Tag Archives: caliburn

Monday 11th July 2016 – I’M BACK …

… in the Auvergne, would you believe. And at Liz and Terry’s too (well, Terry’s, actually because Liz is stuck in Normandy right now).

What has happened is that there is some urgent sorting out that needs to be done and I’m the only person who can do it. and it has to be done before July 28th. And seeing as how I don’t have Caliburn’s new insurance documents (these are essential of course) and there are a few other bits and pieces required, then the sooner I reacted the better.

Hence, at 10:03 this morning I was on a train in Leuven station.

That’s not all, of course. I was awake at 06:20, packed and sorted shortly afterwards, and upstairs having breakfast when the alarm went off at 07:00. I had a beautiful shower too in my new en-suite shower room (must take advantage of the benefits) and then I was off to the hospital.

I took no chances and went on the bus. The back door of the hospital was actually open this morning so I quickly nipped through onto the car park and over to Caliburn to grab my passport; Then I was back down to the front entrance and back on another bus to the station.

My train was at 10:03 as I said, and I was there for 08:45.It hadn’t taken long and there was plenty of time to sit and read a book.

They even have beggars on the trains now, so it seems, and as you know, that’s something that annoys me intensely.

At Bruxelles-Midi I didn’t have time to hang about. I found my train, found my seat and we piddled off almost immediately. The booking people had cut it that fine.

And it was a good job that I had gone to pick up my passport because (as I expected) there was a police control on board and someone unable to produce her passport had a very hard time of it.

The train was packed out too – hardly an empty seat anywhere.

At Paris gare du Nord I had to wait ages in a queue for a Metro ticket but the person at the counter put me right and finding the Paris-Austerlitz station for the next leg of my journey was quite straightforward (it’s about 10 stops directly down the Porte d’Italie line). We had another beggar on the metro who was going on about how hard it was to find a place to live and a job to do so I gave him a right royal piece of my mind, to a round of applause from the other passengers, and he piddled off elsewhere too.

At Austerlitz I needed to buy the ticket for my return. And there was a huge queue. 15 desks in the travel office, 8 of them manned … "PERSONNED" – ed …personned and only two of those people working. There’s a Subway sandwich place around the corner which was where I was planning to go for lunch, but badger that seeing as how the situation was in the ticket office. I was lucky to catch my train.

This train was packed too – with a mere handful of empty seats. I crammed myself in and attacked the packet of biscuits that I had brought with me for an emergency (such as this one).

Terry met me at Chateauroux as he was passing by on his way from Normandy back home. He was early at the station and so the rain was, as you might expect, late. And now I’m back here.

I’m having an early night here too because I have a lot to do tomorrow so I need an early start. But it’s all “go” right here at the moment, isn’t it?

And on Wednesday morning, at Silly o’clock, I’m back on the road (or should I say “the rails”) to head back to Leuven.

I’ll be meeting myself coming back if I keep going like this. And I’m supposed to be ill too!

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Sunday 10th July 2016 – I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT I’VE JUST DONE THIS!

Well, actually, yes I can because, believe me, this is par for the course as you all know.

I’m on the move tomorrow and so I need my passport which is in Caliburn up at the hospital. And so this evening at about 18:30 I set off in the early evening heat (because it was hot) up to the hospital to undertake this simple task.

It didn’t take me too long to arrive there, and I passed through the hospital to the back door to the Car Park where Caliburn is parked. And this was where I discovered that the door was locked.

From here, I must have spent about an hour or so walking through the bowels of the hospital looking for another way out (and what was quite interesting was that I spent all of this time in a “restricted” area and I wasn’t accosted once) and eventually, after much binding in the marsh, to find a way out. This involved something of an escalade, but never mind. I had (eventually) arrived.

First job was to start up Caliburn and take him for a little run around so that he doesn’t seize up. And then I tidied him up somewhat, found a tote bag that I need to go with me tomorrow, threw a pile of tinned food and other stuff into the tote bag, and eventually set off home.

On the way back I stopped off at the pizza place for a pizza (I had the sliced vegan cheese with me) and took it back to my new little room where I sat and ate it. And this was where I realised that I had forgotten the passport, which is still in Calburn!

D’ohhh!

And so tomorrow, instead of having a lie-in to gather my wits (not that there are so many that it takes me very long) I’ll be having an early breakfast and then staggering back to the hospital for the passport.

I hope that the back door will be open!

Yes – new little room. i’m back at the ranch again.

