Sunny and Bright

What a difference a few days can make, particularly in regards to the weather. We've been spending the morning waiting for Carol's mum and dad to arrive from Bournemouth, so we've been cleaning the house. I've been using the cordless vacuum cleaner we've bought, which compliments the G-Tech one we bought the other week. This is a Multi, also made by G-Tech and makes light work of cobwebs and the dust you can't reach with a standard machine. None of the trailing cables or tubes which cause so many problems. You can get between those awkward places where dust and fluff gathers (particularly in the kitchen, between the cooker and the units either side.) The sun is shining, the birds are singing and the house is now relatively clean. I think the fact that the sun is out makes doing jobs like cleaning far easier, it's good for your mental state and helps inspire you to get on with what are generally boring jobs such as house-cleaning.

We drove over to Newport Pagnall where Carol's mum and dad were going to stay. They'd been bought up to Milton Keynes by Carol's sister who was going to be at some needlework event at the hotel so they had booked several nights in the same hotel. We'd driven out to find the hotel yesterday evening so we knew where to go this morning. A good idea as we have a propensity for not finding places or at least getting lost. They were due to arrive around lunch-time so we got to Newport Pagnall at around 1 o'clock. It took us a while to find the hotel entrance which was badly sign-posted, having parked the car in a side-road near the hotel. There were a few ladies waiting in the reception-area who were obviously part of the needlework event and then Jacqueline and Carol's mum and dad turned up, Jackie parking in a space near the hotel entrance. We went with Carol's mum and dad and went to a rather nice pub along the street from the hotel and had some drinks and rolls for lunch and then returned to the hotel. We drove back home to Eaglestone with Carol's parents and spent a couple of hours in the house and had our evening meal and then took them back to the hotel. We're going early tomorrow morning to pick them up to take them out tomorrow for the day.

I currently have got Alfie, our Yorkshire Terrier, being very demanding. I bought him a tin for his treats for Christmas. He knows perfectly well what's in this Baker's dog-food tin which is on the table next to my armchair where I'm typing this blog. I have already given him three of these treats. He's prodding the tin with his nose or his paw. He's even managed to get the lid to open, goodness knows how. I trust he wouldn't be able to get the treats out of the tin, but who knows, as he's a very bright and clever little dog. Since he's been groomed and had most of his coat removed, he's wearing a rather smart knitted jumper which will keep him warm. He rather likes it. When Carol found it and he saw it he was almost asking to have it to wear. 

Eighth Chemotherapy Cycle Postponed

We got news late yesterday afternoon that it was fine for Carol's next chemotherapy cycle to be postponed for another week, the week after the Easter holiday. As mentioned in an earlier blog post, her recent blood test didn't show enough of a certain element which, if the chemotherapy was to take place as scheduled,  would mean she would be open to infection. It now means that her mum and dad can come and visit. We've yet to decide where we're visiting. As long as the weather is fine, we have several National Trust properties lined up, or even an English Heritage one. But I won't mention where on here, for obvious reasons.

Not a lot for me to write about over the past weekend. I think my posts have become a bit repetitive, since we haven't been anywhere interesting since the diagnosis back in late August/September.

As I write this (at 6.35 a.m.) I can hear rain on the lounge window. It's considerably colder of late. We turned the central heating down, so no doubt we'll turn it up again.

We've been looking for a new vacuum cleaner. Carol has suggested getting a cordless one, which is lighter and easier for her to use. It does make sense. The old one we have is alright up to a point, but it clogs up quickly and the hose is a nuisance. Also, with a plug-in model you are somewhat restricted by the cable. A cordless one would make cleaning the stairs, for example, much easier. We keep seeing advertising on television for a G-Tech vacuum cleaner. I've been looking on-line at retail outlets who stock the various machines made by the competition, Argos, John Lewis and Curry's have different models. You can buy a G-Tech on-line, according to the advertising. We went to Curry's early, but they don't stock this particular brand. We tried two Dyson models. Very much more expensive than the G-Tech.

We then went to park in the multi-storey carpark near Debenham's and walked down through the store. There was a sale on in the store and then left to walk through the shopping centre. We went into Marks and Spencer and I bought a new polo shirt and then we continued to walk towards John Lewis.  The electronics department is now on the ground floor (the store was given a make-over a couple of years ago) and we found the vacuum cleaners and a G-Tech on display. From having a demonstration by one of the sales assistants we found it to be good at it's job and decided to buy one. We didn't want to carry the parcel back through the shopping centre, so we managed to have it ready to pick up from the pick-up point, so we walked back to the Debenham's carpark. We stopped off at McDonald's to have burgers for lunch, using a very efficient computer screen to order and pay. We sat outside the store to eat and then walked on to collect the car from the carpark and drove round the shopping centre. It wasn't possible to drive around where we expected to be able to drive, due to building works near John Lewis. A new carpark, but managed to find a space nearer the collection point and I walked in to collect the G-Tech, very well packed up by the staff. There seems to be quite a considerable amount of building going on in and around Milton Keynes at the moment.

On arrival home we set up the G-Tech and got it charging. As I write it's fully charged and ready to try out on the lounge carpet.