Good morning Michael and all GN's on this very dark , still morning in North Yorkshire. Well as they say if you have lemons make lemonade! So for once waking early with back very painful was to my advantage. I am now up, had some breakfast and gathering all the bits and pieces needed, getting ready for the trek to the hospital in Middlesborough by train.
The walk to the station is going to be the worst, as have no time to let painkillers improve matters, but at least fingers crossed I shall be in plenty of time for the appointment. The wretched letter does not even give any directions from the station and although I have looked things up on google etc. all I really know is that I have to change trains, and hope that there will be a human being at the station to buy my ticket from who will be able to give me some help, and that I shall manage all the steps to the platform as of course at the moment the lift is not working, so it says!! At least all this concern about getting there is keeping the panic levels down a bit as to what they are going to say and do!!
Yesterday, I felt very stressed out, worrying about today and how I could get there. I got in touch with a couple of friends, but of course at such short notice they were all busy and unavailable to take me to the hospital. I did a little bit of housework and had a good washing up session and cleaned all the kitchen surfaces with vigour to get rid of some of the stress. Then in the afternoon I went to a lovely harvest festival service. There were two on in my town, but having been brought up with a rural background and being part of services that were genuinely thankful for the harvest safely gathered in, I decided to go to the little village, where I play whist each week. It said it was in the chapel of ease, which I have never been to and couldnt think where it might be, but arriving in the village I spotted a lady walking carrying something and guessed she was on her way there and asked the way. I got parked and walked there, but had to stop a couple of times as it was slightly uphill and a bit further along than I had thought. However I arrived to quite a full chapel and a kind welcome from the churchwarden. It was exactly the kind of service I wanted to go to, with lovely decorations of gorgeous flowers and lots of gourds and pumpkins which have of course done well this year. The donations did not make such a lovely thing to look at but were very practical, as they consisted of bags of all kinds of groceries, tins and boxes etc. They were all being donated to our local foodshare group, which is run from the community group where I go to the womens group on a thursday, so I knew they would be well received and be very good to increase what there was for those in real need. The service was very church of england, and had all the harvest readings and the lovely hymns, so that everyone joined in properly and we "ploughed the fields and scattered" etc with real feeling. One or two people from the whist drive were there so it was nice to feel a little part of it and not the stranger, so it was an enjoyable time with lots of memories of my childhood and my family, especially my great granny who used to make the sheaf of corn bread for the centre of the display, and my great uncle , who by tradition, always gave two sheaves of corn tobe at either end of the display and would be especially cut by hand rather than letting the combine harvester get it all. There was a nice chat and tea and home made cakes were passed around. I declined the tea but enjoyed a "butterfly" bun , remembering making those as a child. So I returned home with a little lighter heart, but despite racking my brain and trying to think of any other way I could get to the appointment, had to go to bed deciding that either I would be awake early enough to go myself - a la Little Red Hen - or I would have to ring and cancel the appointment. I did not want to do that as ,firstly I am already uptight about it and will not be able to settle until I find out what is happening, so waiting longer will only make things worse and secondly to cancel at this late stage will mean that they will not be able to use that appointment time for someone else,which is a waste. Anyway here I am up and not exactly raring to go, but nevertheless planning my trip. At the least I will have found out how to travel there by train, should the need ever arise again! I wont be able to cheer myself up, as previously like a child being offered a treat after an appointment there, I usually promise myself a trip to Saltburn to see the sea and blow away the cobwebs.
So I hope you all start your day well and have a pleasant day in store for you. I shall hopefully, return from the trip in one piece and be back in time to read all your posts and tell you the tale of the railway trip, but dont think it will be like Thomas the Tank engine!