Last night in yonder house by the station I had a night that was not so good. It’s true that the kids were quite noisy for a while but the bad night was more to do with me than anything else. No breakfast of course, and so I had a (beautiful) shower and then set out to walk back to my place. I’d been on my travels too during the night but I’ve no idea where or who with.

It was a lovely morning and I discovered bits of Leuven that I didn’t know existed. I was also impressed by the total absence of littler on the streets, especially considering that the music festival is taking place. I stopped off at the boulangerie to buy a baguette for lunch and then finally arrived chez moi where I helped myself to breakfast. I consider that i’m entitled to it.

My room wasn’t ready so I sat outside on a chair and read a book for the rest of the morning, and ate my lunchtime butty while I was at it. 14:00 more-or-less was when my room was finished and so I nipped inside and closed the door.

It’s right on the ground floor right next to the door so I imagine that I’ll be awoken every five minutes by people coming and going, but it’s en-suite with the weirdest bathroom that I have ever seen. But on the whole, it’s not too bad. I even crashed out for an hour or so – the armchair there is extremely comfortable.

And then we had the performance with the passport, or lack thereof.

Now, I’m fed and watered (the pizza was lovely) and I’m off to be. I have a lot to do tomorrow and so I need to be at my best.

Not to mention this early start.

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Monday 4th July 2016 – JUST FOR A CHANGE …

… no-one disturbed me during the night and I had a reasonable night’s sleep. I was up and about a couple of times during the night as you might expect, and I was off on my travels too. And I would tell you all about it except that you are probably eating your breakfast or something right now.

I was up before the alarm went off too – beating the blasted church bells by a couple of minutes – and I had a good breakfast. I was not alone either – I had company for fifteen minutes or so while I tucked in.

It took me a while to sort myself afterwards and then went off to the hospital. A brisk 20-minute walk (and saying that it was brisk tells you how I’m feeling right now) brought me to the hospital, and I dropped off my nice clean bed-linen in Caliburn. That’s more stuff out of the way now. However, when I returned here later in the afternoon, I bought a pile of tinned stuff with me so we are quits.

But we have had some good news in the hospital, and that is that my blood count has gone up from 9.3 to 10.0 – all on its own. And that’s after two weeks too. Mind you, we’ve had a couple of false dawns before as you know, and so I’m more interested in seeing what it will be like in two weeks time.

We discussed my water retention issues, and they sent me down for a scan to see whether there was a thrombosis. That turned out to be negative, so they could start the next lot of treatment. They are giving me Mabthera, something that is designed for the chemotherapy-intolerant of those who have relapsed. I had that last time and I didn’t notice any side-effects and that’s positive news.

And, of course, no blood transfusion and that’s always good news too.

They have given me an emergency number to ring in case I have another major swelling issue like the other weekend, so I’ll have to file that carefully. I might need it.

I was liberated late in the afternoon and walked back down here in the heat and sunshine and doesn’t that make a pleasant change?

I cooked myself a meal of chick peas and the like with rice and had a chat with Lizand Rosemary on the internet. Now, I’m having a quiet relax before bedtime.

And in other news, I’m sure that you have noticed that yet another rat has deserted the sinking ship. It seems that the Brexit “Ship of Fools” is now drifting helplessly on the storm-tossed seas with no hand on the tiller. Not one of the leaders of the “Brexit” campaign has stayed to steer the ship. That’s because they all know what is awaiting them (Standard Life is the first financial institution to close down part of its UK operations as a result of the result) and they don’t want to have the catastrophe nailed on their doors.

It’s really quite funny to watch all the Brexit leaders running away.

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Sunday 3rd July 2016 – IF EVER I LAY MY HANDS …

… on whoever it was who came in at 04:20 this morning, went into the kitchen and started cooking eggs, they will spend the rest of their lived eating soup through a straw. To say that I was not very impressed with the noise that they made is an understatement to be sure.

Mind you, I’d already had a good sleep. I was in bed by 22:00 and I dunno how long I was awake but I only saw a few minutes of the film that I was watching, and that was that. And after the interruption in the middle of the night, I was off again – this time until 07:00.

And I was off too – several times down the corridor for a start, and then off on my travels. I don’t remember too much about it but it involved a bright light blue Ford Cortina saloon – either a mark IV or a mark V. But at least it was a voyage, and that tells you something about my bed. As I said the other day, I have slept in more comfortable beds than this, but not for quite a while.

Now, how do I know that it was 07:00 when I awoke this morning?

The answer is that the blasted church bells flaming well started off again, didn’t they? It’s a really good job that I’m going to bed earlier and earlier, otherwise I really would be upset. But when was the last time that I was up and about, breakfasting at 07:10 in the morning, long before the alarm, on a Sunday?

