, Lakeland and Sainsbury's. Oh, and buying some shoe laces at Timpsons. We also had a wander round the Eagle Market just to kill a bit of time. We had planned to catch the 3.00 V3 to Littleover to see the dentist, but realised that there is a choice of buses that go that far. In the end, we got a 36, big mistake. I'd checked with the driver that he went to Littleover and he confirmed that he did.

This was true, he just hadn't mentioned that he would take an hour to do it, going via Normanton and Sunny Hill and a lot of other curious places en route. We only just made it in time.

However, the check-ups were fine and we got a V3 back OK after waiting maybe fifteen minutes. I'm now running the engine to ginger the batteries up a bit and to heat some water at the same time. Then I can get a shower and relax for the evening.

Into Intu once more

We had two things to celebrate today – Sheila resuming full mobility, or starting to, and the prospect of getting away next week. So we decided to head into Derby and have a meal in Wagamama to celebrate. We didn't want to be too long about it, as Sheila's legs are still getting used to the idea of walking any distance, so set out to catch the 11.25.

We bundled up to keep out the wind and the possibility of rain and had been standing at the stop for maybe five minutes when Peter Hampton pulled up. He was on his way to Littleover but insisted on taking us into Derby. Another very decent human being, you get a lot of them associated with boating.

As a result of Peter's kindness, we were a bit early for eating so made a couple of calls first. Our cereal box is showing its age in that the flap over the pourer has broken, so we went into Lakeland to get a Lock & Lock one to replace it. Unfortunately, they were sold out but they've agreed to keep one back from the next consignment to arrive so that we can take advantage of the special offer they presently have on them. Score a half for that, then.

Next we went to Nationwide, where we bank these days, to see if I could pay in a cheque from Amazon, royalties from our e-book sales in the States and Canada. It's a US dollar cheque (or check, I should say) and they don't take them anymore. A zero score there, then.

Never mind, we had a good meal in Wagamama and still had time to shop in WH Smith for puzzle books for Sheila and to get some food from Sainsbury's before catching the 1.00 back. We've had a quiet time of it since.

I did some Googling about the dollar check problem. It's getting very difficult to cash one in this country unless your bank accepts them. The only bright spot is that the Yanks have never grasped the crossed check principle, so as long as I endorse it, it can be paid into anybody's account. If necessary, I'll send it to my sister in New York and she can let us have the value of it when next we see her.

Before that, we'll check if Sheila's Post Office bank account will take it when I go there tomorrow to mail her latest crochet doily out.

Healthy progress

I try not to burble on about health issues too much here ("You don't?" I hear you cry), but I thought today would be a good day to do a catch up as we've just been back to Out Patients with Sheila's foot. First off, of course, another huge thank you to Jo James who uncomplainingly took us there, waited around whilst Sheila got seen and then brought us back. A truly good person.

The clinic was mildly disorganised again; Sheila was booked to have her dressing changed when she actually needed to be X-rayed and then seen by the consultant, but they got it sorted out ok, although it meant waiting an extra half hour. Jo and I took the opportunity to pop across to the Marks and Sparks food hall in the entrance to the hospital.

When we got back, Sheila had gone off to X-ray. On her return, she and I went to an exam room where she was seen almost at once by the consultant. So it ended up with quite an efficient encounter, though only thanks to the staff's ability to improvise, as it were.

Anyway, the outcome was very good; Mr Rajan is extremely pleased with progress, the implant is in the right place and well established and there is no reason why Sheila shouldn't resume normal activities.

Except that she couldn't get her shoe on...

Her foot is a bit swollen from not being used normally; apparently this is to be expected and will resolve as she gets back to full use of the joints. She's to have some physio and in the meantime has some simple foot waggling exercises to do. We'll have this week to get her moving again before setting off for Crick. She'll be seen in clinic and for another gait analysis in the Autumn.

