Last weekend was a trip over to Halesworth for a day’s fishing. Leaving home just before 11, train to Peterborough via Birmingham New Street, and met Geoff in the usual place outside Waitrose. The weather rapidly got extremely foul, very heavy rain, and it was a somewhat horrid drive, with Geoff’s BMW losing adhesion briefly a couple of times in unexpected/unseed pools of water on the motorway, despite 4-wheel drive. I was dropped off at Sim’s around 5pm, and we went out for a meal (with Geoff and Phoebe) at 8.
Saturday was up at 6am, to get to the lake for shortly after 7. It was still pelting with rain, which kept up until lunchtime, so I was glad I’d packed my “cag-in-a-bag” and waterproof cycling trousers! A very slow start to fishing – no bites for anyone until about 11. It then started to clear up, and there were sunny spells during the afternoon. Geoff, Sim, and I all caught a fish (in that order), though sadly Phoebe did not. We ended the fishing at 3 – too cold and damp to carry on for the extra hour until dusk (which is of course 15 or 20 minutes earlier in East Anglia than in Worcester).
Back to Oak Cottage for the evening. Charlie (dog) was being a real pest – barking at me at every opportunity, and being unexpectedly aggressive. I was initially slightly surprised, as he’d settled down with me fairly rapidly on my last visit a year ago, and then a bit pissed off. Eventually, I retreated to an early bed … needed, as I’d been up early! Fortunately, Charlie had calmed down on Monday, and didn’t bark at me a single time in the morning.
I had several short conversations with Anne – she’s much worse that she was last time I saw her, and noticeably vague and rambling, although quite cheerful. Dementia is clearly progressing quite fast, sadly. It’s taking a massive toll on both Sim and Phoebe, and I don’t think that the current situation is sustainable.
Monday was catching the 12.40 train. I’d decided to go back via Ipswich, rather than via Norwich which I’d originally planned, and Phoebe caught the same train on her way back to London. We had a long and serious talk about the situation at Oak Cottage, and of course some lighter moments. The rest of the train journey went a bit awry, with the cross-country train being delayed, so just missing the planned train at Birmingham. I arrived home about 8pm, and was pretty much of a write-off: The Burger Shop delivery for supper (which took ages to arrive), and Tuesday was strictly a “recovery day” of being unable to do much.
Oh, and in case anyone wonders why the vape remined in my mouth, there were no accessible pockets in either the cagoule or the trousers! And when playing a fish, there are no spare hands to pull up the cag and pull down the trousers to get at jacket or trouser pockets, and the only place to spit out the vape would have sent it into the water (risk of pollution / explosion!).