I was early down the road to the boulangerie too which was just as well as I had the last baguette – and that was before 09:00 too. I need to remember this as I don’t want to be stranded.

The bathroom received my attention too – I had a beautiful warm shower today and a good shave. And what with a change of clothes I look almost human now. This led to a visit to the launderette round the corner and for just €4:50 in the washing machine and €1:00 in the drier, I washed absolutely all of the clothes except the minimum that I could wear, and also the bedding from my stay up the road. The bedding is now ready to be taken back to Caliburn, which I can do tomorrow as I’m off to the hospital for 09:10 for my check-up.

Liz made an appearance on the airwaves too so we had a good chat while the washing was doing. Yes, there’s a free internet connection in the launderette and I’ll file that fact away for future reference.

Tea was pizza (well, it is Sunday) from the place round the corner and while I’ve had better (under-cooked pizzas seems to be a local speciality), this was the spiciest that I’ve ever had and it was really delicious from that point of view.

But lunch was a bit of a catastrophe. I had a good moan about my housemates yesterday as you remember, but today the kitchen was a disgrace. However, the cleaner told me that most people are here this weekend for the rock festival at Werchter and tomorrow almost everyone will have left the building. There will just be half-a-dozen or so people left.

So now I’m going to sit by the window and enjoy the pleasant evening – it’s not rained for at least four hours. And then an early night for my early start for the hospital.

At least the breakfasts are good in this place. There are no complaints from me from that point of view. You really win with the breakfasts.

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Friday 1st July 2016 – I’M WHACKED!

I’ve had a really busy day and I’m exhausted.

What didn’t help was that I was awake this morning at 05:30 despite having already had a couple of trips down the corridor. And I couldn’t go back to sleep. I was up early for breakfast too so that was all done and dusted by 08:30.

Check-in at my new place wasn’t until after midday so I had a little relax for a couple of hours and then I filled my backpack and suitcase with stuff to move, and all of the dirty clothes and bedding into an IKEA bag. Once I’d done that, I set off for my new digs.

The place isn’t so bad here. I’ve a big double bed plus a single couch-type of bed. As well as that, there’s a comfortable two-seater divan and small desk and chair. Not only that – there’s a TV and combined DVD/Video player. Shame that I didn’t bring any DVDs.

The kitchen is adequate, complete with dishwasher, and the bathroom that I share with a couple of other rooms is nice and clean. There’s a sitting room too and also a roof terrace. It’s closer to the hospital and the town centre and the street outside is fairly busy, but I have double glazing.

It’s tired, and seen better days, but it looks quite good value for the money that I’m spending. I could be quite comfortable here, I reckon.

Having had a rest, I went up to the hospital. I took the bedding back to Caliburn and brought some more stuff down, confirmed my appointment on Monday (it’s at 09:10) and picked up a bottle that I needed as they want to see my … err … output of Sunday.

On the way back, I picked up some chips from the fritkot and sat on the roof terrace here to eat it.

Once I’d done that, it was back up to the old place to pack up the rest of the stuff and to clean my room there and to wash the floor. That was a struggle getting up the stairs with the washing stuff and my suitcase, and coming down was even more difficult. I had to make two trips with the stuff, it was that awkward to move.

It was also a struggle coming up here with the stuff, and I was glad to sit down. I had a chat with Liz and then crashed out for three quarters of an hour. I can’t say that I was surprised. Mind you, I made sure that I had a coffee when I came round. And wasn’t that nice too?

Making tea was pretty straightforward and I do have to say that the kitchen is cleaner than back at the other place, which is good news. Having a cleaner about the place is always a good idea.

Now, I’m going to go to bed and have an early night. I have curtains at the windows, which is progress, and I’m dying to get to grips with this comfortable bed. It’s not as comfortable as some that I’ve slept on but considering how I’ve been sleeping this last 17 nights it’s going to be luxury.

And I can’t wait.

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Monday20th June 2016 – I SUPPOSE THAT YOU ARE ALL WONDERING …

… what the outcome of my visit to the hospital today was.

Firstly, no danger of my being late for the appointment, for I was wide-awake at 05:30 this morning and surfing the internet, for want of anything special to do. I had a leisurely breakfast and then, making an executive decision, I set off to the hospital in plenty of time without my rain jacket, seeing as how the day looked as if it might just be promising. And how I regretted that decision on the way home, when I had to brave a rainstorm to return to my tiny garret.

