Winter Wanderings 2012 - Day #23 - 2/18

This was very much a traveling day - 513 miles-worth to be exact!  The day started pretty much as usual, but I did the bathroom/ dressing routine after only one cuppa tea to give myself some extra time, but both Pete and Jean surprised me by appearing a good half-hour earlier than usual.  However I did have time to strip the bed and also give the bathroom vanity a bit of a proper clean as well as get the van ready for leaving.  After a poached eggs/sausage/toast/mushrooms/cooked tomatoes hearty breakfast it was time for hugs all around and lots of thanks all around and promises of "again" and then I was on my way.

I did have a minor delay before starting as both hotel and the street on which it stands have been built since my Garmin ("Portia") was programmed and we had to look up something else in Foley on Jean's PC in order to set a destination.  I also ran into, not for the first time, another case of Portia not knowing about big city Obama pork barrel road changes, especially of ramps/access (as well as bypasses) which makes me wonder whether I should upgrade to a more easily (or automatic) upgradeable version before I go traveling again.

The next many hours were drive, drive, and more drive without stopping at all (once out of Valrico) from 9:30 to 2:30 EST (knowing I would end on CST).  I filled up a little more than half a tank, again cursing the Florida law that says you have to actually hold the pump nozzle lever the whole time you are filling!  Then it was to McDonald's next door for a big hunk o' meat in burger form.  I took in Marissa's book to force myself to take a decent period away from the driving position.

The second portion of the previously dry journey had intermittent light rain (minimum wiper speed) on and off for a good while but close to Pensacola we were hit twice with major torrential squalls that dropped all of us from 75 down to around 60.  However, they were a mere bagatelle compared to the truly horrific downpour that hit just as I was searching for signs of the hotel.  In fact from the other side of a 4-lane divided highway I missed it completely.  Feeling I was nearing the end of town I pulled into a Home Depot parking lot and called for instructions thereby discovering I was literally a single city block in each of two right-angled directions away from it.  I don't ever remember trying to check in under such wet conditions, thank goodness for the portico for at least some protection.  Checked in, with bags inside the lobby, I noticed an empty slot quite close and managed to reverse myself into it, but still soaked a golf umbrella doing the 25 yards from van to portico.

I had called Rita from a half-hour out (according to Portia) & got the news that both of them think they have (different) ailments and neither intended to join me for dinner.  Once in the room I called and said that in this weather I did not intend to try and find them in the dark, so I will head out there and see what's what at nine CST tomorrow.  My "room" is almost a suite, large bathroom, wet bar with coffee stuff on the counter, microwave & fridge as well as the usual TV in addition to a comfortable king bed, an easy chair with ottoman, and an executive chair at the large desk.  I shall be quite comfortable this evening.

Winter Wanderings 2012 - Day #18 - 2/13

 This day started with a light ground frost but was primarily sunny and gently warmed up all day.  We started a little earlier as it was Jean's turn to go to the church and count money.  On her return we hung a number of wetting sheets up against the old wallpaper in the study.  Then we went for our walk while the water solution was soaking in.  It was a good day for birds near the lake's edge but the highlight was seeing a truly huge alligator (maybe the biggest I've seen "in the wild") basking on a mud bar.

On our return we started removing the wallpaper, which was exceedingly reluctant to leave the wall!  But little by little we were winning the battles.  Then came more sheets/soaking, lunch, and more removal.  While the next soaking was going on we took an outing to the hardware store for assorted supplies, so all was ready for more removal on our return.

After setting up another section for soaking we all three had an enjoyable Skype session/video chat with Marissa.  We moved some furniture, tidied a little, then did more removal.  We set up the last soaking and had our evening meal while it was working then did the final removal session of the day.  We are pleased to have completed the whole "window wall", twelve feet high at one end and eight feet at the other.  It was a really good productive day.

Spring Fling 2011 - Day 14

Unusually for me I woke soon after four AM and having solved the immediate nose/mouth/bladder problems found myself totally unable to fall back to sleep, aggravated by the fact that we had agreed on an early start.  Before eight o'clock we were heading to Tampa and the Aquarium's dock.  In "payment" for docking facilities the Aquarium gives a Port of Tampa water tour once (and sometimes twice) a week, free but reservations needed.

