Claire’s wedding – at last!

In the days leading up to Claire’s wedding, we had several health-related appointments.  We managed to fit in some walks, and some days we were able to combine both.  

On Monday 8^th, Sandie went to the dentist, and had her new crown finally fitted.  Later the same day she went to have earwax removed.  She was shocked to find that it is no longer done by a nurse at the GP’s surgery, but it seems that several places have started offering this service.  Another example of the creeping privatisation of the NHS?

On Wednesday we decided to do one of our regular walks, through the woods to Penn Pond, and back through the golf course.  It was a damp and dreary day, but the autumn colours still looked good, and we saw several fungi.  Usually on this route we get coffee from the village shop and drink it sitting by the pond.  In dreich weather we were not keen to sit outside, so we were pleased to discover that the village hall offers coffee and biscuits to passersby.      

 

On Thursday we had our booster covid and flu jabs; as before these were done at Adams Park, the football ground on the other side of High Wycombe.  En route back, we stopped in the town centre for coffee and shopping. 

On Friday Ian had to go to the Dressings Clinic at Stoke Mandeville – about 20 miles away, but fortunately there is a bus stop right outside the hospital.   Removing the dressing, blood and stitches took two nurses about an hour.   We had assumed that would be the end of the story, but no!  They said the skin graft was very fragile, and he would have to go back again the following week.  Meanwhile, he was given strict instructions to take it easy and not do anything that might cause more bleeding: nothing energetic, no haircut, and not much drinking!  Folk dancing was definitely off, which was a pity as that night was our last opportunity to go to our club in Marlow.  We did go, but Ian sat and watched. 

We had a quiet weekend – just as well, as Sandie was suffering from toothache.  She’d booked to have an extraction on the 24^th, but phoned the dentist on Monday morning and managed to get an emergency appointment for the afternoon. 

On Wednesday the weather was bright and sunny – amazing for November! – so we headed down to the Thames.  The trees on both sides of Spring Lane were shedding their leaves, and it was like walking through a golden snowstorm.  We stopped for coffee as usual in Flackwell Heath, and continued to Bourne End.  We walked along the river to Cookham, and stopped for a drink at the Ferry, before returning to Bourne End and getting the bus home.   

On Thursday Ian returned to the Dressings Clinic.  To our relief, the news this time was more positive.  Despite a very small amount of bleeding during the week, he was given the OK to get a much-needed haircut (which he did on the way home) and to fly in a fortnight.  The next day Ian had a telephone appointment with the consultant, who gave him the results of the biopsies of the two lesions removed from his head.  The larger one was merely sun damage, but the smaller one was a squamous cell carcinoma.  Since he has had them before, Ian will have occasional appointments to check for any future developments.

The wedding weekend

The day of Claire’s wedding (postponed from last year due to covid) finally arrived. It was Saturday 20 November, and we set off for Gloucestershire on Friday 19.  Before doing so we heard the bad news that Andrew had tested positive for coronavirus.  He was not seriously ill, but sadly he had to miss his sister’s wedding. 

All was chaos when we arrived in Bussage, with people in and out on various errands.  Later Claire went to stay overnight with her bridesmaids at the Egypt Mill.  We had dinner at a local pub with Ant, Charlie, Oscar, Phil (Maggi’s husband) and some friends.  Ant and the boys stayed overnight at a friend’s house, leaving just Phil and ourselves to spend the night at Claire’s.  Next morning the three of us drove to Eastington Park (the wedding venue), checked into our rooms and put our glad rags on.  Ian was driven to the Egypt Mill so that he could escort Claire to the wedding. 

Claire had always wanted an outdoor wedding, but in November we could not count on this being possible. Eastington Park provides indoor and outdoor options, and it was left to Ant to make the final call on Saturday morning. It was fine though cold, so he decided on ‘out’; it was a beautiful setting, and the ceremony was short.  Claire looked radiant, of course. Paul read a story called ‘The lovely dinosaur’ which is popular at weddings; he made it entertaining with his use of accents.

After the ceremony and photos, it was back into the house for mulled wine and other drinks.  Next came the meal, and the speeches.  Ian did the traditional ‘father of the bride’ speech, but was quickly upstaged by his ten-year-old grandson: Oscar did a great speech on behalf of the boys, and had everyone in tears, including the bride and groom.  Later there was the cake cutting, while the room was cleared for dancing.  In the evening more people arrived, and there was more food and drink.

Sunday was another day of eating and drinking, in different contexts.  Those who had stayed overnight had breakfast at Eastington Park, then the boys went off to rugby matches and adult family members returned to Claire’s for coffee, before going on to Tewkesbury.  Ant’s mother Gill has a cafe there, and she provided a splendid buffet lunch for the family.  From there, we went on to visit our friends Brenda and Phil; we wanted to see them before returning to Florida, and Evesham is not far from Tewkesbury, so it seemed a good opportunity.  After tea, cake and chat we drove back to Wycombe.  A hectic but most enjoyable weekend.