First person that I saw after registering was my doctor. She told me that the bone-marrow sample showed no trace of any illness having spread into there and so they too were making an executive decision – which was to definitively stop the chemotherapy. That’s good news as far as I am concerned. Instead, they are going to try another type of treatment and see what effect that has, as well as giving me a medicament that will stimulate the red blood cells.

The nurse then came and dragged me into a little cubicle where she took my blood pressure and pulse, and fitted me with a drain to my chemotherapy port. Once that had been done, she took a blood sample.

An hour or two later I was led to a little private ward where they coupled up three perfusions to me. One was the aforementioned stimulant, the second was a steroid and the third one was some kind of medication. They were all connected to me via a metering machine and I had to ring them every half hour so that they would come and increase the speed.

10 minutes later the doctor came to find me, to tell me what they were going to do to me, but she told me that she wouldn’t bother, seeing that they were already doing it. But the good news is that my blood count, a good week after the last transfusion, is at 9.3 and it’s a long time since it’s been this high. And so no blood transfusion this week.

It was round about 18:00 that I was thrown out of the hospital so I went to check on Caliburn, give him a couple of laps around the car park to warm him up, and park him in a different place so that it looks as if he’s doing something. Plenty of space on the car park at that time, so I reckon that if I decide to move him, I’ll have to keep him out all day until the evening when I can take him back.

I’m running short of socks and undies here so I fetched some more down, and I also meant to bring some more foodstuffs, but I forgot. And how I wish that I had remembered, as I have no small tins of mushrooms or vegetables to pack out the remains of Saturday’s Indian meal. I had to use plain rice and a stock cube instead.

So with my next appointment now in two weeks’ time, I can relax for a while and not worry too much. But I’ll be intrigued to see what my blood count will be when I go back.

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Tuesday 14th June 2016 – SO HOW WAS MY FIRST NIGHT IN MY NEW DIGS THEN?

The answer was “not very comfortable”.

What with one thing and another, it was long after midnight before I ended up going to bed. And once I was in, I had a little listen to the radio but it wasn’t long before I switched everything off and settled down for the night.

But the mattress, which I have put on the floor, as I have no intention of climbing up to the eaves of the room, is really uncomfortable. It’s a very cheap mattress to start with and it sags just about everywhere. But it wasn’t long before I’d dropped off to sleep, and that was how things stood until all of … errr … 05:30. I’m not used to the big city and all of the traffic and the like.

It goes without saying that I didn’t actually leave the stinking pit at that time, and when I finally did, I had plenty to do up here. Breakfast was therefore at 09:00 where I made the acquaintance of one of my co-cottiers. I had to run up and down the stairs twice as well – the first time wasn’t too bad but I was on my knees for the second. This is clearly not going to be sustainable.

The walk up to the hospital was quite pleasant even though it was all uphill. I called at the boulangerie that I had discovered yesterday. and of course, it’s closed on Tuesdays. But there’s an Asian supermarket across the road and they sold baguettes, so that’s that problem resolved.

The parking problem for Caliburn is semi-resolved too. I picked up a document from the hospital yesterday setting out my visits to date, and with this I was able to apply for a parking card for a free car park in the vicinity. This was duly granted.

But having the pass is one thing – finding a free space there is quite something else. I ended up making an ad-hoc space for myself at first, and then going back out at lunchtime to pounce on a liberated space. And that took quite a wait. By the end of the afternoon though, there were a few free spaces so if I do decide to go anywhere in Caliburn it will have to be in the late afternoon that I come back.

I made use of the hospital’s internet to check up on things and to send off another pile of e-mails. I’ve already had two replies from this load of messages, but they were both refusals.

Walking back here was pleasant too in the early evening sun and I encountered the landlord in the building, changing a few light-bulbs including the one that doesn’t work in my room. I also had an encounter with a couple of the girls here, sorting out a place for me in the fridge.

Tea tonight was pasta, kidney beans, veg and tomato sauce followed by slices of spicy cake and soya dessert. Loads of proteins in all of that. And now, having almost fallen asleep a couple of times at the hospital, I’m off for an early night.

I hope that I can have a good night’s sleep tonight.

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Sunday 12th June 2016 – I’M GLAD …

… that I’ll only be in this new place for two and a half weeks. It’s nothing at all like the kind of place that I would like to be and, even worse in my opinion, I’m up in the attic three and a half floors up and I was having something of a struggle to find my way up there. If I do manage to meet a nubile nymphette and invite her upstairs to see my etchings, I’ll be in no fit state to do anything about it.

