Salad days

I was right about the heat yesterday. It got up to 36ºC! We’re not used this sort of heat in the north of England.

We went to the dentist for our six monthly check-up yesterday. The dental nurse came to invite us in. She looked about ready to flop into a puddle on the floor. Our teeth, though, are fine & should see us through another 6 months – just a scale & polish.

I debated whether it was worth doing a big shop, with the heat & the Fox being so off his food. Eventually I decided the only things on my list that couldn’t be frozen & may go off quickly were salad items. They wouldn’t come amiss. A few tomatoes, a couple of little gem lettuces & half a cucumber may come in useful for salads. I can always rebuy them for their original purpose if we’ve eaten them already.

There seems no end to the heat. Today is another hot day. I’ve decided on salad again today. We have half a tin of fish leftover from the other day so we’ll use that up. I’ve just cooked some broccoli & boiled some eggs as a basis for today’s salad.

In some ways salads suit me fine at the moment. They can take minimum effort to prepare. With the Fox so off his food it doesn’t seem worth going to too much effort if at the end of the day I’m just feeding myself while the Fox has a just a couple of mouthfuls. What is more, in this heat, it’s nice to leave eating until a bit later, & a bit cooler. I can just about manage to put some cold items on a plate by then, whilst I wouldn’t fancy starting to cook. I’d be past it by then.

Yesterday the Fox had just half a prawn mayo sandwich after seeing the dentist, then half a tin of baked beans on toast with a slice of corned beef for dinner. That was it for the day’s food. It hardly seems enough to keep a grown man going. If he keeps on like this I can see we will be making another trip to see the GP.

What really gets to me is the fact I suspect the cause of the loss of appetite is stress due to the decision of our “friends” to join us on the cruise to Norway. That wouldn’t have been so bad if they’d stuck to their original statement of not being in each other’s hair all the time, possibly not even seeing us every day. The amount of fuss just over the trip to Newcastle suggests to us we’ll be lucky to get away from them the whole holiday.

By way of contrast another couple of people we know at the golf club went to Lake Garda recently. We’d told them we were going to the same town later in the year. They came back with a folder of leaflets, ferry timetables, maps etc. for us. While they were they took note on wheelchair access for us. These “acquaintances” are being far better friends than our “friends”.

It ain't half hot

Yesterday was a real swelterer. We ventured into Lancaster – the Fox was in need of some shirts & ties for the formal dinners on the cruise. It was a relief to get into Marks & Spencer’s with its air-conditioning. When we stepped out with our purchases it reminded me of the wall of heat that struck us when we stepped out of Changi airport in Singapore. It was not quite as bad but not far off.

We’d decided on a salad for dinner. It was a relief not to have to start cooking, adding to the heat in the house. We sat out in the garden. The Fox still didn’t manage much – I had most of it. One mouthful & his appetite disappeared. He had difficulty swallowing. He found everything so dry & tasteless. He didn’t even enjoy the wine we had with the meal much.

After dinner I looked at the thermometer on the shed wall. 33º C! No wonder we were finding it so hot. The Fox was just melting. It wasn’t help by feeling so tired & drained.

Today is another hot day. I’ve just done the ironing. That’s enough extra heat for me. We’ll buy some more salad ingredients when we’re out. I can’t see me wanting to cook today. If anything I suspect it’s going to be hotter than yesterday by this evening.

On the whole I can cope with the heat. Indeed I feel more energised than usual, as though I’ve come out of a long hibernation. My problem is the humidity, the lack of freshness in the air. And the humidity is now building up too.

Stressed out

The Fox has once more lost his appetite. Yesterday he settled down to his Tuna Fish Pilaff, took one mouthful & felt he’d had enough. He did manage another mouthful or two but that was it. He hadn’t done much better on Saturday with his Chicken à la King. He thought it was the rice dish. It all just tastes the same he reckoned.

Well, today we’re not having rice. Instead I’m making a few chips with bacon & egg, mushrooms & fried tomatoes. There’s plenty of different flavours & textures there. I was intending to do some sausages & black pudding but he doesn’t want to be overfaced. I suspect he’s not going to eat much more than he has all weekend. As it is I suspect I’m going to end up eating most of the chips. I don’t want extra meat as well.

The reason for this? Stress I suspect.  The cause of this stress? For once I don’t think it’s our health. No, it’s our Norwegian cruise.

When we booked the holiday, we were keen to go. The idea of going to Norway greatly appealed. I have fond memories of around Oslo when I visited in 1974. The countryside was fabulous. The people friendly.

We also thought it would be good to see if cruising in warmer climates would appeal to us. Airports get us down. The Fox finds them very stressful. Maybe a cruise would be a nice alternative.

Since then our cruise loving friends have decided to join us. Increasingly the cruise is becoming a nightmare. It started when they clearly expected us to take them in our car to port at Newcastle. We pointed out it was impossible. Our boot is pretty well filled with my wheelchair. Then there will be at least one suitcase, possibly two as we have to take a suit for the Fox, plus hand luggage. There just isn’t room for two more people & their luggage.

Since then they’ve fretted over the route. I wouldn’t have even have thought about the route until we had received the tickets a couple of weeks before the cruise. I suspect there may be extra information included as to how to find the car park for the ship. And anyhow I was just going to put the postcode in the Satnav, check on the map it seemed a reasonable route, & go that way, whichever way it was. No stress, no hassle. Instead of which we’ve had weeks of pressure about the route, when we should leave, how are they going to get there etc. etc. Then this week we hear they’d changed their dining time to the first service when we are dining. What next? Will we hear they’ve managed to join us at the same table? Are they then going to cling on to us every time we venture out of our cabin or off the ship? I hope not.

When we go on holiday, we like to get away from it all. As one of my CPNs, Community Psychiatric Nurses, instructed me – no radio, no TV news, no papers, just get away from all the worries of home. Our friends are part of what we get away from. They are a reminder to us of all our other problems & stresses. Holidays are a time just for us two to unwind & be together, doing what we want, indulge ourselves a bit, even having a good quiet read undisturbed. It’s not pandering to other people’s needs & wants, trying to fit in with them. We do that enough at home.

We both can see one great blow up coming. And all because they insisted on coming too.

We’re even beginning to consider backing out of the cruise all together. We just don’t see why we should lose so much money on nothing just because of other people. Mind you, at the rate we’re going I half expect to find the Fox is going to be too ill to travel, maybe even have another stroke, by the time the cruise is due.

Thank goodness we’ve got our Italy trip booked for September. That means going by air & our cruise-loving friends have decided they can no longer cope with air travel. Three cheers. Let’s hope none of our other friends decide to join us on that one too.