As far as I'm concerned, we've now finished anointing the backs of my hands with the sinister cream and I'm using moisturiser to reduce the post treatment itching. So far they don't look as bad as my face did at this stage, but are clearly affected and I can look forward to another week or so of the skin erupting and peeling off. The best moisturiser turns out to be Neutragena Norwegian Formula, by the way.

That's enough of all that for quite a bit, hopefully. Tonight, a Salambulation and a celebratory drink, methinks.



 

Progress

Worried about the loosening dressing on her foot, Sheila rang Orthopaeds Out Patients first thing this morning. She spoke to the nurse, who told her to come straight in. Fortunately, she'd already established that the inestimable Jo was available to do taxi this morning and so could set off directly.

I took the pooch for her morning peramble and had not been long back when they returned. The dressing having been removed, the registrar looked at her op site, expressed himself very pleased with it and prescribed a simple (but large) plaster over the wound. So Sheila is now walking round looking almost normal, with a sock on over the plaster but still the fancy shoe.

She'll have to wear that until the end of the month, but has been told to bring a shoe in with her for that appointment as she is likely not to need the special shoe after that. Jo stayed for a coffee and an exciting discussion about the plans for their new lodge, the first of the next tranche, on the Meadows site.

Meantime, I'd missed a call from the Capital One disputes team. I finally managed to get through on calling back, worried that something had gone wrong with our Elite refund, but it was just a courtesy call checking on the cause of my dissatisfaction with the service. The guy quite cheerfully agreed that they'd had a big backlog, hence the slow response to my complaint.

Humph.

Never mind, it is hopefully all behind us now and the weather continues to be very warm and sunny. Two more nights of Sally with us then Elanor returns to take her home. It's lovely having her here for a few days, but it will be nice to go back to sleeping with Sheila...

So far, so good

"It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents..." So begins Bulwer-Lytton's novel Paul Clifford, famous for the most hackneyed opening in English literature, though not for much else, and it well describes conditions last night. Sleep was difficult as the boat rocked and rolled under the impact of the blast and the waves striking at irregular intervals on the hull added to the cacophony. Fortunately, we had no reason to be up early and so were able to take our time in facing the day.

Things have moderated a bit since but it seems we are to have very similar conditions until at least this time tomorrow. On the other hand, the prospects for the weekend seem much better. I just feel sorry for hirers and anyone else obliged to try to boat whilst the wild conditions persist.

As planned, Jo very kindly gave us a lift into the Royal Derby where we had a bit of a wait before Sheila was called in. Removing the dressings showed a nicely healing wound and the registrar was pleased with progress. She still has to wear the fancy shoe for a further four weeks, when she'll be seen again and hopefully told to resume normal footwear and mobility.

Meantime, she's allowed to walk about more, though not more than a mile at a time. Her next appointment is on the 28th of April; if all is well, we should be able to get away and do some boating at the start of May.

Jo next took us to Betty's Farm where I bought some meat and other bits and bobs, then to the pharmacy where my latest eye drops were ready for collection. The outing was completed with a visit to the front of the marina; Sheila was glad of the opportunity to pop into Still Waters and say her own thank you for the roses.

It's a Salambulation night tonight and a bit of a recovery day tomorrow. My main task is dumping the recycling which is taking up a lot of room in the bow locker at the moment.



 

A productive trip

Things have gone generally well today, though poor Sheila was feeling rather bored by the time I got back. I took the 11.25 into Derby which ran pretty well to time and scuttled into the Intu shopping centre as the rain threatened. A visit to Nationwide to get some folding stuff was followed by the purchase of a chicken tikka pasty for lunch from the West Cornwall pasty shop.

I had a fair bit of time to kill as my appointment wasn't until 1.15, so had a leisurely prowl round the centre. I had a look at crumpet rings in Lakeland, but they are rather small and wouldn't be any good for shaping decent size baps which was what I had in mind.

