40 days of mixed weather - it's England

Last weekend, I told the OH that the blazingly hot weather was set for the rest of the summer. It’s St Swithin’s Day on 15^th July, I said, and that means the weather pattern’s established by then, and will stay roughly the same. (The actual superstition is that if it rains on St Swithin’s Day, it will rain for forty days.) By this time, we had used all the water in our rain water tubs, which collect water accumulated on the flat roofs of the house. We had been having to hose the 8 new privet bushes which we bought in the spring, and the rather magnificent new rhododendron, as well as other less expensive additions to the garden. And the Busy Lizzies, too, of course. The OM went out and bought an additional rainwater tub, and, wouldn’t you know it, since then, it’s been cloudy, dull, raining – and I’ve had to put my winter jumpers back on. It did rain on St Swithin’s.

And talking of rhododendrons, these are photos I took, just before I went into hospital. Same bed, but taken from all different angles.

This week, has been a milestone. It was six weeks since my op, and I revisited the surgeon. She did the necessary and said it was all fine. But of course, I still have to be careful – in the short term – the next six weeks or so, and some things in the long term, otherwise, I will be back under the knife, again. For the moment it’s a case of adopting strategies. When I was ready to leave, I gave her a copy of my autobiographical book, The Fruit of the Tree. Because it deals with the births of my children, the death of my baby daughter, Amanda, and two miscarriages, I thought it might be of interest to her, and I told her that. At some point in my book, I was really angry with the two doctors I saw, in particular, the surgeon who operated on me after the second miscarriage. He didn’t talk to me; he talked to the nurses and called me ‘she’. It was really good to have a woman surgeon, and one who explained everything to me, and treated me as a human being. When I gave her the book, she kissed me on the cheek and seemed really pleased.

I went to Sainsbury’s yesterday, and picked up some fruit. I bought less than half my usual shop, and will do the rest on line. I made sure the shopping was spread out into three not too weighty bags. Today, I’m doing proper cooking, and last night, we had the neighbours’ parents (who are visiting from Norfolk and whom we have known for many years) over for drinks and nibbles. Normality is returning.