But I’m not going into too much detail about the place. It’s just outside the centre of Leuven, not too far away from the hospital that I visit, and it’s €10:95 per night, everything included. That’s all that you need to know about it. The cheapest hotel in Leuven is €37:00, to give you some idea of what is involved.

I had something of a mixed night last night and was up and about long before the alarm went off, having had breakfast and a chat with someone whom I knew who was on the internet this morning. And then I went off to that boulangerie that I discovered the other day. Half of Belgium was in there in front of me, but I was seen eventually and picked up my baguette. And it was nice too – well-worth the wait.

This afternoon I’ve been tidying up in here and everything has gone down to the new place, except for the stuff that will fit in my backpack. I’ll take that to the hospital with me, leave Caliburn on the car park, and then walk down to the new place from there, and see if I can find a boulangerie in the neighbourhood. I had a quick drive around and couldn’t see one, and I need to put my priorities in the correct order.

On the way back, I stopped off for a pizza – after all, it is a Sunday. I sat on the car park of the Carrefour at Korbeek-Lo and ate it, and pretty good it was too. Then I came back here for pudding.

I’ll have an early night tonight and see what tomorrow brings. It’s the day that I have my hospital results and so I’m not much looking forward to it. I shudder to think what they might have found.

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Saturday 11th June 2016 – YESTERDAY AFTERNOON …

… I sat down and sent off a whole ruck of e-mails about accommodation, asking for appointments to view for this weekend. And how many replies do you think that I’ve received?

Krys guessed right (good old Krys!). She said “none”. As I have said many times before … "and you’ll say many times again" – ed … there is no such thing as a recession. There is just a whole load of people who are letting all kinds of income-generating opportunities melt away before their very eyes. Regular readers of this rubbish will recall dozens of similar occurrences – solar panel suppliers in March 2009, caravan suppliers in July 2015 – two examples that spring readily to mind.

And not forgetting two suppliers of slide-in camper units for Strider whom I visited, one in New Hampshire and the other one in Quebec – and asked them to send me quotes for the Spring so that I could order one ready for the summer. That’s an order worth over $12,500, would you believe, but it’s too much trouble for any of the sales staff to reply to me.

Anyway, enough of my ranting. I have better things to do.

Like waking up at 07:00, long before the alarm, finding out that two of my friends are on line already, and having a chat that went on to … errr … 13:00, with me missing breakfast. And then just as I was about to nip off, Liz came on-line for a chat and so I was here for another 90 minutes.

Not that I am complaining, of course. Far from it. It’s nice to see friends and chat aimlessly for ages. I’d much rather chat to a friend than eat breakfast. That’s much more important.

And so I eventually made it out to buy a baguette for lunch. Dunno if I mentioned that yesterday I finally discovered a boulangerie so I went there first. But by that time they had long-since sold out. I ended up at the Bio-Planet where I bought a lovely artisanal baguette, sampled a pile of delights and had two free cups of coffee. You have your money’s worth in the Bio-Planet.

Back here in my room it was stifling, but I’ve managed at long last to force the window so that now I can open it, and listen to the arrival of a serious rainstorm as the weather has broken.

But not before I went out to make my tea. The chick peas left over from Thursday had gone off already and so I ended up with pasta, tinned vegetables with chick-peas already mixed in, and tinned mushrooms followed by the usual pudding.

Tomorrow will be an exciting day for me as I’m taking all of my possessions to my new digs in Leuven. I hope that they are okay but for the money that I’m paying to stay there, I’m not expecting too much. It’s all a question of money’s worth, as you all know already. I’ll put up with inconvenience if I’m not paying very much – I’m on the economy package.

So i’ll clear off now and listen to the rain. It sounds lovely outside.

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Thursday 9th June 2016 – I WAS RIGHT …

… about my return to my bad old sleeping habits. I was awake for hours after I’d finished watching a film, and then I was passing in and out of sleep for the rest of the night. I’d been on my travels too but once I’d finally awoken (at 07:07 for those of you who are interested), I couldn’t remember a single thing.

We’ve had a day of nothing in the way of excitement. I went out to the Delhaize for my baguette and salad, noticing that, once more, the patisserie is still closed.

Apart from that, I’ve been working on the blog, doing some more updating of the older parts of it, and having a little crash out as well, which is hardly any surprise because once the sunshine came round into my room, it was beautiful.

For tea tonight, I had pasta, mixed vegetable and chick peas mixed up with more of the spicy tomato sauce (loads of protein in that) followed by the usual pudding of spicy cake, soya vanilla custard substitute and some mixed fruit in syrup.