I ended up in Sainsbury's stocking up on stuff I can't get in the marina shops before wandering over to Boots, still early, and checking in. I took the opportunity to have my reading specs checked out; they've been tending to shed their lenses at times.

In the event, I was seen early and dealt with expeditiously, so was free in good time to catch the 2.00 back. This allowed me to have a ramble round the Derby Market Hall before settling down in the bus station to doze and listen to Radio Derby.
Back at the marina, we've been taking it easy. We now seem to be getting proper early Spring weather, sunshine and showers, some of them pretty fierce with hail. I'll get another Salambulation this evening, so I hope we hit a sunny spell...

 

All well

Sheila had her op today and came through ok. She's coming home late this evening, hooray.

Many thanks for all the good wishes; I know Sheila will be posting herself when she's a bit recovered.

An especial huge thanks to Jo James for providing a brilliant taxi service and, of course, to Elanor for all her support.

More later when I catch up with myself, probably on Monday at this rate!

Derby dermatology

Today we went to Derby for a bit of shopping and my dermatology appointment at the London Road hospital. This went well in general, though the clinic ran atrociously late, more than an hour in my case.

Finally saw the registrar who did a thorough job of checking over my skin. I've got a collection of what are now called actinic (formerly solar) keratoses, non malignant but better chased away as they can develop into tumours. In my case, this means three weeks of applying cream to them twice a day, whereupon things will get seriously red for a while.

Doesn't sound like a bundle of fun but it's good to have a) the reassurance that there are no nasties lurking and b) a strategy for doing what we can so that I don't have any in the future.

Another full day

After keeping busy with Sally yesterday, we've had another full day today. After a bit of a lie-in, we got up and on with things; I made some bread dough before breakfast and then we pottered about in the boat most of the morning, apart from me making a trip to the shop for more milk.

The bread was a success, I'm told. I'm calling it a "best of both bloomer", a white dough made with two thirds milk and the rest water, together with a cup of oat bran. I shaped it, surprise, surprise, into a bloomer and it baked up with a nice crispy crust. The Paul Hollywood book is very good at showing how to achieve the various loaf shapes; they're not always as obvious as you'd think.

After lunch, we rendezvoused with Elanor and drove over to Go Outdoors. Elanor was looking for some minor riding kit and both Sheila and I wanted new boating trousers. This was only partially successful – Elanor found what she wanted but none of the trousers managed the twin requirements of being the configuration and price we were looking for as well as fitting.

On the other hand, we got two replacement folding chairs. Our old ones have been showing the strain for a while and will be dumped before we leave the marina. These new ones use the same frame type, square and compact so that they will work in the boat as well as on the bow, and very comfortable. At £70 for two with the Go Outdoors discount, we've got a decent bargain we reckon.

Back at the marina, we had to visit the lodge to do some running repairs; the last tenants, for reasons unknown, had cut the draw cords for one of the Roman blinds. We were able to fasten them up OK, but I'll need to go in tomorrow to finish the job by taping over the knots so that they run through the loops on the back of the battens.

It's not worth making an insurance claim, but we've blacklisted those tenants.

Finally, Elanor and I took Sal for a game of copse and rompers before retreating to the boat for cups of tea and family gossip.

It'll be a quiet day tomorrow, hopefully, apart from finishing off the work in the lodge.

Dopey Tuesday

We neither of us had a very good night last night, so we've been a bit dopey today. Nonetheless, we managed to get through the main chores, including Sheila's visit to the Royal for her pre-op checks. The letter had said to be prepared for these to take four hours, which seemed a bit over the top, and in the event she went in at half nine and was all done by ten.

She'd gone up by taxi, using the invaluable Western Cars, as there isn't an 8.25 bus service. The V3 is running a bit erratically at the moment anyway; Abbey Street is closed in Derby and the service has been diverted round onto the Royal Derby route, adding a good bit to the journey time.