After a somewhat disorganized start we embarked on the tour.  The actual port (handling the greatest tonnage of any Florida port by a wide margin) is actually 23 miles from the mouth of Tampa Bay and its big bridge.  In addition to its docking/unloading facilities it has a very large ship repair operation with a variety of dry-docks.  They also pointed out, on an island man-made over decades from dredged debris (and large enough for a private plane/helicopter airport) a dog park with an unusual feature, a beach!  Zoe would have loved it!

The tour lasted over 1 1/2 hours and was surprisingly interesting.  After disembarking next to a restored Liberty Ship (whose only voyage in decades, after restoration was a sentimental crossing of the Atlantic, and up the Thames to London & back) we went to Ybor City, formerly a major center for cigar making, still very Cuban-flavored, and after major decline is largely restored for tourism.  We had a very nice lunch outdoors under an awning (fried oyster sandwich for me) before heading home.

We then all napped!  After awakening I was feeling energetic & volunteered my "legs" for any jobs/yard work.  First Jean came & helped/directed with the movement way down the yard of trash for pick-up & brush for the pile, and then Peter substituted bringing a chain saw & hedge clippers.  We made an impressive amount of improvement, working together until almost dark and burning off our excess energy.

As usual, we took photos, mostly rather distant for pocket cameras, and a selection have been posted on Flickr, found here.

Spring Fling 2011 - Day 9

The major event of this day was a trip to the other side of Tampa Bay and over to the coast to the town of Tarpon Springs.  We finally got going in the latter part of the morning and didn't return until the evening.  The day was bright and sunny, but breezy, and once at the coast cool enough to make wearing a jacket or fleece wise.

The old city of Tarpon Springs is centered around the sponge fishing industry, and similar to the U.P. which was largely populated by Cornishmen & other north European miners, was started by Greek sponge fishermen.  It is now a tourist haven (trap?) with two dominant themes, sponges and Greeks.  It is still a center for sponge fishing as most of the shops can attest, and it is also hugely into Greek food of all kinds.

With strategic pacing and resting Peter was able to walk further this day than he apparently has been able to do for months.  We absorbed sponge knowledge and history (I had never realized how ignorant I was on the subject) and wandered about the touristy/marina part of town.  We had lunch at a restaurant that claims it is scheduled to be part of a Food Network show in a couple of months, and it was good.  We took a look at, and into, a number of the shops (which didn't seem to be quite as tacky, by and large, as one might expect) but beyond a bakery to get a dessert treat (Kok or baclava) and a couple of sponges for P&J temptation was largely resisted, except for a couple of different specialty soap shops (sorry, Carol!).

We eventually left and managed, with some judicial map reading, to fake out their Garmin enough to route us back across the causeway dividing inner Tampa Bay instead of the inland route we were guided to use on our outbound journey.  All in all it was a very nice and interesting day, enjoyed equally by P&J who until having the excuse of a visitor to make the effort to go there hadn't actually been back for some 10 years!

A large number of pictures were taken between us, and shared in the evening, and some of them have been uploaded to Flickr and may be found here.

U. P. Trip - Fall 2010 - Preamble

Following the success of last year’s trip we decided to do it again in 2010. After Marissa was accepted as a delegate to the ACS Relay For Life convention in Grand Rapids we debated the before or after aspects but decided to get the convention behind us before embarking on the vacation proper.

Since Zoe would again be with us we needed to make hard reservations well ahead to ensure getting “pet-friendly” rooms, especially as it would be what was anticipated as peak fall color season.

Less than a week before departure we got word that Peggy Livermore, or Mum-Mum, our matriarch had passed away in her sleep. John had spoken to her four days before and had seen her (and effectively said the good-byes) in February, so after many phone calls and messages it was generally agreed that the presence of a extra body in England at this time served no useful purpose and that the vacation should go ahead as planned.

Perishable foods & cold drinks excepted all is packed in the van except for overnight essentials and the first activity will be for John to go down to Mount Vernon for a night before we head north tomorrow. As usual, Priddises “travel heavy” when going by road!