Tomorrow, I’ll be off to the big Carrefour for a pile of shopping. I think that I have found a place to stay until the end of the month and so I need to lay a few supplies in. I’ll be having to leave Caliburn parked up while I’m staying there so I’ll need to do a major shop beforehand to make sure that I have everything that I need.

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Wednesday 8th June 2016 – YOU MISSED …

… all of the excitement here this morning. A lorry was delivering to the front of the hospital across the park from here, and because it’s all so tight for manoeuvring, the only way that he could leave was to drive 20 metres the wrong way up the drive, reverse back around a corner, and then go back the right way.

That’s exactly how I would have done it and this was indeed what he was trying to do, but some old woman in a car coming up the drive had deliberately blocked him in, refused to move, and told him to go out of the hospital via the exit – totally oblivious to the fact that it’s too tight for him to turn his lorry around the corner.

And there she sat, and there the lorry driver sat (not that he had much choice in the matter) until Yours Truly and someone else intervened . And then, instead of reversing 20 metres backwards, she pulled forward and blocked off the turning down which he needed to reverse. And we were back once again in the impasse.

I tell you – you can’t make up stories like this in Belgium, can you?

But we’re back with our old sleeping habits, so it seems.

Not exactly 100% though, because I did manage to stay awake to watch the whole of a Boris Karloff “Mr Wong” film. And then I couldn’t drop off to sleep straight away – must be my guilty conscience I reckon.

But then I awoke sometime during the night to go for a ride on the porcelain horse, and the 05:00 dawn chorus finally managed to arouse me from my slumber and that, I reckon, was that.

I did manage to drop off to sleep again at some point because I was on my travels with Nerina. We were at some place down the east coast of the USA and I’d arrived at the hotel which I had booked (in advance, not like me) to stay the night, and I was parked up at the side of the road on rather a wide verge waiting for Nerina to appear. She came along eventually, via the golf course, where she was playing a round of golf. Not that I know anything about golf, but this golf course was weird. There weren’t greens as such, but what would normally be the “green” was gravelled over with tiny loose chippings and the “hole” was a small, narrow trench that conducted the ball to where the hole would be. But Nerina was clearly enjoying herself. Away in the distance on the skyline was another complex, of buildings, hotels and a huge amusement park and this was where I had arranged to stay for the following night (none of this sounds like me, does it?) which pleased Nerina even more.

I’d switched the mobile phone off yesterday and had forgotten to switch it back on before going to bed, so that accounts for the reason that I didn’t finally awaken until 08:45, and it was a grey, miserable, overcast day that greeted me this morning. Nothing like the last two days that we have had.

That patisserie that I mentioned yesterday – it was closed today too so I reckon that we can rule that place out for the rest of my stay. I ended up at the Delhaize further on for my baguette. And I’ll have to go back there tomorrow too because my shredded lettuce mixture stuff has gone off and I need to buy some more. A small pack is only €0:51 in there.

After lunch, the weather brightened up considerably and it was a lovely, warm summer’s afternoon while I was in here working (with windows that don’t open either). But tonight I went out to Caliburn and cooked the second part of my meal. And with it being so nice, I sat outside in the evening sunshine and ate it.

Exactly the same meal as last night, in fact, and it tasted just as beautiful. But tomorrow, I’ll have to try something else. Maybe a ratatouille with tinned mushrooms, or chick-peas perhaps. That sounds like a plan.

It’s a gorgeous evening, with the late, low suns streaming into my little room. I’m going to settle down now and watch a film or something, and see where I end up tonight.

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Tuesday 7th June 2016 – I WAS STILL WIDE-AWAKE …

… at 02:00 this morning, having been for a walk (as I said that I would) and having been reading a book for ages too. None of this is a surprise of course, after having crashed out for so long yesterday evening.

But once I’d dropped off to sleep, then I really was away. And a long way away too. And here’s an interesting story of a young couple (neither of whom was me, for a change) of which the female of the party had been diagnosed with a major life-threatening illness. Which would cost thousands to treat and which would bankrupt them completely. Sitting on the roof of their house (they could do that by climbing out through the skylight) they were discussing various options of raising the money and a chance glance at a piece of formed metalwork drilled with holes gave them the first part of the idea – which was to go around and drill huge holes in the roofs of a couple of cars belonging to people who had annoyed them. They had an old Maxi that they could adapt for the purpose. The second part was much more interesting and they discussed it with a female friend who was sitting on the roof with them but she was totally opposed to the idea, a fact which made no difference whatever to their plans. And so off they went, each performing his or her own little bit, and all went according to plan. The roof-drilling bit worked like a charm and the female’s idea, of dressing in a really extravagant outfit of the kind that you would find in a Noel Coward performance of the 1920s or 30s and doing a striptease as she walked out of this pub and down the steps to the main road, was stunning. Of course, they were both arrested and charged with various offences, but the fines were minimal. However, the ensuing publicity caused the money to come rolling in and they managed to clear all of their debts in respect of this hospital treatment.

