Saturday 20 September 2014

Reasons to be Cheerful

Well I'm still feeling pretty rough but I have two things that have made me smile this weekend.

My boys.
I am the proudest mum in the world.
First, of course, is that I'm going to get to see Laurence tomorrow. We see each other quite regularly and talk every week on the phone but I always get excited when I know he's coming over. I'm going to try and rouse myself into making a cake especially for his visit.

The second thing was Andrew getting official notice from the University of passing his course. He has now sent off his registration and will be a fully fledged paramedic in approx two weeks time. It was a huge sigh of relief all around. He'd been told he'd passed but there is nothing quite as certain as that piece of paper with the university crest and the word 'pass'. Next step is passing the C1 test and he's done. It's been a tough, and sometimes fraught, few years but he made it in the end.

Other than that Friday was just as pants as Thursday had been.

It started fairly well. I woke late, had a leisurely breakfast and a soak in a bath bomb. The fuzzy head of the past few days had gone but the sore chest remained and was now accompanied by a cough. Damn it, I know where this is going, I'm either developing a cold or a chest infection. My cough is still unproductive so I'm keeping the antibiotics at bay at the moment as I like to be sure they are needed before taking the plunge.

The afternoon was where it all started to go pear shaped. Andrew had asked us to go down to his new share house with him to do the usual checks and carry some of the stuff he couldn't fit in his own car. We set out after an early lunch and the plan was arrive at the house, unload, admire the room and return home with a quick detour into Tesco's on the way. What could possibly go wrong? Well the run down was fine, it was early afternoon so no build up of traffic or speed restrictions. It was only when we actually got to Hatfield that Andrew announced he'd left his keys back at our place. He was time restricted as he had to pick up his results from the Uni and post his registration off so we volunteered to go back for him. The return trip again was fairly quick and quiet.

Heading back to Hatfield, keys and a few other things safely stowed, we got an inkling that this was going to take longer than expected as the traffic was building in both directions. Arriving at Hatfield we got shown around a very nice roomy house and then presented with the pass paper. Hugs all around and a quick look at the garden and pond and we were back on the road. The journey to Dunstable was very slow and stop start in some areas but we made it and only discovered the source of the trouble coming off the slip road. There was a huge accident on the roundabout under the flyover. Traffic was building and we at once made the decision not to go back home via the motorway.

Tesco was quite quiet, probably because of the accident, and we zoomed around in record time. It was then we hit trouble. During the short time we had been in Tesco the road from Dunstable to the motorway was completely clogged, probably into the center of Dunstable itself. Our original plan to go through the town center and onto the A5 was quickly revised to trying to get into Houghton Regis and return home via Toddington. That plan also proved difficult but it was the only choice left so we went for it. We dived off the main routes and by driving down a series of residential roads we managed to find ourselves near the Houghton Regis roundabout. From there we had to endure the stop/go progress just like everyone else but it was still much quicker than trying to get onto the motorway would have been. It was gone five when we arrive home so we unpacked the shopping and sank onto the settee with mugs of tea and thick slices of the fresh bread we'd bought as a treat.

My boys now with their Australian Cousins James and Luke.
Laurence on the Left, Andrew on the right.

Of course all this running around had taken it's toll and I was asleep on the settee by nine so had an early night. This morning I woke with a sore throat and even sorer chest. I still have a cough but it remains, so far, unproductive. I'm very tired though so I'm taking it very, very easy today. We nipped out to pick up some stuff I'd forgotten yesterday and now I'm going to spend the rest of the day drinking lots and eating plenty of fruit. I am hating the fact that a small virus, that would be a minor irritation to anyone else, as completely wiped me out.


So time to get those vitamin C levels up. More tomorrow.

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