Wednesday 26th December

Wednesday
Had a good walk in the local woods then cooked dinner, we had it quite late cos poor old Richie and Caroline had terrible trouble getting to us, the Dartford tunnel was blocked up and it took them hours. They picked Dad up from the hospital (he was allowed out for a couple of hours) and brought him over to us for dinner too.

It was a shame we couldn’t get him but our car is too low and we didn’t think there was any way he could get in and out of it.

After dinner they took hum back and then had to rush off home to pack cos they are off to Budapest for a couple of days. We had been invited to our neighbour for the evening but we were pretty shattered by this time so we lazed about and ate cheese and nibbles instead.

Tuesday
Happy Christmas!

Opened our stockings and presents, I got lots of books and DVDs and loads of toys and clever bits in my stocking. Best prezzie of the day was a stocking filler (always is a stocking filler) Phil had got me nylon fake tattoos for your arms; it covers up my PICC line and looks really good, great fun and very practical.

We had lunch at the Crown as booked, it was such a shame that Dad wasn’t well enough to join us cos it was really good piping hot and plenty of food, the fish was particularly good and I think we’ll be going there again next year!

After lunch we visited Dad in the hospital for a little while and took him his presents and a couple of nice thinks to eat.

Phil’s still reading to me every night in bed and at the moment we are reading “Five Children and It” by E Nesbitt. It’s Victorian of course but has a strangely modern feel in some ways and is very very good indeed, I’d recommend it to anyone who hasn’t read it and who likes children’s books.

Monday
We did a last couple of shopping bits and then went for a bit of a walk at the reservoir, it was the fist day in ages that the weather and my feeling well had coincided so although it was a short walk (we hadn’t realised that they were closing at 2pm) it was really really nice to get out in the woods.

After my afternoon nap we went to the hospital to see Dad. Phil and I had some discussion about this as he didn’t want me to go to the hospital cos I’m so vulnerable to infection while I’m on chemo but Dad was really missing seeing me. In the end we compromised so I stayed in the reception area while Phil went and got Dad and brought him down to me in a wheelchair.

Sunday
Went to Costco and did some shopping for Christmas, although we are going out to a pub on Christmas day we have Richie and Caroline coming to us for Boxing Day. We are cooking salmon and we bought a beautiful side of salmon at Costco as well as cheese and bits for suppers over the festive period.

We also when to the big bookshop that’s nearby and then in the afternoon we did the Tesco shop for all the bits we couldn’t get in Costco. I was amazed at how quiet the shops all were, we hadn’t intended to do quite so much but the shops seemed quieter than even a normal weekend so we just powered through all the stuff we needed to get done.