Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow - Swedish Proverb

Today was very frustrating, one of those days when everything seems more difficult than it should be. I had a hospital appointment this afternoon, I'd been looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time. I badly needed some answers but I wasn't sure that I was going to like what I heard, so I felt very anxious.

Robbie came with me and since parking at the hospital is challenging at the best of times, I decided to park in a nearby car park and walk the short distance to the hospital. We still have snow but as the hospital is very close to the town centre I was fairly sure that the pavements would be gritted - they weren't! We slipped and slid towards the hospital very slowly indeed, but we made it without any serious problems. The road and pavement leading to the hospital main entrance were treacherous, it beggars belief that the local authority take no responsibility for making sure that roads and paths leading to hospitals, schools and the like are cleared and made safe. Having negotiated the icy pavements I had to pass a huddle of smokers who blocked the pavement just outside the hospital grounds. I was on my way to the chest clinic and the last thing that I needed was their second hand smoke!

I didn't really get the answers I wanted, just lots more questions, more medication. To be fair he did take my problem seriously and he understood how debilitating this cough is, it makes every aspect of my life so much more difficult. He requested lots of tests including an MRI scan, blood tests (I think they took a whole arm full of blood!) and various breathing tests. I have to see the consultant again in 2 months, I really hope the increased medication will help because the thought of putting up with this for another two months makes me feel like giving up. 

We had to go to a different part of the hospital to get my blood tests don so we walked back towards town a different way, but the paths were just as bad and our progress was slow. We walked through St Giles churchyard, it is beautiful at any time of year but the snow against the white snow-laden skies made it look magical, for some reason it made me think of Narnia. I have happy memories of walking through the churchyard with my aunt when I was a child and it looked so beautiful today that I asked Robbie to take some photos for me with his new phone.

Robbie took me to the Cordwainer for something to eat because I had been too anxious to eat much at lunchtime. He likes Wetherspoons food but it didn't really 'float my boat' and it was so dark in there, I like to see what I am eating. It is scary, but I have to admit that I sound more like my grandma every day!
   

Everyone wants to escape sometimes

I am getting bored with this now, the snow is still here and it looks as if it intends to stay. My son's school was closed and my daughter was unable to drive to Leicester to get to university, so we had the pleasure of their company at home. My son wandered around with an air of disapproval and he resisted all my efforts to encourage him to do something useful. My daughter was less visible but it was clear that our weekday routine was getting in the way of her plans for the day

Robbie was up and ready for work very early this morning, he wanted to get all his work done so that he could finish early and go out this afternoon. The snow has kept him away from the railways for a few days and it doesn't take long for him to get withdrawal symptoms. So this afternoon I braved the weather and the roads to drive Robbie to the station. The main roads were not too bad but if you strayed on to the very icy side roads you had to take your life in your hands.  

I only had an hour of 'peace' without Robbie, then I had to go to work, but it least it gave my son and daughter a chance to watch television and take possession of the lounge for a few hours. Robbie returned late but happy, the train for his return journey was rather special (according to Robbie) so he had plenty to tell me about his afternoon. I'd been worried about him falling over in the snow, but thankfully he managed to stay upright thanks to his Dr Martens shoes.

Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder?

I haven't seen much of Robbie this weekend on Friday he allegedly got snowed in and had to stay overnight in Birmingham. I say allegedly because he went to the office Christmas celebration on Friday afternoon and evening so it may have been that he was conveniently marooned in Birmingham, so I had a peaceful night and just for once I was able to hang on to all the duvet! He came bouncing back on Saturday lunchtime, but he got his priorities all wrong the best way to get into my good books is to make me a cup of tea! He has a nasty bump on his knee, he fell over in the snow on Friday.

On Sunday morning he was off again on a secret mission (I'm not allowed to write about it on the blog) but he had my approval. I had to take him to the station, I can't believe they haven't gritted the car park it was like a skating rink, it is an accident waiting to happen! Anyway Robbie didn't get back until late in the evening, but he had a great time and surprise surprise he managed to stay upright all day!

Winter Woes

1st December dawned icy cold, one of those mornings when the prospect of getting out of bed seems unthinkable and the temptation to roll over and go back to sleep is hard to resist. I had the usual battle with the alarm clock and as usual it won, so by 5.40am I plodded downstairs ready to face the day. I'm not sure why I was surprised to find the car windows covered in a thick layer of ice, but I was; it was the first frosty morning this winter. My carefully timed morning routine had suffered a set back and the prospect of being late loomed large. The ice was soon cleared and I was on my way, but from now on I will need to allow time each morning to clear the windows. I hate winter!

More Snow

These pictures were taken on Saturday, we had loads of snow in Northamptonshire. I had to go to my mums with some medication for her dog and I fell over on the ice so I am feeling a bit bruised today.

Snow Joke!

Robbie can be so annoying, especially when it comes to time. He deals with everything the way he deals with a train timetable, always in the 24hr clock and always timed to the second. This in especially annoying when he phones me asking for a lift, a simple ten to, or quarter past (or whatever) would be so much easier to deal with. He rang me yesterday to tell me that heavy snow was expected at 04.00 the following morning, I wasn't keen to know that more snow was coming our way, but it his use of the 24hr clock that irritated me and I told him sharply that you can't time nature. When I got home from work he told me that the timing for the snow had been revised to 03.00, and he got an even sharper answer from me. So it was infuriating when I got up to visit the bathroom during the night and found that his prediction had been spot in and we had several inches of snow! The roads have not been gritted and traffic has more or less ground to a halt, so there was no chance of going anywhere safely this morning. Robbie is working from home and Sam and Laura are out playing in the snow because their schools are closed. The previous snow had become compacted and turned to a sheet of ice on the pavements and minor roads, so the new snow is deceptively dangerous to walk on or drive on and I dread to think what will happen tonight when this lot freezes!

Peace and Quiet

The snow is more or less gone from the roads but it froze last night and the roads were very icy this morning. It was nice to have Robbie at working at home yesterday but I couldn't cope with it too often. He kept talking to me when I was trying to do my work and he found a variety of reasons for me to reorganise my schedule and consequently I still had work to do at 11pm! He kept giving me updates on the state of the railways, I didn't need to know, I wasn't going anywhere. Then just when I was deep in thought he would impart totally pointless snippets of information, at one point he told me about a company that was changing the size of the packs of batteries it sells I kept telling him that I didn't need to know, but the random information kept on coming. I am looking forward to a more peaceful day today.

The Never Ending Journey

Robbie, stubbornly decided to travel despite the snow yesterday and as I predicted he had big problems getting home again. He finally arrived home at 10.45pm, tired, cold and starving. For once food was was not the first thing on his mind (but it was a very close second) he was upset because he had ripped his trousers on a Voyager table. So that is another pair of trousers written off, I'm sure that man keeps Marks and Spencer in business!

This morning the snow has frozen, I couldn't even get into my car and because the doors were frozen shut and when I eventually got into the car my wipers were frozen solid and it was just a case of waiting for the heater get to work on the windscreen. The roads are treacherous and Robbie wisely decided that he should work from home today.