U.K. Duty Visit - Day 21

Quite surprisingly the daylight portion of this day was largely sunny, although it was extremely and unrelentingly windy as well. I spent much of the morning in packing exercises trying to keep my “to be checked” bags within weight limits without making my carry-on overflow bag too heavy to be easily managed. Pam & Nick were also confined to barracks awaiting the first delivery of the materials for the flat upgrade Nick will supervise prior to the flat going on to the market. The stuff finally came, short two washbasins and during the unloading the delivery people dropped a porcelain toilet onto the tarmac & smashed it! Their problem, our inconvenience.

With all that behind us we took off heading west on the “main road” as far as the Cuckmere River estuary, once winding & pretty and now oxbow lakes and a straight man-made channel on the last dash to the sea. We scrambled to find two pounds fifty for two hours (or less) of parking but were delighted to find the Pay And Display machine was out of order! We then trod delicately across a fair bit of grass, watching our feet until we reached the concrete footpath/road where we also found we had to watch our feet and tread delicately. The many sheep grazing in the area almost totally ignored us. We marched bravely into the headwind until the concrete path degenerated to roughly leveled chalk, still very wet, and shortly decided discretion was the better part of valor.

Back near the car we eschewed the shortcut & walked around, climbed in the car and rejoined the road taking our place in the line waiting for the eastbound traffic to end over the classic British “two-direction, one lane” bridge to the Golden Galleon pub on the other side, in which we had a very nice lunch sitting next to a real wood fire. On leaving we took the “scenic route” down even smaller roads coming out at Polegate where we stopped for Nick to sort out the delivery shortages/accidents, prior to going on to the nursing home.

Mum-Mum was quite bright today and stayed so even when she finally realized that this was the last visit from both Pam & me. We stayed quite a long time, as usual doing crosswords to fill in the conversational gaps and repetitions. We eventually took our leave with remarkably little emotional outbursts or guilt trips & drove home, to spend a quiet evening before a very early morning tomorrow.

U.K. Duty Visit - Day 20

I made the silly mistake this morning of remarking that despite the gloom it hadn’t actually rained for a whole three hours, so needless to say it rained pretty hard for the rest of the day. This area is truly saturated, standing water in fields & along roadsides.

Pam buckled down this morning to completing the sort out of Mum-Mum’s former bedroom, chests, vanities & wardrobe, with Nick & I helping when appropriate, which wasn’t often. She found it emotional and hard going, but did complete the exercise. She and Nick then made a run to the Charity Shop with all the usable stuff we knew Mum-Mum would never need again. Later she went off to lunch with Jane, a friend of very long standing & also Katy’s godmother. Nick & I left around the same time and dropped assorted stuff off at various offices, all to do with the family’s business. After that we went up to our usual parking place & took a walk in the gloom. The tide was way out, exposing the underlying chalk at the bottom of the beaches so we made a short side trip down to take a look “up close & personal”. In the end we almost made it back to the car before the rain but didn’t get too wet – in fact we got wetter walking from the nearest available parking spot to The Ship pub where we enjoyed a very nice lunch.

Since we all got back at the same time we went straight off to visit Mum-Mum, letting her choose the clothes Pam thought she might want now or in the summer, which was most of what we took. Pam again did some drawer & wardrobe tidying for her. She seemed well, was in no pain, but not exactly full of joie de vivre. Since Pam & Nick had a late afternoon appointment to view a potential investment opportunity once the nursing home sells, we left her watching her favorite TV program with her earphones on (to avoid blasting out her neighbors).

Recently we offered to take to her room a set of pictures (her father, brother, her family when she was young & a woodcut of Phil done by Lucy) that had always had pride of place in her lounge. She declined. Today she had us rearrange the pictures already in her room moving some into the more easily seen positions, and others to the background or windowsill. Later Pam reflected on her choice and we realized that she no longer wanted to easily see dead people (her mother, Freddy Priddis, Fliss, Phil, Roy, etc) and only wanted recent pictures of family members still around, with my formal portrait picture in pride of place, which we thought rather interesting.

