Bartimaeus

We woke to a bright start. The phone rang for Shane but he was surprised that it was a dermatology nurse from Burton upon Trent. She was confirming that all their info had been shared with NHS Lothian and giving her contac details if she could be any help. It is very touching that even after a patient has left their professional care, they are still caring. 

I was having a frustrating time with my knitting and Shane was rearranging packing. We were both receiving messages from friends and we have another offer of a flat we may be able to stay in  which may be handily placed for a different hospital. We will be visiting different areas of Edinburgh, like tourists. we are touched again that we have not even had to ask for favours, but still the offers of help arrive unbidden.

I wrote a birthday card and decided to go to post it, while it was still sunny and we could do with bread for lunch. The post box was on the way. Shane felt like a breath of fresh air so joined me on the short jaunt. it was certainly fresh! We had just been discussing that it was colder in Edinburgh (reports of snow this morning) and I was thinking that with all the friend contact I was looking forward to seeing Edinburgh again, meeting friends and going to Arthur’s Seat and the Meadows and having a change of scene Burton on Trent doesn’t have the medieval feel of the High Street or a castle in the middle but, still, it does have a more impressive looking Mosque. We can see the minaret on the walk to the shop.

Burton upon Trent does have the familiar brewery smell that was reminiescent of Edinburgh, in my earlier years there, before the breweries there closed. it is still a major industry here.

We had only just got back to the boat when a small flurry of light snow fell outside. As the afternoon wore on there were a few more of those (not in the forecast) so the temperature can’t be that different from Edinburgh’s after all.

We are becoming used to the local neighbours. The boats change now and again but there are resident water birds that do not stray far from this stretch. There is a bridge nearby where people tend to feed the birds making it a des res for water fowl. A couple of swans parade up and down and regularly scoosh on to the water. Also a pair of geese that we can hear honking in the morning, or rather one honks a lot and that noisy one also seems to twitch its neck in an unusual way and fidget a lot, while the other is quiet and still. We thought it was displaying at first but there is no reaction from the other bird.

Two moorhens had a significant spat today. Usually timid, they were flying at each other with their feet as weapons. One retreated, then started another fight with a new moorhen. 

While the birds squabble, things are resolving for us. I have sorted my difficulty with knitting; we have confirmed some uncertainties; still another offer of help from the house sitters has arrived which will help us with decisions and reduce our packing. 

In other news Bryn contacted to say he has passed archery training (I didn’t know he was even doing archery training) and his employers were moving him to a new centre in Kent, so we are not the only ones who will be settling into new abodes in March. Nothing stays still for long!