What a Birthday Suprise

SATURDAY

Not everyone understands. Abbi, Cal and the kids are visiting at 8:30 for an hour for Tricia’s birthday. We’ll be up because it’s a walking day. Being with Louie and Mila can be quite tiring. The walk scheduled for today is 5.4 miles. Quite tiring. When the walk is done Tricia and I are having lunch at the Borough Arms at Dunmere. All quite tiring. By the time I get home I’ll be flippin’ exhausted.

I wouldn’t want it any other way.

So I’m grabbing a little bit of early morning peace before I wake up Tricia with her breakfast, birthday cards and presents that have arrived so far.

Let’s see how today unfolds.

Well, what a day! Abbi, Cal and the kids duly arrived at 8:30 singing “Happy Birthday to Ya!" They were on the way to Bude. The normal hugs and fun from the kids. The door bell rung. Tricia answered the door to Lauren who's not due back from Australia until the 22nd. A fabulous surprise. What a birthday present for Tricia.

We left for our walk at 9:15 the three of us were the first to get there. In fact we were the first 3 of 28. Our best turnout yet. A lovely rain free walk. We could have gone along the Camel Trail, out and back but this walk was much better. At the midway point we gathered for a rendition of Happy Birthday. Another recommended walk from www.iwalkcornwall.co.uk (not the Happy Birthday bit). Actually we sang Happy Birthday twice once for Tricia and once for Arthur who joined us on his birthday. https://www.relive.cc/view/vQvxZYgj5B6

Then into the pub. 11 of us stayed for lunch at The Borough Arms where Tricia had a bottle of fizzy on the table as we arrived. What a lovely touch. Thank you G & L. We had two tables booked but we were seated at different ends of the pub, correctly so, to prevent us from becoming a big group. Tricia, Emma and I had a roast lunch....delicious. The others Juliet, Chris and Ant had fish and chips. Equally as good. Just as we were finishing our meal my GP joined us, not really, he phoned me, apparently my blood test indicates an infection. Following a series of questions it seems I’ll need more tests on Monday.

More fun with the medics.

We have this system. As we arrive home I zap the garage door which gracefully opens. This allows us to take off our muddy boots in the secondary kitchen/utility room/gym/boot room. (Delete as appropriate). That's exactly what we did today except I went from our very own ‘salle polyvalente’ to our chambre à coucher where I almost immediately fell asleep.

While I slept Tricia had more cards, more flowers and more visitors. I hope she had an excellent day. Not quite the day I would have hoped for but we managed to smile a lot. That's a good thing.

There's a distinct sadness about helping to celebrate Tricia's birthday knowing, almost without doubt, I’ll not be doing it again. At Christmas I may feel the same, a period of simultaneous happiness and sadness. Today’s walk I managed reasonably easily but in two weeks (Boxing day) when the next walk is planned I have no idea if I'll be well enough or strong enough. Now that's scary. As you all know I try to keep my chin up but constantly trying to be cheerful is pretty tiring in itself.

SUNDAY

TODAY I’m planning a quiet day. I know I’ll probably fail but I think I’ll try. I have a whole bunch of tools to take up yo the shed and Christmas cake recipe I thought I’d give a go. I think I might use the new kitchen, if I’m allowed.

I’m not going to mention my exciting adventures on Monday but I’ll manage Coffee Club on Tuesday. See you there.

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