In the evening P & N went out to have dinner with the Nursing Home co-owner/manager & his wife, and shortly after John had eaten his own supper Robbie Hartwell rang from the top floor flat & invited me up for a chat. We were both part of the Church Youth Group & social set in the early sixties, had last seen each other probably in 1964 and have spent 40 & 45 years respectively in the USA, both of us have lost our life partners within the last 4 years, so we had a lot of catching up to do. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

U.K. Duty Visit - Day 19

This was a day of varying activities. Nick went out to meet with the family lawyer/tax man for advice on his & Pam’s behalf. Pam made a huge start on Mum-Mum’s wardrobe, primarily making selections for Mum-Mum to choose from, especially the summer clothes she will need later in the year, as well as making up bundles of “charity shop” donations. I took advantage of Nick’s scanner that can scan & then separate for PC filing up to six separate pictures simultaneously; scanning the hardcopies I will take back to Indiana anyway.

To our astonishment the weather cleared for a while mid-morning treating us to some blue skies, sunshine & moderate temperatures so we all simultaneously proposed, as soon as Nick returned, that we take the walk we had hoped would have become “usual”. It was nice & refreshing. Once back, Pam & Nick left for a lunch with former Eastbourne friends, and I continued scanning before microwaving a chicken curry for my lunch.

By early afternoon it had become dismal again and later it started raining quite hard. We headed to the nursing home & Mum-Mum. There she chose the clothes she still wants and we marked them for laundry purposes & put them away for her in drawers and her wardrobe. After quite a lengthy stay with her we finally left and detoured to one of the nicer supermarkets for immediate supplies plus a few additional items for me to try & pack and take home.

I also found today that I can no longer access my bank account since the switch from IUB to First whatever, and I will be very glad to get back home & start getting my affairs in order again.

U.K. Duty Visit - Day 18

This day had all the D’s from yesterday with the addition of super low clouds, or maybe fog making it even more miserable & dreary. We went out in the morning & parked in the Arndale Center but did most of our shopping in the streets outside. We added more prepaid time to our dongle (telephonic Internet connector), and also went to the post office & established that shipping a box of stuff home was not a financially sensible option compared to paying airline fees for an extra bag. We visited Sainsbury’s en route back through the Center to the parking garage, having done P & N’s other shopping, but did not buy. Finally we went back to the flat and had a lunch of good old British bangers with potatoes & beans. In the course of the last two days all ninety-something scans of old family photos, plus all the pictures I have taken so far on the trip are now loaded in both Pam’s and in Nick’s computers.

In the afternoon we unsuccessfully went to the Sovereign swimming center & failed to get a racing swimsuit for Pam to take to Faye, and then were equally unsuccessful at a giant Tesco. We went on to the nursing home & spent the afternoon with Mum-Mum, reorganizing her some more as far as clothes, her drawers in general & her “bar”, and then had desultory conversation & did a couple of crosswords before saying goodbye & heading back to the flat. She was quite bright & looked very well, having had her hair “done” at the home earlier.

To add to my general dissatisfaction I am now convinced, after having visited all the major supermarkets, that Rowntrees no longer package just the red and black fruit pastilles and also that liquid Bovril is unobtainable, at least in southern Britain. More personally, my cold seems to have returned with a vengeance both in the streaming nose & even more irritating (both to me and those around me) is the incessant dry cough, which nothing seems to touch.

U.K. Duty Visit - Day 17

Dull, dreary, dismal, depressing day of downpours describes this day the best (for my alliterative friend) as it was a day with virtually no redeeming qualities. Much of the morning was spent as first one & then a second realtor inspected the flat to provide us with a second and third opinion as to how best to present the flat for sale & roughly the kind of price that might be expected once it is ready for market.

Pam & I worked with pictures & with re-setting up Pam with a viable Flickr account so that she can see the USA side of the family’s pictures on a timely basis. In due course we had the lamb, along with separate vegetables that Nick & I had bought; very nice & just right for three of us despite being labeled as “for four”.

In the afternoon we went out & stopped first at Mum-Mum’s lawyers offices to get the documents previously stored there & that we will need to proceed with the sale of the flat. Then we went on to Mum-Mum in the nursing home & had a productive visit, sorting out a few things for her, putting up some more pictures for her, and generally chatting and (of course) doing crosswords. At a most suitable time her former helper stopped by with a bunch of flowers & intending to visit, so we took our leave of them & headed back to Eastbourne. We stopped at a supermarket, to get supplies for the flat, a few things for me to take home, and a lot of alcoholic beverages to take to Mum-Mum’s “cellar” tomorrow. We were reasonably successful and headed home for the evening.

