Sometimes life is quite simply good and this weekend was a good one!
What was strange was that we had to give up our lazy mornings to do everything that was planned for the weekend! No more still being in bed at 9 o'clock, it would be up at 7.30 am both days. Are we mad????
No, it would be a lie to say that we skipped out of bed at 7.30 am with a smile on our faces. In fact it was a mighty struggle but essential. But they was still the battle of who had to get up first. "Your turn" "No, your turn!" we debated. Whoever got up first would be faced with the task of keeping the cats at bay whilst they struggled downstairs to find them some food. Hungry cats are dangerous. 3 hungry cats working as a pack are very dangerous!
And you guessed right, it seemed to be my turn (again!)
But it wasn't long before we were skipping out to the car, well trying to find the car through our sleepy eyes, and on our way into town. And it looked as if the sun was trying to shine :-). To the bank first but magically we were in and out within about 5 minutes, not bad for a Saturday morning. Then a trip round the shops to try and find me a shirt for a wedding we are going to in a couple of weeks time. Now I have the formal suit but I wanted a non-formal shirt to go with it. Being as trendy as I can be at my age we took a look round the likes of Topman, Next and Burtons but nothing there caught my eye. I knew what I wanted, colour and pattern, purple and floral and the boss agreed.
Now I do like Ted Baker stuff so we decided to pop into House of Frazer to see what they had and magic, as we climbed to the first floor the Ted Baker area was directly in front of us and we both made a beeline straight for one particular shirt. And yes it was floral and purple. And I tried it on and it was fab and I bought it and I was now very happy!
And so we stopped off Starbucks for a celebratory coffee and egg sandwich. Ah, the simple things in life.
A few more bits of window shopping and we were ready to set off home. Now, as you can see, I have not had to mention the C word so far and that was because it was not important. I was in a good mood. And the chore of having to empty my stoma bag on regular intervals was now just a simple habit that wasn't important. You're right Mike (on a bike) it does get easier! :-)
The afternoon was spent by me having a good rest on the sofa, a half hour nap and catching up on recorded TV programmes whilst T went off with her friend Catherine to the Thame Food Festival - a girly afternoon where they can talk about us boys without fear or favour!
I had bee awake from my nap for about 5 minutes when T got back and was still in that "am I awake or am I still asleep?" kind of daze. I asked her how her afternoon had been and I think I remember what she replied. My excuse is that I was still half asleep! Perhaps I will find out when she writes her blog???
But we soon had to get ready to go out again as we were going to have a meal with our great friends Brett and Geraldine. And so it was back into the car and back into town to Zizi's with a table at the front next to the open display kitchen Food and theatre together!
And a fantastic evening was had, Great fun, chatting, putting the world to rights, just good old normality. I loved it.
Even a leaking stoma bag towards the very end of the evening didn't dampen the pleasure even if it had dampened my shirt! I was now getting to be an expert on temporary stoma bag leak repairs. Just part of my life now and it didn't really matter, a couple of minutes work in the disabled toilet and I was back at the table and ready for pudding!! Yum, yum!
And so, a drive home, a quick change of stoma bag (I can now do it within about 5 or 6 minutes if needed) and straight to bed ready for our early Sunday morning start.
And again we skipped out of bed (believe that and you will believe anything!) and yet again it seemed to be my turn to get up first and feed the cats but this time I had to walk up to the shops to buy them some food as we seemed to have forgotten to get them some when we were at the shops on Saturday!
The morning chores sorted, we were off into the country for a walk with our friends Laura and James with their dogs and their little one, William. And the sun shone on us all morning. And the cows came over to where we parked our cars and gave them a good licking. Not sure why but they did! A great fun morning out in the country, great photos taken, great tea from a flask and sunshine all the way!
And "peeing behind a bush" is even easier with a stoma bag! Result!
We were then on our way to pop home quickly for a change of clothes (T had somehow managed to get cow pooh on her trousers) before we drove into to Reading for lunch with son Phil and Becca. And this time it was Wagamama's who got our business. (See, Debs, I'm getting good at this product placement thing!)
And the afternoon was just great! And we even ended it up getting ourselves one of those crazy milkshakes made from sweeties. I had Nuttela and Minstrels in mine - yummy, yummy!
We were back home by about 6 and I was ready for a rest. So we snuggled up on the sofa and watch the next four episodes of Band of Brothers before climbing the stairs to sleepy land.
I am Mr Happy at the moment. More scary hospital things coming up over the next couple of months but I am so lucky to have such great family and friends to enjoy life with in between.
Hugs and love to you all out there
Andrew xxx
