Nearly there

It’s been a busy week, but I think we’re finally almost ready for the off.

We’ve gathered all our medical supplies, almost a bag-load by itself.

The doctor rang & confirmed there was nothing seriously wrong with the Fox. He suspects there’s a little bit of irritable bowel but nothing too bad. The GP is a little concerned about the rather high sugar levels in the Fox’s blood but suspects it’s a blip, nothing to worry about, but just to be on the safe side he feels the further blood test would be advisable but it can wait until we’re back from our holidays. So, all in all, not bad for someone of his age.

All the jigsaws & books went back to the library yesterday.

The new fence panels have been put in place so privacy & security is returned to the garden.

Yesterday we went along to the golf club to celebrate Mrs B’s birthday. She’s 81 today. She’s the retired headmistress who used to come along to the Geriatrics’ Corner at the Pub & the monthly meals we had. Most of the members of Geriatrics’ Corner have joined the golf club as social members now, and several turned out for the party.

We’re even contemplating joining the golf club ourselves, as social members only. Membership isn’t too expensive & should be recouped by the low prices of food & drink, especially if we ever eat there. Mrs B says not to bother. Members are allowed to sign in 8 guests a year. If they all signed us in on various weeks we would be able to get in for free. It just doesn’t seem fair on them all. They may want to invite other people to come as well. And it is only just over £1 a week each, not a lot. Then we would also have the option of calling in by ourselves from time to time, even take our own guests if we want to. We’ll decide when we return home from our hols.

I have to confess the golf club does sound a rather posh place to join. A bit of inverted snobbery makes me resist the idea. But it has to be admitted it does seem to be one of the main social centres of Morecambe life. In the main bar you do get magnificent views either across the Bay or the lush green golf course. The smaller back bar is quite cosy. So we may just join.

But today is packing day. We’re off tomorrow.

I looked on-line last night to see what the weather should be where we’re going. It is supposed to be rain & showers most of the time with temperatures in the low teens, not much better than here. I was a bit reassured to see that some of the nearby places we are intending to explore seem warmer & drier, so maybe it’s just in the mountains, the Dolomites, where the hotel is, that is so miserable sounding. Or maybe the rain is going to be as fictional as most of the predicted rain for this area has been lately. I have to remind myself that the Lake District where we lived for many years, is so called because of the number of lakes.  People sometimes moaned about the amount of rain & I would point out you can’t have lakes without rain to refill them from time to time. The two go together. The same clearly applies in Italy.

The uncertainty over the weather does cause extra problems over what to pack. I’m telling myself just take plenty of layers. I can always strip off a layer or two if it turns out warmer than expected but I will need the layers if it should turn out as cold as we fear. We’re just hoping the weather is going to be better than our holiday last year when we went to the Dordogne. Then, in a fortnight, we had only one really warm day. The rest were usually cold & often wet, even snow & hailstorms. At least this time we will be staying in a warm comfortable hotel, even a junior suite, with a bar & other entertainment on site, so it shouldn’t be too bad even if we only venture out between the showers.

I’m not sure if I will have time to get back to write more tomorrow. If I don’t, I’ll be back later on in the month & tell you all about our holiday. Who knows we may find we have free access to a computer at the hotel as we did last holiday in Italy & I can write there with our impressions of the area.