U.K. Duty Visit - Day 16

This was a day that very largely did not go according to plan. The reason was the (popularly misconceived as “typical”) English weather. There was almost non-stop rain, varying from light drizzle to heavy downpour, but very cold on any exposed human surfaces. Initially we were not bothered as the three of us visited Mum-Mum quite early, finding her much the same but incrementally improved. We did some minor sorting & rearranging her personal stuff in the room, chatted, somewhat repetitively, and as usual fell back on a crossword to keep things going. As always she was delighted to see us, and, knowing we would be back tomorrow, not concerned when we took out leave in order to go and pick up Pat & Ange.

All five of us piled into Nick’s car and we headed along and out to the Sovereign Harbor, dashing from car park to some cover through the rain. We all had coffees and shared some pastries and began to plan alternatives to our former plan for a long walk across the Downs. After a short, damp walk to see a bit more of the harbor we again piled into the car and headed for Pevensey making a long tour of the sea front behind the barrier houses on their bank that protects the marsh from storms & high tides.

Since the road fringes it we looped around for a better look at the ruins of the ancient Pevensy castle complex, once thought to be 1500 years old but now thought to be 6-700 years older than that, in part. We walked in, but the rain got harder & when we found we would need to pay we beat a retreat back to the car. Eventually we headed back & took a motor tour of Eastbourne going from one Nick association to another.

We headed on up to the downs, thinking, erroneously, that the Beachy Head pub would not be very busy on such a nasty day, but we did get a table for the five reasonably quickly and we had a long leisurely and very nice lunch. On leaving we headed west as far as Birling Gap, but didn’t stay long, only Pat & Ange even trying to view the Seven Sisters from the balcony top of the stairway down. Time was now running out so we headed back to the hotel, all made our goodbyes, separated and we three returned to the flat to take it easy for the rest of the day.

U.K. Duty Visit - Day 15

This was the Bron/Robb day. After a nice frost (no doubt considered sharp over here) everything was sparkling in the bright sunshine as Nick & I set off for London around 8:30 AM. Since it was a Saturday we had little trouble, although I was very glad it was Nick doing the driving (dodging & weaving?), especially as we got closer to Katy’s. Much of the day’s activity concerned either the children, or houses and flats, realtors, etc. Pam & I walked to a nearby emporium for some lunch supplies. I couldn’t help reflecting, as I looked around, that I would have needed a team of horses to get Maria out of there had she been with us!

After lunch we left Pam to babysit the sleeping kids (a state that lasted about 3 microseconds after we left) and went looking at the neighborhood Ben & Katy would like and at various dwellings on the market, just from the outside. I found it somewhat mind-boggling that the equivalent area of four of my family rooms stacked one above the other was worth close to a million dollars!

We returned to Katy’s for a “cuppa” and then made our farewells and headed back to Eastbourne. I must admit that previous reluctance to contemplate relocation to the UK was reinforced 1000%! I simply could not bear to live here anymore.

Back in Eastbourne we watched some Olympics (the British are simply ecstatic about their gold). However, we discovered that the quick meal Nick & I had bought required two hours in the oven, so we moved to plan B, our last bit of pasta & some sauce Katy had frozen & sent back with us!

U.K. Duty Visit - Day 14

This was a pleasant, gentle sort of day both in weather and socially. The primary activity of the morning was a visit to Mum-Mum, who was glad to see us but seemed a bit down. We later concluded that she has forgotten how recent the operation was and is now expecting to feel as well as she did a year ago already. She did say that the pain in her hip was far, far less than before. We again kept things going, when nurses weren’t attending her, as usual by doing crosswords, for which her mind is still good. We eventually left around lunchtime and bought a few culinary supplies en route home.

After lunch we enjoyed some quiet time and finally went out into the largely sunny day and made our usual vigorous seafront walk to the Martello Tower and back up the hill to the free parking, which was much fuller than recent days, as the locals took advantage of the nice day. We then identified a restaurant for the evening & made a reservation, after which we went up onto the Downs as far as Belle Toute (former) lighthouse and scoped out the proposed mass walk scheduled for Sunday, thereby cutting our grandiose ideas down to size.

