News - Yankee & personal

The news today is full of Trump’s triumph. There’s no getting away from it. Last night I lay in bed trying to get to sleep. I had the radio on. The more confident the pundits were that Clinton would win the more I feared they were wrong. It would be another Brexit miscalculation on their part.

I have to confess I’ve not envied the Americans their choice. Neither candidate truly appealed. However, for me, there was a point when I could see why they should want to vote Trump.

I listened to some of the live debates on World Radio – you can tell I’ve not been sleeping well of late. Trump pointed out that in his businesses he’d always got buildings put up on time & without extra costs. Anyone who can achieve that, clearly can organise something, despite the loud-mouthed buffoon he was putting on show in the presidential campaign. Ultimately you want someone who can get things done, regardless of their personality.

Now we have to see what sort of president he will be. Something different probably if nothing else. My consolation is that the US system of government will probably be able to curb his wildest excesses.

-------------

Monday saw us in Lancaster for the first of our hospital trips. This was for my annual check-up for pancreatitis. That went well & they have decided to discharge me, although they may make the occasional telephone call just to check I’m still OK & will keep an eye on my bloods. They reckon the chances of cancer from this cause have now reduced to almost the level it was before my pancreatitis attack. That’s one less trip to the hospital.

The appointment was for 6pm. We set off just before 5pm as usually the traffic at that time is horrific. We sailed through. Yes there were people returning home at the end of their day’s work but no heavies & no traffic jams. As we passed Greyhound Bridge, where usually at this time there is a long virtually-at-a-standstill traffic jam, the cars were flowing freely. The only hold-ups were at traffic lights. We were at the hospital within 20 minutes rather than our usual hour. Fortunately the café at the hospital was open & we had a quick cup of coffee/hot chocolate to fill in the time & to thaw out on an absolutely freezing evening.

Afterwards we decided to dine out. We tried the nearest pub/hotel, the Toll House Inn. We found this place when I went for my pre-op injection. We had an hour to fill in between the injection & the scan so we’d gone for a drink & a spot of lunch.

The food was good. We both decided on the same things. Mixed wild mushrooms on toasted brioche, followed by veal escalopes with a beautiful creamy crayfish sauce. We may go there again some time.

The new Bay Gateway certainly seems to be doing its job. Travel into Lancaster is certainly more pleasant. We may even consider going in just for the fun of it, rather than avoid Lancaster as much as possible as we have done for years. We’ll really be convinced if the journey goes as well when we tackle our second hospital trip later this week. That will be at 9am, well & truly in rush hour.