Visions of angels

I had some more chemo yesterday, a new one for me. So far I’ve not been nearly as bad as I was last time. The only side effect is that this morning my sense of balance seems to have gone a bit skewy. I’m grateful for the fact that in my home I’m always near walls or furniture to grab hold of before I fall. I’m not feeling as pain-filled this morning so maybe that’s a hopeful sign this will work.

 

On the way there we were dumbfounded by the sheer beauty of the autumn colours - the reds of Virginia creeper, the gold of birches. On the floor lay a carpet of gold from fallen leaves. Fabulous.

 

We discovered one of the delights of travelling up to Kendal for the treatment. Kendal, being in Cumbria rather than Lancashire, is in Tier 3 as far as the English Covid-19 regulations are concerned. This meant, after drying out at the hospital for the best part of 4 hours, we were able to stop in a bar just for a drink. There was no obligation to have a substantial meal.

 

We spent a pleasant hour, talking to a friendly couple of friends sitting at a nearby table who’d just gone on 13km walk. One of the ladies was from Brazil, though she’s been in this country a long time. She bemoaned the fact she wouldn’t be able to get to see her 90 year old mother for Christmas this year, not with all the Covid restrictions.  She just daren’t risk the multiple long flights & quarantine restrictions this year.

 

The other told us the tale of a pub somewhere that sold a 22inch pizza to eat there to a person on their own & was then told a pizza did not constitute a substantial meal. A 22 inch pizza! I couldn’t eat all that on my own!

 

Eventually we wended our way home. The skies opened up. The rain fell so fast & heavy we had to drive at 30mph on the motorway as otherwise, because of the sheer amount of spray on the road, you couldn’t see the lights of the car in front of you to safely brake in an emergency.

 

Then at one part the dark grey clouds opened up to reveal a lighter grey cloud. On that light cloud shone a rainbow. We almost felt we would see angels & cherubs appear any minute.

 

On we came home to what sounded like the sound of hail belting down on the bonnet. As we drew to a stop at some traffic lights you could see there almost an inch of water all over the surface of the road. The drains just weren’t coping with the amount of water descending.

 

 Finally we got home to find the house & walls skirted by white. Hail? Snow? We weren’t sure which. We were just glad to get home into the warmth & safety of home.

 

Nuisance & meatballs

Would you believe it? We’ve had two nuisance calls before it was even 8am. I was taught never to make a phone call before 9am to allow whoever you are calling to get properly awake. (Indeed with some of our friends who like a lie-in in their retirement I make that later.) The only calls you make before that are emergency calls. Fortunately I was already up & getting dressed when the first call rang at 7.15am. Do they think that by ringing so early you will be more likely panic when they tell you that £600 is being taken out of your bank account? Or is it simply, as most of these calls are international, they’re not aware of the time in this country? Whatever it is, it’s a nuisance.

 

Having got up & completed my dressing, I put some of the leftovers from yesterday’s dinner – pork meatballs in tomato sauce with pasta, of which the Fox only managed ¼ of one meatball – for the birds. Soon, as I peeled some spuds for today’s dinner, I could hear of whirling of wings. A quick look out revealed it was the gulls. I continued peeling. By the time I finished peeling & taken the peelings out to the compost heap, I could see the food remained undisturbed. Clearly pork meatballs, pasta & garlic bread wasn’t to their taste.

 

I went off to a different room to enjoy my breakfast. As I came into the kitchen I looked at the feeder. Devoid of leftovers. Someone obviously enjoyed them. I put some more out. I noticed on our roof a gull & a couple of starlings standing guard in case more went out. I’d barely had chance to get in the house before the starlings descended en masse upon the feeder. Birds were disappearing carrying bits of bread or pasta in their beaks. Clearly meatballs, pasta & garlic bread was to their taste.

 

Round in circles

Another wet day washes down the garden. Red leaves are rapidly been blown, or soaked, off the acer.

 

The clocks have changed. Everything is an hour later. Not everything. I woke up at 6.30 am – 7.30 being my more usual time. And yet even then it look lighter & brighter than it has in days. I looked across the room to the picture hanging on the wall. Of late I’ve been hard pushed to see the light frame but today I could even see the light on the water going down between the banks of the harbour. I tried to convince myself to sleep on – unsuccessfully.

 

The Fox is cooking today – Chilli Con Corned Beef. We’ve been struck during the pandemic by the rise once more of tinned foods. They’ve never gone out of fashion for us. We love our corned beef. I gather Spam is once more being advertised on the TV – I tend only to watch pre-recorded programmes so we skip through the ads so I’ve not actually seen them. It’s ages since we’ve had Spam but I remember the Fox’s dad loving my Spam Fritters.

 

The world continues to go round in its circles. Regardless, or because, of pandemics.