In the evening we picked up Pat & Ange, who had made a nice long visit to Mum-Mum themselves in the afternoon, and went and had a nice leisurely Chinese dinner, served to us but buffet style in that we could order a few dishes at a time, with more following until we were all well (over?) fed. All in all it was a pleasant and relatively stress-free day.

U.K. Duty Visit - Day 13

This was a dismal day, cool and largely wet, with just a short break in the afternoon, providing little incentive for early activities. At mid-morning Nick & I went out, first to the Meads for some necessities plus a bottle of wine for Mum-Mum, then on to Hailsham & the nursing home. Mum-Mum was, of course, delighted to see us. We stayed about 2 hours, chatting, and doing crosswords. I was delighted that she was still quite well able to contribute. Eventually, we unpacked her suitcase from the hospital & put everything away for her & took our leave just as they were serving lunch.

Back at the flat we made lunch for ourselves, watched some Olympics, read my paper on-line, and then I got back to scanning. I have now done all the one-of-a-kind pictures (about 95) and I am delighted with the results. We eventually got a call from Pat, made plans for the evening and since we were in a brief spell of drier weather went out. We booked a table for dinner in the Meads, then went to the usual parking place & walked briskly, with the wind down by the banging & crashing sea, and against the wind, a little more sheltered back up the pavement (sidewalk). It did us both good, although we just made it back to the car in time to avoid a serious dampening.

Later we went down and met Pat & Ange at their hotel & all went in Nick’s car to the Meads where we spent a truly enjoyable evening. The food, all three courses, was delicious & I was glad nobody from Sandcrest Medicine could see me ignoring dictums left and right. We have arranged to meet for dinner tomorrow as well.

U.K. Duty Visit - Day 12

The majority of this day was bright sunshine & gentle breezes, with just the statutory shower in the late afternoon. Serious activity began at mid-morning when we drove halfway down the hill to the end of free parking and took what is becoming our “usual walk” which was very pleasant under the weather circumstances. Afterwards Nick dropped me and the wheelchair at the Esperance Hospital & while he went to a car auction (just for the experience against the future) I joined Mum-Mum, made sure all was ready, we had coffee together, I got as nurse to do something about her bare feet (they’d been wrapped on the way there so we didn’t have socks & shoes). We hadn’t been able to get an appropriate taxi until noon. In due course we vacated the room, with some help, and established ourselves in the lobby.

The taxi was only a few minutes late, all went well with the loading, although the walker was a tight squeeze beside the wheelchair, in which Mum-Mum rode. The journey was smooth & speedy and the nursing home was prepared for us and she was duly installed in “her” room, just in time to get lunch, although she wasn’t very hungry. Nick had preceded us there & had a chat with his partner/nursing home manager. Once we were sure all was well we left Mum-Mum to digest and rest & headed to the flat to eat some lunch.

The early afternoon was spent in programming my laptop to work with the scanner/printer & all the attendant irritations of the switch from Nick to me, but eventually I got it working & the bugs out. Nick left for tea with the family’s former long-term pastor (who married both Faye & Katy, inter alia) & I slogged away scanning the one-of-a-kind pictures into the PC. I have made better progress than I had expected to do. I’m sure I’ll do some more tomorrow, as they seem to be coming out well.

It is good to know that the whole hospital/operation phase is over & done.

U.K. Duty Visit - Day 11

This day was largely dominated by those at the far ends of the age scale. We took the morning gently since none of us had slept particularly well, me because I had forgotten the cold/sleep aid pill. While Katy took the two little ones to see Mum-Mum, Pam & I sorted through the last of the picture pile, dividing duplications between us & assigning a great many more to the “to be scanned” pile.

Katy & the children arrived & largely dominated the rest of the day. After we had all eaten, Pam & Nick went out, primarily to visit Mum-Mum in the hospital. Luckily the children both took decently long naps so Katy and John were able to have some one-on-one “quality time”, during which we both learned a fair bit.

Pam & Nick returned, reporting that the outside was windy but bearable, so John, Katy, the kids and Pam as well went down to the front. Katy wanted to park on the level, near the bandstand which, of course, despite few other vehicles, was in the active “Pay & Display” zone – which applies to 90+% of all parking except way up the hill towards Mum-Mum’s flat. Having little change between us she negotiated with an adjacent car for the breakdown of a pound, we bought our ticket & set off. Pam & Anna went down the beach, staying close to the groyne to get a windbreak, while John, Katy & Luke in the pushchair went at warp speed along to the pier and back – Katy demonstrating that she would be in the championship class of mall-walkers! It was a great burst of exercise. The sea was really rough – just as Maria would have liked it.