She had an uneventful encounter as we used to say in primary care research, so we're just hoping that this is a good omen for the op itself.

Meantime back at the boat, I finished off the laundry work by putting two loads through the tumble dryer and tidying the dried clothes away. For the rest, it was a case of pottering dopily about doing this and that, like loading some more video onto the iPad for the next time I want to watch something, backing up the iPad onto the Mini then backing up the Mini in its turn.

I nipped out to the Farm Shop to get a pasty for lunch; I'd planned to get some meat, too, but Kevin the butcher was still waiting for his delivery from Barton Marina. Sheila was back in time to have lunch with me, having gone into the Farm Shop herself on her return to get her own pasty.

After lunch we went out again to get the meat and to get tomorrow night's answer sheets photocopied in the office. Apparently there are twelve teams competing, so a full house.

It being Tuesday, Elanor and Sally are coming for an evening walk as usual; I'm hoping that the rain holds off this time, the cold wind is bad enough.

Progress maintained

I had another eye clinic appointment in Derby, which meant catching the 9.25 bus and actually paying to travel as far as Littleover. The bus was reasonably on time, a pity in some ways as, if it had arrived after half nine, we could have used our bus passes. We had to wait a touch more than the advertised ten minutes at the stop round the corner on the ring road for the Royal Derby bus, but had plenty of time in hand.

The clinic was running well to time, so it wasn't long after a quarter to ten that I was seen. My pressures have stayed well under control, I'm pleased to say; one more visit in June and I will be back on annual checks if all goes well.

We had a bit of shopping to do – returning some highly unsatisfactory pyjamas to M&S and buying replacements at BHS. The woman at Marks who did the refund said that some of these 100% cotton garments shrink by 9% when washed; the concept of pre-shrinking appears to have fallen from use. That means you'd really need to buy the size larger to end up with something that fits.

You don't mind something you've bought from a cheapjack like Matalan taking up a bit when washed, but when you've paid over twenty-five quid at Marks you're entitled to to a bit better quality, I reckon.

Heigh ho, no matter, it's all done now. Lunch was chicken or king prawn satay noodles from the Thai noodle bar in Intu, then a quick gamble round Sainsbury's (bread and cup soup) and back home on the one o'clock.

We've been loafing since, rather. Ralph Wilson rang during the afternoon, checking that we were still OK to take delivery of the chairs tomorrow morning.

It is nice to deal with a professional.

Quickie

We've been in Derby most of the day (the bus was late again, but at least the driver apologised this time). Did a load of shopping, including some winter weight pyjamas.

Both had eye tests, I'm fine, no need for new specs. It was Sheila's turn to splash the cash on two new pairs.

Minor entertainment; the optician told me that the drops have made my lashes grow longer and some are scraping my corneas, leading to irritation. So I'm to start using an eyelash comb on them to train them out of the way, as well as using Viscotears moisturising drops.

Gosh it's tricky peering at your eyes in a mirror and trying not to poke yourself in one with a stick.

Ladies — you do this stuff voluntarily?

;))

In and out of Derby

Today has been taken up with our extra trip into Derby, where we had an excellent Thai lunch, did a smidgen of shopping and booked eye tests for the middle of next month. Then we walked up to the London Road Community Hospital where I had my retinopathy screening.

This got done in good time for us to amble back into town and catch the 15.00 V3 back to the marina.

Not a dramatic sort of day, but successful in its way despite the cold, raw weather conditions. Some parts of the country were scheduled to have snow, but I've not seen any reports of it yet.

Good day, poor internet

We've had an excellent day with a very productive trip to Derby. Got lots done and had an excellent meal in Wagamama. Sheila particularly recommends the banana katsu and I the roasted sesame mocha ice cream. Think halva flavoured ice cream and you've got it.

Unfortunately, the 3 connection has just gone amazingly slow, so I'm going to leave it at that for today. I'm feeling pretty weary anyway...

See you tomorrow.