I may need a holiday?

Hi All,

I have been on holiday with my wife and son so have only just been catching up with everything that has been going on.

Overall the holiday was OK but there were a few times that I wished I had just stayed at home. We got off to a poor start. We were all set to go, bags packed and car loaded, paperwork in hand and just the last minute checks to do. I went into the bathroom to close the window and as I did so the handle snapped and came off in my hand. I could not close the window or secure it. I ended up having to loop a bit of string around the latch and pull the window closed tying the string around the bath taps to keep it closed. Not very secure but the best I could do in the time available. But I left our home feeling flustered and sweaty.

I drove us from North Yorkshire to our overnight stay in Canterbury which we found despite the best efforts of google maps. We needed to be off relatively early so we planned to be down promptly for breakfast. We arrived at the dining room five minutes after breakfast started to find that there were no tables left and had to queue. We had allowed plenty of time but I could feel my anxiety rising.

After breakfast we drove to the Eurotunnel and got there in plenty of time. My wife and son popped in to use the loo and get some drinks for our journey. As we left the terminal to go to the area where you embark I realised that we had a flat tyre. This had obviously happened as we pulled into the terminal car park as I had checked them before we left home and they felt fine as we pulled in.

All the suitcases out of the boot, emergency wheel out. Me flat out on the ground struggling to get the jack under the car but got the wheel off and the emergency wheel on. Suitcases and punctured wheel back in the boot and we actually managed to catch our scheduled train. I was anxious again, grubby, and again sweaty.

Arrived in France early on Sunday afternoon and Dr Google confirmed that there were no tyre services open on Sunday afternoon. We then had to drive to Luxembourg in a car with an emergency tyre which should not be driven above 50 mph. We stopped once for fuel for the car and a sandwich each which we ate as we drove the 266 miles to our destination and I could feel my stress rising as we went along. We arrived at 6:55pm, just 5 minutes before we had been advised reception should close. It was here that I realised I had left one of my medications behind. Fortunately it was one that I could manage without for a short period.

Monday morning I went to a local tyre fitter (about 15 miles away) to be told that the tyres on the front had to match and they did not have a Pirelli tyre in stock. They could order one but it would take about 4 days (we were due to leave in 4 days) or they had Goodyear tyres at £100 each plus fitting. The very helpfully suggested that I try another supplier in town before making a decision. The alternative tyre fitters also did not have any Pirelli’s in stock but did have a tyre on offer at 80 euros so I said that I would take two of them. “Very good sir we can fit them at 2pm tomorrow”….. Can they not be done now? “I’m sorry sir but we are fully booked until then.” Very frustrating as I know in the UK I could call into most tyre fitters and have a matching tyre fitted in 30 minutes for about £80. Another half day wasted having to go back for the tyre fitting.

We enjoyed the rest of our time in Luxembourg although we had not seen as much of the area as we had hoped to. We then visited our friends in Germany for a couple of days and had a lovely time.

We then travelled to Northern Alsace where we were booked in for a week. I decided to buy seven days wifi internet access as my teenage son was going through withdrawals and I thought that we could use my laptop to watch a few movies, chat to all my lovely friends here on the Mac site and get more detail about local attractions. I paid for a week for two devices, registered my son’s mobile and my laptop. The next morning my laptop died. (It remains dead and I am using my late mothers laptop with it’s Windows 7 system to write this until I can purchase a replacement. I keep trying to use functions that did not exist when this machine was built!) As the machine was not working I was not able to log on with it to deregister it so I could not even connect my own phone to the wifi.

We enjoyed our time in Alsace but rather than driving back to the Channel Tunnel directly we broke the journey overnight at Reims and then stayed at Le Touquet the night before we travelled back. In Reims my front tooth broke off. I have had capped from teeth since I was aged 11 and as a teenager regularly broke the caps playing rugby so aged 18 they fitted steel ones with ceramic fronts. The tooth had been filed down about the nerve and the cap cemented on. The nerve in the right tooth had obviously given up the ghost and after 40 years the little bit of tooth holding it on gave way as well. Totally painless but not good to look at and it is a struggle to talk clearly.

On to Le Touquet. Lovely day until at bedtime my son said that he was not feeling well. Felt his forehead and he was really hot. Gave him paracetamol to try and regulate his temperature but had to leave him to my wife to look after as I needed to drive us back up to North Yorkshire the next day. He had very little sleep and was still not well the next day. Up really early and actually made really good time getting home, wife and son sleeping for much of the drive.

When we did stop for a break I rang my dentist to try and book an emergency appointment. I was advised that they were struggling to recruit a replacement for a dentist who left several months ago and they were having to cancel all appointments at a weeks notice and could only suggest that I call NHS direct on 111.

We got back on Monday evening but I think I need a holiday to recover from my holiday! The places we visited were beautiful and we did have a good time with some lovely food and drink and sites seen but still!

My son felt much better the next day and returned to school today. I rang 111 regarding my tooth and got no joy and was going to talk to my oncologist as I can only have dental treatment when I am off treatment due to the risk of osteonecrosis. I then got a phone call this morning from my dentist. They have appointed a new dentist and I have an appointment for this Friday! Bloomin’ marvellous!

Anyway, I’m off to start planning next years holiday, all the best,

Gragon xx