Back at the flat more discussions followed, severely interrupted by the demands of the infantry; we all ate something, the kids were readied for bed then they, Katy & Pam took off for London leaving Nick & I in peace.

Before Pam left we got a call from the surgeon, saying that unless the nursing home would have a problem, he would discharge Mum-Mum tomorrow, and let her recover from both the operation & the urinary tract infection at the home.

U.K. Duty Visit - Day 10

Wow! We awoke to bright sunshine & clear blue skies! It didn’t endure all day, but did last for much of the morning. Unsurprisingly there was also quite a sharp frost. Nevertheless, we decided to take advantage and went for our sea-front walk quite early (by UK standards, anyway). John was so pleased he took a couple of pictures to put on Flickr.

While waiting for Katy to drive down from London Pam & I started tackling the large stack of “scan??” pictures, starting with rough sorts and gradually getting more subject specific. As we suspected there are a lot of duplications, or nearly so (taken on the same occasion) so when we found “one each” we took them to diminish the pile for scanning before we both went back home to our own scanners. There is still a lot of sorting to do, but the advent of Katy & two toddlers encouraged us to return things to piles, safely away from little fingers!

I am beginning to realize that my “available weight” (& suitcase space) allowance is unlikely to be enough, so have begun thinking about options, as I realize a fair bit more than lightweight photographs will need to go to the USA one way or another.

After entertaining the kids for a while and all catching up a bit we had lunch, a fairly long drawn out affair, after which the children were consigned to their grandparents’ care while Katy & John (with his laptop) went to the hospital. At first Mum-Mum was a bit down & feeling cold, so we left the nurses to get her back into bed, warm & comfortable, then rejoined her. Katy is a marvel with her grandmother, although I was not surprised. When things slowed down the PC was used to show Mum-Mum the pictures taken so far (including a few from this very morning) as well as some of John’s older ones.

After returning, Pam, Katy & the little ones went for a walk, getting very muddy/chalky in the process (we will NOT be walking the cliff-tops anytime soon), Nick watched some recorded crazy skiing Olympics, and I caught up with the news from Indiana. Katy & kids left for their overnight stay with friends and will return tomorrow, while we continue to do this ‘n that.

U.K. Duty Visit - Day 9

Another day of universally gray skies, although there was some brightness out over the sea in the morning, and actual precipitation was limited to drizzle during the mid-day hours. The cold continues into the tedious stage, much worse on first arising than during the rest of the day.

We largely took a break from our sifting & sorting activities today, electing to take a decently long and reasonably brisk walk along the sea front, the cliff-top areas being suspected of being too mucky after the snowmelt, drizzles & absence of either sun or a decent drying breeze. I made a couple of “photo-ops” to be sure there was some record of us here. After judicious cropping a few of them seemed to be good enough to upload to Flickr. Even more than usual there were a lot of phone calls made & received.

Once back suitably weary, Pam cooked our roast pork lunch, including roast potatoes & roast parsnips, along with more colorful boiled vegetables. The meal was delicious. After we were done & had cleaned up – we do miss our dishwasher machines, disposals, and even mixer taps (faucets) – we headed out again.

We spent our afternoon with Mum-Mum, who was a little less perky than yesterday having reached the 3-day mark after the operation, with which Pam sympathizes, & we assume a reduction in strength of medications. However she was delighted we were there, and having her traditional Sunday crossword with us the time passed quite well. We eventually returned to the flat & have no further ambitions for today.

U.K. Duty Visit - Day 8

This is yet another largely gray & gloomy day with nothing startling to report. I feel “over the hump” but will no doubt be irritated by this cold for many more days to come. I have adequate voice to enable communication but I definitely “sound funny” especially to my own ears!

We continued to plow through photos and memorabilia, a long morning of it, but we think we are near the end of discovering any more caches not yet reviewed. Now will begin the process of seeing what are duplications (or nearly so) and what most definitely need to be scanned before we separate - not an easy exercise in itself. We (Pam, really) have decided to make up one small album of modern pictures for Mum-Mum, using only those in which she still may remember the subjects or locations.

