The 20th & 21st; Back to London!
The 20th of July. Really not very warm this evening and I am not on board. I do not like needing a cardigan. We even had rain this afternoon.
Second trip to hospital of the week, this time for endocrine clinic. Always pretty good at running to time, so I wasn't kept waiting long. We ran through my current issues, mainly the back pain, and he's going to give Dr. Blaney a nudge. Not that I think he'll be able to offer me anything else but maybe he knows something about CBD oil that I don't. Anyway, he wanted some bloods, so I went to see a woman who had two goes in my elbow and underside of my wrist, which were both unsuccessful. She went to get a colleague, who tried again in the elbow - he finally got some backflow, but then the blood moved through the tube at a glacial pace, then literally dripped into the bottle. It was so slow, it clotted in the bottle, despite him moving the needle around, my fingers going numb. He was ready to send me on my way to drink a lot, then return, but I offered up my foot. In for a penny, in for a pound. And it worked! Got enough blood, and I was able to leave.
This afternoon, I sat with Dolly. I watched Tau, which was not what I expected. I didn't consider it to be much of a thriller, more a human interest story between a woman and a programme. Probably wouldn't recommend. Then I watched the first episode of The Staircase. The husband definitely did it.
The 21st of July.
Back to London!
Today we were down for the Anniversary Games, so had to get a slightly earlier train than Wednesday. Our journey down was more interesting than usual, because in the lift down to the platform, who should be in it but Uncle (who is not really my uncle) Peter! He was going to see the penultimate performance of Brief Encounter, and said he would come and find us on the train. It was a good thing he didn't get on with us, because when we reached our seats, we found it was full of people's suitcases! Mommy loudly and politely shouted that people needed to move them, and the assistance guy said that if they weren't moved, he'd just take them off the train! A man moved his one, then a couple had to remove the other five (they did have children with them). They tried to put them in the space opposite me but he wouldn't let them do that either in case I needed to go to the toilet. I didn't pipe up to let them know I can walk. They tried to reason that they were getting off at International and Coventry but I told them that was irrelevant. There was also a man in Mommy's seat who was trying to refuse to move but he relented too. We may have slightly delayed the train. Once all the kerfuffle had died down, Peter came to find us, and he showed us all his pictures from his trip to China! He went because his friend designed a new Sleeping Beauty for the Chinese national ballet, plus his grandparents had lived there between the wars, so he wanted to see more of it. And so our journey down was lots of fun.
When we arrived, the assistance people were not very forthcoming, so Mommy got the wheelchair off and we made our way to St. Pancras. That was absolutely hideous, just rammed with holidaymakers and school trips and it was just ghastly to get through. Thankfully, at the back of the station, where the javelin train goes from was better. We got on the train to Margate and it was delightfully empty! So we whizzed off to Stratford, where we waited ages for a lift, then met Christine at our usual spot. We found our way to our seats, and settled in to eat our lunches before the athletics began. My sandwich was not very exciting, but then I had a doughnut which I had asked Christine to purchase on her way to us, a Love At First Bite from Doughnut Time, which is a Nutella filled doughnut coated in cinnamon sugar. It was so good and filling.
The first event was the 3000m speedwalking, in which the winner got a World Record! Not a bad start. Other highlights included seeing the GB women's 4x400m relay team from the Beijing Olympics get their bronze medals because two of the teams above them hand since been disqualified for cheating, Shara Proctor winning the Long Jump, Zarnel Hughes coming second in the 100m, and Libby Clegg winning the T11 200m. Good work by all the people!
It finished at four, an hour earlier than Mommy had thought, so we didn't rush to the station like everyone else. We went to John Lewis because their toilets are nicer than the ones in the stadium and we investigated their haberdashery for nice wool but there wasn't anything incredibly different, had a bimble round Waitrose so Christine could do some shopping, and eventually decided it was time to make our way back to Euston.
St. Pancras was much quieter upon our return, and the journey home was far less entertaining than the morning's. But that is preferable. I just plugged in my earphones and read The Intrusions on my phone, just aching for the moment I would get home and be able to sit on a soft chair. My butt hurt so much.