It’s not very often that there’s an evening’s entertainment and I don’t appear in it, is there?

The noise in here (because the place echoes like a drum) awoke me at about 07:30 this morning and I felt so much better after my sleep.

After breakfast I spent a couple of hours on the internet and then went off to look for a baguette. Having tried going east from here last time I stayed, and driving about 100 miles to find one, I decided to head west this time. And I needn’t have bothered because it was even farther to the nearest baguette in that direction. I did however encounter a patisserie but it was closed. Maybe having a day off, I dunno, so I’ll go to check it out tomorrow. But I can’t say that I’m too impressed with the (lack of a) boulangerie around here.

After lunch I started on my quest for accommodation for the next three or four months. And I have found the ideal place – a small room in the attic of a very modern house, right on the outskirts of Leuven within sight of the hospital, and with off-street parking too. It’s clean and tidy with a friendly young landlord, all mod cons (shared with two others), and another good advantage is that there is a beautiful garden with seats and the like so I can sit in the sun.

It’s a mere €325 per month and so I’m determined to take it until mid-September (when the students return) but the downside is that it’s not free until July 1st. I’m okay here until 13th June and so I need to find a place for two and a half weeks. I shall have to get on with that and look to see what are the possibilities. I have a few ideas already.

This evening, the beautiful weather that we have been having for the last two days broke – and broke with a vengeance too. I could feel it brewing this afternoon, but when it let go, it really did let go and we had a terrific thunderstorm and downpour. I was soaked going out to Caliburn to make my tea, but my tea really was nice. I had pasta, mixed veg and lentils, all mixed up with some spicy tomato sauce. And that was followed by fruit salad and slices of spiced cake with soya vanilla dessert custard. Fit for a King.

And so now I think that I’ve done enough for today so I’ll have an early night. Tomorrow I’ll get on with tracking down some more accommodation.

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Friday 3rd June 2016 – I’M BACK …

… in Soissons again – at the Hotel Premiere Classe of course and I suppose that you are all wondering why I don’t move in here.

But the reasons why I’m back are twofold – firstly, I’ve come to recover my mobile phone (which I now have in my sweaty little mitt until I leave it somewhere else) and secondly, and more importantly, I’ve been let out of hospital today.

The doctor came along this morning and told me that nothing now is likely to be done to me until they receive the results of my samplings back from the laboratory, so if I were to stay in the hospital, I’d be just kicking my heels until then. And so I decided to take my wracked and ragged body off for a change of scenery, and they’ve given me an appointment for Monday 13th (yes, the thirteenth – good job it’s not a Friday!) of June. That’s when we’ll (hopefully) find out where everyone has been going wrong with my diagnosis.

I spoke to the girl at Social Services and after an inordinately long wait, she confirmed that they would have me back at Pellenberg from Monday until the day that I go for my results. That gives me a week to track down a room in a house and now that I have my phone back, I hope that I can do that.

But the result of having to wait around so long was that it was 15:30, instead of 14:00 when I left the hospital. And after another session where I jammed the exit at the car park, I was of course decanted straight into the traffic. Not quite as bad as the last time, but bad enough all the same. I stopped off to pick up some fuel at Mont St Jean, given the excitement that’s going on in France at the moment.

The drive down was uneventful although I did pick a new route – down the péage and then onto the motorway for Reims and Lyon, leaving somewhere short of Coucy. And luckily, there was a guard on duty at the tollbooth who recognised Caliburn as a van and not a lorry and I paid just €4:40 for the tolls and not four times that. I hate these automatic tolls.

The road into Soissons is a road that I know well from the old days, bringing me past the walled city of Coucy-le-Chateau (which readers from way back will recall us doing the touristy visit early one morning in midwinter many years ago on our way back from an Open University Students Association meeting) and straight into the town, and now I’m holed up in the Premiere Classe where I’ll be staying until tomorrow.

And I hope that I have as good a sleep as I had last night. Not the best, it has to be said, but my room-mate didn’t snore at all as far as I could tell and once I’d finally managed to go to sleep, I just had the odd awakening here and there and was dead to the world when the nurse awoke me. I’d been on a voyage too, but don’t ask me where because I’ve no idea now.

