Bartimaeus

Shane has been very keen to be active and has done a fair bit of cycling, half his usual distance but pretty good going. Many people would view 20 miles as a long ride. On Monday he did 27 and on Tuesday 20. He’s done his physio and felt fit. However the wound at the top seemed to be oozy and his ear swollen so he went to the GP and got antibiotics. Otherwise he felt fine. His new dressing fell off pretty quickly, but we had been given some dressings so I had some neatening and covering up to do, and it was a much neater job, if I do say so myself.

We met our friend, Pete, on Wednesday for lunch where there was no soup: surprise result in any cafe. Shane had to skip the salads ( red cabbage, ribboned carrot) but had selected the plate with the most soft stuff on it. He is still finding chewing tiring. But he feels well and we went for a walk in the afternoon and did some more socialising. Our return was along the canal and we saw this new family being ushered along. We were enjoying the canal ambience.

Well that was surely putting Shane even more in the boat return mood, and we had a train booked for Friday when he would have done with the official dressing clinic and wondered if the stitches might come out. I thought, with the infection that this might not be a good idea. I could see it better than Shane. 

He cycled to the station and off to St Johns  on Thursday morning, a bit concernedt about a tight swelling near his neck that was causing discomfort. The nurse didn’t like it either and  messaged to say that they were going to scan it. The ultrasound guy was able to see better and drained it and wasn’t too concerned but then there were lab results to wait for…..then in overnight on intravenous antibiotics, then another night, ditto, and now he’s in over the weekend as the swelling is back and they need the ultrasound guy to see him again. This information only dribbled out over a few days so  visited with one nights supply and found this was enough. If only that fluid could dribble out as gradually as the information on the wards!

He had had the foresight to bring a book and charger, but as he had only expected to be there a few hours, and now needed the usual array of inpatient items. If there is anything living on the canal has taught us, it’s that there is no single plan. There are always changes and rearrangements with weather, broken locks trees across the route, so cancelling the train and making the best of it was second nature.

I arranged to meet a friend in Edinburgh on Friday morning who had wanted to meet then and been disappointed we had a booked train back to Derby. Then I went to meet another friend, from Glasgow, in West Lothian that I thought I would not see at all during our Scottish haiatus. We had a grand time having a lunch Shane would not have been able to eat and comparing knitting. She is going to France on a knitting holiday. Linlithgow is a historic place we have met before.Besides the palace, there is this impressive well,  just beside the cafe.

Then off to visit Shane and bring him his supplies – he had finished the first book already for instance. I got a lift from Rhona by some stunning green fields. I was glad as the best way to get between the two would have meant going back into Edinburgh and out again. Linlithgow is lovely and well worth a visit.

Shane had not expected to have his bike parked overnight in the hospital grounds. I am not used to handling it though, so so in stead of hanging around the ward we walked to the train station with Shane wheeling the bike. Our friend Kenny had agreed to help me out at the other end. People were sitting in the bike area of the train so I stood holding on to the bike. Another cyclist was there but his bike folded. On the way to the station today for another trip out to Livingstone I saw he wasn’t the only one caring about bikes, and their loss.

Today was a frustrating one for Shane medically waiting for something to happen and timings not working smoothly, and not getting out and about much. My timing was off going home when I missed the train while running down the long zigzag ramps. Tomorrow they are an hour apart instead of half an hour so I had better watch my time. And my feet, as I managed to get dog muck on my shoe too. Not a happy wait.

Still I have crammed other things into the extra Edinburgh time and will continue to do so. If we had gone away I would not have seen these  clematis flowers in the garden.

As an extra bonus when I opened my oatcakes bought in the Linlithgow cafe, I found they had been packed in boaty boxes, and very tasty they were too.That is another thing I would have missed by leaving on Friday.