The 30th of September. 

Today has really been centred around.Mommy's hand surgery, as it should have. 

She needed to be at Ambulatory Care for twelve, and I was going with her and Daddy so he could take me into town for some errands. She got her breakfast eaten before she had to start being nil by mouth, made Christine's birthday cake, and we were out of the house by quarter past eleven. 

We dropped her off on the road that leads up to the hospital, so we didn't have to get stuck in the drop-off zone, and zipped off to the John Lewis car park. 

I sent Daddy off to have a coffee and read the paper, and we planned to meet up at Hotel Chocolat where he was going to buy some mints and I wanted to get Mommy a present. My first port of call was Primark, because everything I bought last week was a size too big. I thought I would be a small, but apparently not. I wanted to exchange two pairs of the pyjama bottoms and the top I'd bought, and return two other pairs. That part would have been easy, but then I got distracted by Christmas pyjamas, so I took a bit longer than I originally anticipated. I only bought one pair in the end; as Boris would say, I was the model of restraint. Although unlike him, I actually was. 

Having left Primark, I went to Boots to get some Elastoplast tape. We've been using it to secure bits of gauze over my knees just to protect them but allow air flow, and last night we ran out. We had to use a different tape for my left knee, and when Mommy was snipping that tape, she snipped my skin, and that started bleeding. So now I have a proper dressing under the protection one. Anyway, I went looking for some more, but the most similar product I could find was some zinc oxide tape. We will give it a go! 

I had informed Daddy that I would be at Hotel Chocolat imminently, but he replied to say that he had already gone to the one in the station and he'd meet me at John Lewis. Fine. I chose three different chocolates for Mommy - Wafer Pralines, Salted Caramel Creams, and the Patisserie Collection. I tried to choose things I know she likes so hopefully they will be a nice treat. 

Last stop was Paperchase, so I went back to Grand Central for that. I just needed to get a gift bag to put Christine's coffee in, and I was very tempted to get one that was covered in Christmas cats, but that wasn't really appropriate for her birthday. I chose one with peacock feathers on instead. 

That was me all done! I caught up with Daddy, and we finally got home to have lunch just before two. We weren't sure what time Mommy would be out of surgery or call on us (Daddy) to go pick her up, so for the rest of the afternoon we've been waiting for that text. I've just been watching the athletics, updating my blog, texting Christine, and I eventually got a text just after four. We had been beginning to think something had gone wrong, but it had all been fine, just all the bits around the surgery had taken time. She was going to be ready to be picked up at half five, when all the traffic is terrible, so at seven o'clock I am still waiting for them to get home. 

The 1st of October. 

Well, Mommy's hand sort of works today? She's obviously still very bandaged up and will be until she sees the surgeon again on the 10th, but she's managed most normal activity without a problem. 

I had a trip to the chiro this morning which I had forgotten about, and finally we are back to normal. Everything is moving nicely, just a bit of neck stiffness but that is not unusual. Trine and I had a good chat about the athletics because last night Norway got a gold medal, plus the Ingebritgsens were competing but they all kind of gave up in their race. I have to assume they have more to come because that is very unlike them. She didn't know that there is a younger sister who will no doubt be running thousands of metres in a few years too. 

This afternoon, I had an hour and a half of Dark Time, listening to Matthew and Ed discuss how Matthew drank his wife's breast milk and thought it was a cure for hangovers. Back downstairs, I found out that two fire engines were round the corner because a car had tried to park behind a restaurant and driven into the wall of the shop next door to it. As in, the car had made a hole in the wall. The fire engines were there to try to remove the car without the wall falling down, because a) there's already a crack in the wall and b) that wall holds up the ceiling of the shop. I'm amazed that two fire engines fitted down there because cars usually are parked on both sides of the road so it's difficult for us to get down there sometimes, and that's in a normal car!

Ahh, local fun! When Mommy got back from Grandma's, she had a cup of tea, then we made some gin and tonic buttercream to go on Christine's gin and tonic drizzle birthday cake. It didn't taste of very much, so we added in some lime zest, and a swirl of lemon curd with the buttercream that went inbetween the layers. It's a very tall cake, so the slices are going to have to be very thin, I think. Christine comes home tonight, and it's her birthday tomorrow, and this year I can be conscious and well enough to celebrate it with her.