Still, tonight I’ve asked for the quietest room in the house and judging by this and that, I might actually have it too. Let’s see how I’m feeling after a good rest and a good breakfast tomorrow, hey?

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Tuesday 24th May 2016 – AND WE’RE BACK …

… and the same old hospital routine – the same one that we’ve experienced dozens of times before. Although it wasn’t an especially early night, by 03:30 I was awake again and that was how I stayed for much of the morning. I don’t remember going back to sleep at all. But luckily, my room-mate doesn’t seem to snore, which is a good thing.

We’re back on the hospital diet too and the smell of the food is putting me right off once more. I managed a banana for breakfast, some tomato soup and an apple for lunch, and for tea I had cheese butties and a soya yoghurt.

Yes, cheese butties. When my overnight drip-feed stuff ran out, I nipped down to Caliburn for my suitcase and this time I brought a few supplies with me too – biscuits and cheese and the like – so now I’m prepared for anything.

The dietician came to see me too and we managed to talk about my eating arrangements. I mentioned that I was having these kinds of dietary issues and she promised to do her best to see that I had stuff that I could actually eat.

Another visitor was the girl from the Social Services. She came to see how I was and to chat about my future accommodation, but that was rather pointless at the moment because I don’t know how long I’ll be staying here, so it’s clearly not possible for me right now to arrange appointments to see anyone.

We had the medical staff too, and the doctor gave me a good going-over. And it seems that some kind of decision about my treatment. The general consensus is that the chemotherapy that I’ve been having is too violent for my body, delicate little flower that I am, and they might have to think about giving me another form.

That will be the subject of discussion amongst the medical staff during the week, so it looks as if I’ll be staying here now until the next lot of treatment – due to start on Friday but may be postponed – is complete.

And my mobile phone has been located. Liz very kindly rang up the Premiere Classe Hotel in Soissons and asked them about it. Apparently they found it underneath the pillow in the bedroom. They’ll hang on to it until I’m released from hospital when I’ll go down and pick it up again. That’s not what I had planned to do, but it can’t be helped. Without an address, there’s no other way of receiving it any quicker.

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Saturday – 21st May 2016 – I’M BACK …

… on the road again and even as I type, I’m sitting in a little room in a Première Classe Hotel on the outskirts of Soissons (I’ve managed to find it today).

I managed my lie-in this morning – until all of, would you believe, 08:10 – even though I’d been on my travels during the night. Driving a lorry as it happens somewhere around the UK and a rough, horrible thing it was to drive as well and I was determined to have it taken off the road for major repair when I returned to the depot. But what surprised me was that it had only just passed its MoT a short while ago and I thought that that couldn’t be right. So I parked it up in the yard and the next lorry to come in was driven by my brother and he parked his lorry right next to mine blocking the through-way across the yard. Anyway, we left the yard and were immediately caught up in a scenario that involved the police on the motorway blocking off a car that was coming down the road. It was carrying antiques of some kind of dubious nature and the owner as telling us sometime later in this church hall where we all assembled that he’d been taught a manoeuvre to carry out whenever the police tried to stop him but as he drew a diagram to explain it, I couldn’t see how it would possibly help in such a circumstance.

It didn’t take too long to load up Caliburn and tidy up after me back at Liz and Terry’s, even though I managed to forget to bring back the fresh fruit that I’d put on one side. Mind you, I didn’t rush with doing it because I’m not up to that kind of thing just now. It was about 11:30 when I finally hit the road.

My next stop was back at my house where I dropped off a pile of my washing and collected some more stuff that I had forgotten the last time I was there.But I can’t for the moment find the big back with all of my single bed stuff. I wonder where all of that has gone. I know that I have it because I can remember sorting it all out after I’d finished the wardrobe last year.

It was a beautiful day when I set off but the farther north I drove, the weather deteriorated and when I left the motorway we were having a grey, overcast day. The drive itself was totally uneventful at first but at Nemours we had an incident where a wedding party decided to stop and block off a roundabout in order to take some wedding photographs and this provoked quite a bit of “reaction” from the other motorists.

Not only that, I’d noticed that there were some substantial queues at various petrol stations along the route, and my usual one at Melun was closed. When I eventually found a petrol station (on the N2 just before Villers-Cotterets) where there was quite a queue, I made enquiries and they revealed that some local television has announced that there is going to be a fuel shortage – something that has taken the garage proprietor totally by surprise.

So now, here I am -it’s 19:15 and I’m installed in my little room, and that is that. I’ll see you all in the morning.

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