A bit of a celebrate

In the end we went out for a meal, here in Morecambe, to celebrate our wedding anniversary. We decided to try somewhere we hadn’t been before – the Clarendon Hotel.

We’ve often passed this hotel & wondered about it. It’s on the way into Morecambe from here. However, it is also on the edge of the West End, the rough part of town. It has a large car park but it doesn’t look safe, knowing our car is only a couple of years old & vandals abound in the West End. We decided to park on the prom, where we could keep an eye on it as we ate in the “Waterfront Restaurant”.

Inside the restaurant, with its high ceilings & wooden floors, was full of echoes. It clearly was a hotel that had been quite posh in its Victorian heyday, but now looks in need of a little TLC. The staff were friendly & helpful.

We both had the same starters – black pudding bonbons with crispy bacon, apple sauce & a poached egg. The egg was poached beautifully – good runny yolk & no trace of vinegar. The bonbons were tasty once you got inside. However, the breadcrumb exterior was so hard we both nervously broke into them as otherwise they would have rolled off the plate in the endeavour to put a fork in. The apple sauce was fine. It went well with the black pudding but not with the egg. The bacon was totally crisp, more so than we like but I get the impression that was intentional.

For mains we went our different ways. I had pan fried trout fillets & prawns with a hollandaise sauce & samphire. The samphire had a pleasing saltiness to compliment the fish. The spring onion that was mixed in gave it extra interest. In theory I had colcannon with it but to me it was mashed potato with the odd slice of red onion mixed in. To me colcannon has cabbage mixed in but there was no sign of any cabbage there, nor was there any sign of the celeriac puree mentioned on the menu. The Fox meanwhile had a beef & ale pie. He reported it was okay but not up to my standards of pie making.

The restaurant was pretty full. It has a good reputation but we ended up feeling it was pretty much pub food level of cooking, not the something special we were hoping for. I doubt we will be going there again. The restaurant was certainly well booked & many customers were regulars from the repartee between staff & diners.

On the way home, the Fox commented some of our friends think we are too critical. However, I don’t see any point in not stating my true opinion. As far as food is concerned I do not see the point in paying a lot extra when I could get as good, if not better, at home. Maybe it is a reflection of our own high standards at home, though I will admit sometimes we go so disastrously wrong we end up throwing it out. I find myself wondering what quality of food others must eat at home to find some of this restaurant food so good. There are times when we are too tired or achy to cope with cooking & are relieved just to eat out. For that we are happy enough with our local pub. For something better we’re off to Ricky’s, our favourite Cantonese, in Bolton-le-Sands, or Aspects at the Lothersale Hotel in Morecambe. Otherwise it’s a case of going further afield, into Lancaster & beyond.

It is my personal dread that we will become so decrepit we have depend on carers coming who can only warm up microwave meals, or go into a home, for the rest of my life. I sincerely hope we never get to that stage. Or that my taste buds pack up first.

The watcher

The gardener came yesterday. She’s dead-heading all the lavender. She started last week. This time she’s onto the horseshoe raised bed.

As she snips someone comes to watch & patiently sits on the stone wall of the raised bed. It is an adult frog.

Carol, our gardener, snips on. I slip off for the camera. The frog continues to watch patiently. I get a photo of him.

As Carol moves nearer, to the lavender immediately in front of him, he leaps off & disappears into the already cut lavender. The odd stalk wobbles as he passes along the bed.

It was lovely to see him so clearly.

Here we go again

Here we go again. We were just beginning to settle down to something like normality. It is our wedding anniversary tomorrow, our 44^th. We were planning having a day out if it was nice. Now our plans have changed.

For the last fortnight I have had a certain amount of discomfort in my left upper arm/neck, particularly when I was lying on it in bed. I’d assumed I’d pulled a muscle stupidly somehow. However, Sunday night it was definite pain, sufficient to wake me up & keep me awake. In the morning I thought I’d better have an investigate.

In the hollow just below the round of the shoulder socket, there is a huge lump, about the size of a tennis ball, quite different from my right side. Later that day I asked the Fox to have a look & he agreed. We decided it was time to go to see a doc.

So on Tuesday, now the Bank Holiday was over, I rang the surgery. After a half hour of holding onto the phone, I finally got through. They gave me an appointment that morning. (I think it was the mention that that was the side I’d only just finished treatment for breast cancer that did it.)

So by 9.15am, we were at the surgery seeing a recently qualified doctor. She listened carefully, took note of the cancer treatment I’d had, examined the lump. She was mystified. She decided her best bet was to get a second opinion. A second doctor arrived. She was equally mystified.

There is no organ in that part of the body, just some bones. It wouldn’t seem to have anything to do with the breast. Even the lymph glands would be more in the armpits. There is no sign of any lumps on my actual breast. Between them, both doctors concluded I’d best have a full range of tests – an X-ray, ultrasound & another visit to the Breast Clinic – to see if they could find out the cause.

I was sent straight off to the X-ray department at the Queen Victoria hospital here in Morecambe for an X-ray, no appointment needed. So that is where we went next. We’d barely got back & had something to eat when the phone went – the Breast Clinic at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary with an appointment date for next Monday.

I’m still waiting to hear about the ultrasound. The doctors seem to think that is probably going to be the most helpful test as ultrasound essentially scans soft tissue as is the lump, even though the lump is quite hard, rather than softly giving.

Meanwhile the lump is getting ever sorer. Yesterday I couldn’t cope with my bra strap going across the lump & spent the day slipping it off my shoulder & taking painkillers day & night.

With all of this disruption, we’ve decided we would prefer a quiet day doing normal Friday activities, though we will go out somewhere special for dinner. That will be enough celebration while we have so many extra demands on our time & energy, especially when the car safety belt goes across that part of my shoulder, making even travelling uncomfortable. I’m contemplating either doing the driving so the belt goes across the other shoulder or going in the back seat.