Monday and I am due to go to York, so I get up and have breakfast and morning meds and then pack. I shower and then moves cars around so that I can take mine to the garage and fill it and check the tyres. This all went well until the tyre check. The tyre pump deflated not inflated my tyres so I had to resort to my temporary pump that plugs into my lighter socket. Not a good start. To add to this my partners mother was found to be unresponsive this morning and her brother had to dash across to her house to support the carer. Fortunately she recovered and did not need to go to hospital. I took my partners car to the garage and filled it. So with the chores done I drove off to York. At the first opportunity I pull into a service station and check my tyres. Feeling confident in my tyres and happy I continued my journey.
I get to my destination at 2:30 through some tricky road works and then settle down with my friend and mentor. For over three hours we talk about how I am and and how the world is, teasing out issues and taking time to think about some of the things that are facing me. I am fed chocolate biscuits and coffee but most importantly listened to and asked the difficult questions. It eases the no mans land I find myself in and I come away calmer and cleared about some of the things I can do. There is a lot going on at the moment and finding space to do what needs to be done is the trick.
Check in at the hotel is swift and I am soon in my room drafting the blog before I go out with a friend for a meal. Still no sign of the missing blood results but the issue with the house in London has been delayed. The funeral directors want to know whether I want my sister ashes in wood or plastic (no brainer) and have quoted me the prices and delivery charges. Apparently there are rules about sending dead peoples ashes to other people which appears is an expensive business. All in good time is my first thought.
Early evening I go and pick up a friend and go for a meal in town. It is really relaxing to be able to eat at leisure and to talk about TCs and work experiences. I note that tomorrow is the tenth anniversary of my retirement, My friend pointed out that when I retired I said that I was going to do absolutely nothing and that in fact I then spent the next nine plus years being busy with my own practice, the CQC, and the enabling environment project at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, plus of course a spell with the Barchester Group in Hull and a couple of lecturing gigs at Hull University. There were some Therapeutic Community reviews in there as well. So as my friend pointed out I failed miserably at doing nothing. My friend is suffering from long COVID so by the time we have eaten and chatted she is tired and needs to rest, so I take her home and then go back to the hotel to finish the blog and talk to my partner before taking my night meds and going to bed. As always my visit to York is proving to be vey useful and I feel that I have a lot to think about and process. All of it is so useful in helping me prepare for whatever is to come as a result of Thursdays oncology appointment.
