Last few days.....

Well, it’s not been a quiet week!

Shirley’s Dad had a nasty fall last Monday and has been in hospital with a broken arm – he seems ok now and he’s out of hospital but he’s black and blue as you can imagine! He’s 87 of course and although Winnie is looking after him, she’s 84 herself! We spent the day with them on Thursday at the Medway Hospital while he was waiting for the operation to ‘wire’ his arm – he got discharged on Saturday but is under the continuing care of a visiting nurse.

We had a very nice meal out at a posh Indian restaurant in Westerham with our old friends, Steve and Sue and Mike and Melanie on Thursday evening; Mike and Melanie will be in Sydney for a few days in January so we’ll spend some time with them then and it looks like Steve and Sue will be extending their visit to see their daughter ‘Angel’ (now living with her new husband in Hong Kong!) to pop over to Sydney where Sue’s sister Jan lives. Its only 20 minutes or so from where we live to their home in Frenches Forest and we often see Jan and Mike ourselves when we’re in Australia. It will be nice to see everyone again!

We headed up the motorway on Saturday to see Clare, her partner John and the boys – taking with us presents for Christmas before we head off Downunder this Thursday. We both said that Clare looks so well now and now that’s she’s over the traumas of the past few months, finished her course of Radiotherapy and has started a new job, she seems to have really turned the corner – well here, judge our wonderful and lovely daughter for yourself:

Now don't you think that's a nice photo!

We’re in ‘final’ run-down mode here now – last minute things and I got the suitcases up from the garage this morning ready to pack; it really doesn’t seem 5 minutes ago that we were putting them away after we’d returned in April!

I have a Lodge meeting tomorrow but apart from that and visits by Shirley’s beautician and a trip to have her hair fixed, we’re all but ready.

And just in time too!! This morning there was a real frost outside and the first morning scrapping the ice of the car windscreen! Brrrrrr! After a really wet UK summer we’ve had a lovely colourful autumn but now the temperature is dropping fast and with lots of berries on the bushes, it looks like it’s a very cold winter ahead here!