We finished up “Pam’s stew” with potatoes & vegetables as our primary meal and after a while left to visit Mum-Mum. We were all delighted to see how much better she looks and how much brighter she acts & speaks, although the memory lapses are still rather disturbing to us, as we have not really grown accustomed yet – especially when she looks so well.

We had intended to go out for “Sunday Dinner” until we realized that tomorrow is Valentine’s Day itself, meaning crowded pubs/restaurants, slow service & probably expensive “special menus” so after leaving the hospital we went to Waitrose & bought supplies to enable us to make it through until Monday morning.

U.K. Duty Visit - Day 6

What a difference a day makes! We awoke this morning to a significant snowfall, enough to effectively paralyze Eastbourne & surrounding areas, especially the hilly streets, which provided quite a bit of amusement as non-snow-savvy drivers in 2-wheel drive cars tried & failed to reach the top of the street outside the flat. Were we ever lucky! Part of our concern yesterday, as flurries came & went, was the proviso in Mum-Mum’s schedule of “if it doesn’t snow”! Had the original schedule been held the operation would not have happened as the surgeon quite literally was unable to get to the hospital today! Luckily we only had a flurry or two more during the day, plus some brightness & it was well above freezing so the roads became more & more passable as the day wore on.

I (John) took two hits today. The progress of the cold Nick gave me made for a miserable & relatively sleepless night, and although not totally debilitating we all agreed it was wise to stay inside & not go shopping and especially not go to see Mum-Mum in a hospital environment. Otherwise it is more irritating than anything else. The second blow came when reading the Republic Newspaper online & seeing a front page headline that the only card that still works over here will be “killed” on February 20th, making me totally dependent on the family for any expenses I might incur during the last week. No doubt in amongst the 3-weeksworth of mail I will retrieve from the Post office on my return will be a replacement under the new bank’s name & no doubt some new PIN that I will have to get changed. But I do feel strangely vulnerable, even though via the family we can get around the issue.

When Pam called the hospital to see how Mum-Mum was we learned that to their dismay, even though a catheter was in place she felt a need to pee, forgot she was in hospital, got out of bed & subsequently crashed to the floor, dislocating her newly installed joint, while her surgeon was snowbound somewhere out of town! Luckily it occurred right around a shift change & with extra staff around she was restored to bed, given a strong sedative (rather than more anesthesia) & another doctor was able to manipulate her joint back into place without any other damage! Much later in the day the primary surgeon called Pam to fill her in. Mum-Mum did not have arthritic degeneration, as supposed (although the speed of her decline amazed everybody) but something called vascular necrosis, which means that the blood had been cut off from that area of her hip bone & the bone was literally crumbling away. This dictated a change to the original plan, but the “fix” was successful. They also think she still has (or has yet again) a urinary tract infection the irritation of which caused her desire to go to the bathroom. With lots of hindsight a number of changes have been made to ensure she stays in bed when she is supposed to do so, plus the surgeon will fit an external brace on her leg to ensure that no twisting occurs for several weeks & it has regained some strength.

The telephone has been busy. I called Michelle to update her/Marissa (who was no doubt still in bed at an hour later on Central Time). Right after Pam & Nick went out to do some shopping & move the car (Nick’s “strategic spot” proved to be too close to the icy corner & the car was nearly hit) and, as it happened, the roads in town were improving so they went and paid a quick visit to Mum-Mum, who appeared to be more worried about my cold than about her own condition! Katy called me for an update. Pat called me and we had a chat & arranged to meet next week. Pam later called her back to give Pat their mobile number & explain why she won’t be here when Pat & Ange visit. In fact, for one reason or another the telephone has been well used, incoming & outgoing, all day.

Once Pam & Nick were back, and all done with the outside world until the evening, when Pam went back out to have the dinner cancelled yesterday, we had lunch and settled in. We continued with the massive sort out of pictures (still largely duplicates we had sent, but also some seriously old ones) and the “to be scanned” pile grows bigger. We are definitely making progress, unless we find another cache in the other bookcase. So we decided finally to just rest and relax until tomorrow.