Saturday and I wake with the rolling sea in my ears for the last time this holiday. I’m awake early and shower, then its packing and loading the car. I find one of my tyres is low so use my portable compressor to top it up before breakfast and the rest of the packing. By 9:15 the car is loaded and the route plotted. My partner and I strap in and we set off for home having decided to go the A47 way home. This a road that almost runs past our front door at home so in essence it should be easy to navigate home. It turns out the the navigation is easy but the route is pitifully slow due to caravans, tractors and lorries. There is very little dual carriage way and lots of 50 miles per hour speed limits where there used to be none. It took over four hours to reach home with one very short pit stop for pee. With my condition the journey was a challenge. The pit stop we did make was inevitably a MacDonald’s, which was crammed and doing a roaring trade at its industrialised outlet. I suspect many of the people just wanted to use the toilets but they were at least clean and accessible as opposed to the soul less Starbucks we stopped at on the way to our cottage. It was the one where you only got the toilet code if you bought something, with stark minimalist furniture, bare walls and surly staff. As I walked out of that Starbucks I commented to my partner; “They might just as well spray paint, “give us your money and fuck off” all over the outside of the building”.

I had hoped to be back at home in time to go to this months poetry stanza meeting, it was too late to drive back into town for the face to face meeting in town. Instead I unpacked, through my washing in the washer and watched some athletics. I had a roaring headache, which is unusual for me so I downed soem paracetamol and opened my post. In amongst the instant recycling were two nhs global health insurance cards, which I ordered with one eye on a sortie abroad. One other potentially usefully bit of plastic was my free “get me into a toilet” card from Macmillan cancer support. There is no guarantee that waving it at anyone will release a burst of compassion and access to a toilet but it might be useful in times to come. So I have tucked into my useful card case for future comfort.

Also in my post was a postcard from a friend who had also holidayed in Norfolk extolling the abilities of her family to win things at the arcades along with the sea, sand, ice cream and chips. I continued to rest until tea time when I dined with family and then watched the latest in the Jason Bourne film saga. I cut short watching football highlights in order to get to bed and left my washing hanging on the line, it was night meds and bred for me still nursing a headache.

Sunday and I wake up feeling better after a good nights sleep. I check my messages, book a Tesco slot, pay the window cleaner and finally get up for breakfast. There is a quick trip to make to the local garden centre to pick up todays food. On the way back I check my tyres and fill my tank for future adventures. Back home I start to draft the blog and participate in the family single sock sorting. On checking my messages I find that a friend and her family are holding a funeral and wake for the family cat, Onion, who came to the end of her time a few days ago I was aware that the cat had been for its final visit to the vet due to her age and illnesses. At the time I had written a poem.

451
Farewell Onion,
you have gone
on the same day 
as Ozzy Osborne.
Both have run their course
and in their ways 
lived their lives to the full.
For one a domestic life
for the other a rock star,
but both meant so much 
to those around them. 
One quietly in the bosom 
of a family
the other in the glare. 
One sat gently purring 
the other roaring. 
Both were fun
both independent
but Onion never
bit the head off a bat;
a mouse perhaps 
after all that's what
cats do. 
451 23-07-2025

I watch part of a rugby league game but get bored so brig my washing and get it put away before I get into my training gear. Its 9 days since I trained before going on holiday so today it is an half hour session. It is a hot session and I am back on level four. I feel tired and “creek” as I start out on the session and I end up very sweaty and tired but really pleased that I have manged to hit my 6 kilometre standard. That will do me to get mem back into the training routine.

I record the session and then get out of my training gear and return to the blog. There is an evening meal and then, watering the garden and sweeping the patio. I settle down to watch TV before taking my meds. It is an injection Monday tomorrow so I shall need to be up an at the chemists to collect my drugs before going to the GP surgery. It’s also B12 jab day as well so I am expecting a rough couple of days from the afternoon onwards as my body reacts to the injection. I am hoping for slightly cooler weather so I can try and train some of the effects away. At the back of my mind is the last set of blood results, which bothered me and I am anxious to get to my next oncology review in mid September. Until then I am likely to be preoccupied.