Jury service and an operation

The past couple of weeks have been dominated by two things: Sandie’s jury service and Ian’s operation.   For obvious reasons, there are not as many photos as usual!

Jury service

Sandie received a summons in August, telling her to report for jury duty on 25 October.  It was her second summons – her first stint of jury service was in February 2008, just before we retired and moved to New Zealand.  It was something she’d always wanted to do, so she was disappointed that – despite spending four days sitting around at Reading Crown Court – she was not selected to sit on a jury.  She was pleased therefore to have a second opportunity, and hoped this time she’d be lucky.

Since 2008, we have moved into Buckinghamshire, so this time Sandie was summoned to Aylesbury Crown Court.   Three days before starting, she was informed that she needed to report to the Amersham Law Courts, where some of the Aylesbury cases are heard.  On Monday there were introductions, but the case was adjourned until Tuesday.  She was pleased to then be one of the 12 (out of 16) selected for the jury.  The case was unusual, in that the accused (suffering from dementia) could not take part.  He had been accused of sexually assaulting a young girl when living next door to her, back in the 1970s. So there was no physical evidence, and no witnesses to what had happened.  The jury was not allowed to return a guilty verdict, just ‘not guilty’ or ‘the events happened as stated’.  They did not all agree, but finally the judge accepted a majority verdict. 

That happened late on Thursday, and there were no cases the next day. Sandie hoped to be on another case in the following week, but received a text saying she was not needed any more.  She was disappointed, but at least she had managed to actually serve on a jury this time!

Ian’s operation

For some time, Ian had had a kind of scab on his head, which bled occasionally.  While having one of his regular check-ups, he mentioned it to the nurse, who said he should get a doctor to look at it.  The doctor referred him to the dermatology department, who referred him to the plastics department.  They decided it was a skin cancer, which should be removed.  (This was based entirely on telephone calls and a photo – Ian had not had a face-to-face appointment with any of the doctors!)

The operation was scheduled for Friday 5 November, but before that, Ian had to go to the hospital twice.  On Friday 29 October, he had a pre-op assessment (mainly checking for MRSA), and on Tuesday 2 November he had a covid test.  When told this would be done at the drive-through test centre, he pointed out that we do not have a car, but he could easily walk to the hospital.  He was told firmly that this was not allowed: he had to arrive in a car.  Luckily a friend agreed to take him, but we really could not see the point.  

After the covid test, Ian had to isolate until the operation on Friday.  It was fortunate that Sandie’s jury service had finished, so she could isolate with him.  We found plenty of things to do at home, and spent some time planning next summer’s travels.  Inspired by the COP26 conference, and recognising that our personal weakness is air travel, we explored ways of getting around Europe by bus and train. 

Ian checked in at the hospital at 7.30am, and was admitted to the Day Surgery ward.  A second, smaller, lesion had appeared on his head just a day or so earlier. Later that morning he spent 1¾ hours in the theatre, with one surgeon hacking at his head while another removed skin from his neck to do a graft (all under local anaesthetic).  When Sandie collected him from the hospital, the orange-coloured dressing on his head looked like a crown, and the one on his neck made him look (he thought) like Frankenstein’s monster. Later that evening, the head wound started bleeding profusely, so next day he looked even worse; it took some time to clean him up, as well as wash all the blood-soaked pillows, towels and clothing.  It still looks awful, but does not hurt and has not stopped him doing anything.

Autumn walks

We’ve managed to fit a couple of walks between the excitements described above.  On Monday 1^st November, the weather was sunny and we wanted to visit the cemetery at Slough, so we decided to do what we have done a few times before: take the bus to Uxbridge, have coffee there and then walk to Slough via the Grand Union Canal, Little Britain Lake and the Slough Arm.  Unfortunately the sun did not last all day, but we survived a few showers. The biggest challenge was negotiating a tree with lots of branches which had fallen right across the towpath.  It was impossible to get round it (without going in the water) but with a bit of a struggle we managed to climb over.  In Langley we detoured away from the canal and down to the Red Lion where we had lunch ‘for old times’ sake’ (the Red Lion used to be our local when we lived in Langley).

This morning it was sunny again, and we walked to Loudwater.  This is one of our regular strolls, but the autumn colours made it particularly attractive. As it was Sunday morning, there were several rugby and netball games in progress on the recreation ground, and we even saw the famous Wycombe alligator.  On our way back we spotted two egrets (we seem to see them most in winter here – no idea why).  We also saw the giant fungus on a tree by the stream.  We’ve watched it get bigger and bigger every time we go past.  The ivy has grown around it, but you can still see the fungus poking out.