Defintely home for the time being

As you can tell we’re not rushing off anywhere. We should have been going off to the aiport today.

At 8am yesterday the call came. Saga had managed to find us an alternative flight, only it was from Gatwick. After a quick consultation we concluded this was not really viable. It’s a long way down to Gatwick, too far for the Fox to drive. They suggested a coach. I pointed out that I couldn’t get on the average the coach with my wheelchair. They suggested the train. I told them you have to give the railway authorities 24 hours notice if you want to get assistance at the stations & the Fox cannot be expected to both push me & drag along the luggage & change platforms for different trains. I doubt there’s a direct train to Gatwick from here. As I had the option of a full refund instead, we took the latter & thought we were then in a position to start the holiday hunt from scratch.

Once that was settled I hastily got on to the computer to cancel the airport parking. That meant a loss of £10.50, not much, & I suspect we could claim that back from Saga as we’d booked that through them. I cancelled the car hire in Verona, mentioning the reason why we were cancelling. They wanted the Fox, the named driver, to personally ring them. He did. He was told the normal charge of 3 days rental cost for such a late cancellation would be waived in the circumstances. We cheered.

All in all this fiasco sounds as though it will cost us £10.50 maximum. Saga did say it might take them a little while to refund the money as, at this point, they’re still concentrating on trying to find appropriate flights for all their holidaymakers who’ve been affected. If we don’t hear by the end of the month, we’ll find out what’s happening.

A bit of us feel it’s maybe as well. At least now we feel we can relax in the knowledge we’re not going anywhere. My cold is steadily getting worse, rather than better. The Fox had been wondering whether to cancel the holiday anyway as he doesn’t think I’m fit to travel. He certainly doesn’t think it’s fair on other passengers to have to share my germ-ridden air on the plane.

When I told our gardener’s husband what had happened – she came yesterday to tidy up before we went away - he instantly offered to drive us both down to Gatwick. He did admit he thought it might not be very comfortable with the two of us, the luggage & the wheelchair in his 3-door car. I blessed him for the offer. It was most appreciated but we were reconciled to not going.

So now we’re onto Plan B. First thing, is to get shot of my cold, preferably without passing it onto the Fox first. Then we’re thinking of having a few days, maybe a week on holiday somewhere in this country. At present we’re thinking maybe York – not too far to go, a place we’ve not visited for years, a place with plenty of indoor attractions bearing in mind the English weather, some lovely places nearby if the weather is good, and a long-term friend who’s not in the best of health at the moment – he‘s had a stroke recently – to visit. This thought may yet change. Nothing is definite. Then maybe see if we can book a longer holiday in the winter months, possibly Christmas away this year. We can also try to sort a really good holiday for spring 2018.

I certainly feel the end of 2017 will be worth a celebrate. It seems to have been a bad year for so many of our family & friends, not to mention us.

But first we have a funeral to attend later this week. A dear friend died a couple of weeks ago. She was 85 & suffering with dementia. We had thought we would not be going but now it seems likely.