I had hoped that my daughter-in-law and grandson would arrive on 9th, but then it turned out she had to be at the hospital for another check-up on the morning of 10th. The steroids she has been prescribed have given her cataracts, and she needs to have them removed. She had the first cataract operation at the end of June, and has been attending hospital once or twice a week for check-ups since then. She booked a train down to London for early afternoon on 10th but missed it because they kept her at the hospital from 9 until after 2. So she only caught the 4.30. It was at this point that I realised that the dinner party I had organised for that night was just not possible, and had to ring the friends I had invited and cancel everything.
Paul had chosen to make my day complete by arranging for our handyman and his helper to visit in the morning. New hall carpet and underlay had been purchased, and when it was laid the previous week, we discovered that a number of doors were now shaving off the top of the carpet pile. So Tuesday was the day Paul appointed for 6 doors to be taken off their hinges and shortened a fraction. Previous tenants had also replaced some of my carefully chosen light fittings, so Paul decided the work of restoring them could be done as well. This took, contrary to his predictions, most of the day.
At around 4.45, Paul decided they might as well also check that the underfloor area was also still dry; a couple of years ago we had been obliged to have all the floor joists replaced when they rotted after an inefficient repair following a flood. So around 5pm, just when I was thinking we needed to get ready to leave so as to meet our visitors at Euston just after 6.30, the carpets were all up in the hall and bedroom and men were crawling around in the underfloor area. The result of this was that I needed to go up to Euston on my own, and left in rather a rush, unfortunately leaving my phone behind.
At least I managed to catch the 5.23 (by the skin of my teeth), and was not too worried when I realised I had no phone, because I was not then aware that public phone boxes no longer exist! I managed to reach Euston in just over an hour, so was in time to meet my daughter-in-law. Unfortunately, we missed each other in the crowds; I didn't see her, and the hospital had filled her eyes with drugs, so she couldn't see anything at all. As it was hot and airless, she went outside the station and looked for me there, while I was inside looking for her.
There are no public phones in Euston station! A very kind lady lent me her phone and I phoned my phone (the only number I could remember) and got Paul to answer and call our daughter-in-law to tell her to go to the Information kiosk - she hadn't told Paul she was waiting outside the station! I didn't realise how hard it would be for her to find the Information kiosk, as she couldn't see at all, so she couldn't find it! To cut a long story short, I finally found her at about 7.30, by which time my poor grandson was starving to death! So we had to buy food and feed him first, before setting off for Victoria station. As luck would have it, we missed a train to Oxted by less than 5 minutes, and had to wait half an hour until the next, so we were not back at home until after 9.30.
Next day, we left Oxted and set off for Norfolk where we were spending a few days near our friends from Belfast. It was a long journey for our grandson, who had had to be entertained by his mother in the back of the car for hours. We were all hoarse from singing silly songs by the time we arrived!
Our grandson liked the barn where we were staying as there was plenty of room to run up and down, and there were some interesting toys as well. There were some goats in a field just outside and he found them really interesting. I am not sure just how hygienic it is to be kissed by a goat!
On Thursday he discovered he liked the barn where our friends were staying even better than ours, it was much bigger and there were some outdoor toys. Moreover, there were lots more people to play with him, and he exhausted 5 or 6 other adults making them run around the lawn as well as helping him up and down the slide. Everybody slept rather well on Thursday night!
On Friday it poured with rain all day. We went to visit Blickling Hall
On Saturday it also poured all day. It was a real shame there was so much rain on our short holiday, so we didn't manage much in the way of walks and sightseeing, but we enjoyed seeing our friends again. We returned to Oxted on Sunday night, Paul with such a sore throat he had stopped speaking. On Monday, which was a day of horrible pouring rain, we dropped our daught-in-law and grandson at an indoor play place, which helped to keep our grandson away from Paul whom he adores and will hardly let go. We didn't want the poor child to get Paul's cold and sore throat. He was able to run about to his heart's content, make as much noise as he liked, and there were lots of new things to play with - as well as other children. On Tuesday, we drove them both to stay with her cousin, and Paul retired to bed to nurse the cold and sore throat.
He didn't get up again until Friday, by which time the weather was a bit better. We were even able to have breakfast on our own terrace.
On Saturday we drove up to Manchester so he could make a start could be made on cleaning and painting our son's apartment so that it can be let (he can't sell it, it's in negative equity).
I don't know how long we'll be up in Manchester - not long I hope as London seems very exciting just now and I can hardly bear to be stuck up here in dull old Manchester. Also I have started work for a couple of months and although it is mostly preparing documents and communicating by email, it would be convenient to be able to go and see people. I hope be be back by the end of July or the beginning of August, so I should be back in London while the Olympics are on.
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