As I so often say, it’s been a funny old week. No one week seems to be like another and it’s quite disconcerting to have so much choice and potential freedom and yet to spend so much time doing stuff all squashed together. I had a dream last night where someone was explaining to me that I had something wrong with me which explained a lot about how I functioned. It was immediately one of those Eureka! moments where everything suddenly makes sense and I realise why I am how I am and that it’s actually OK to be like that. Cue reality and the dawn and none of it makes sense any more. Sigh.

We’ve been away for the weekend, spending it with friends just outside Chester. They are a lovely couple, frighteningly intelligent and funny and one of them has only one leg but I won’t tell you which. That is, I won’t tell you which one has only one leg, not which leg the individual is clinging onto. They also have unsecured wifi called Alice, which I really like. It is both generous and touching in its naivety.

The drive up was horrible. The usual ‘congestion ahead’ notices meaning cars slowed down on the M6, thus creating congestion. We received a heroes’ welcome and settled in for an evening of good food and conversation. The following morning it was sunny! An absolutely perfect day weather-wise was matched by a lovely day travelling around bits of Wales. At an aqueduct, we marvelled at the feat of engineering and daring thought that had created it and then watched a party of inebriated young people steer a narrowboat into the side of the canal and come to a sudden stop, causing lots of the young people to fall over. This I enjoyed very much although wished they weren’t quite so inebriated or rowdy. They then proceeded to tether the boat, firstly to the side of the canal opposite a junction, causing a canal official to tell them “You can’t park here” and then to the other side where they all jumped ship and picnicked at the side of the canal. They must have travelled all of 100 yards in their boat. But the weather was spectacular and I caught the sun. Mental note to buy high factor sun cream now we have had one day of hot sun this spring.

We also went to Plas Newydd, a beautiful house owned by 2 female friends in the early to mid nineteenth century. There was much speculation about the sexual orientation of the two friends who seemed to want to live the idyllic Romantic life, away from society. They lived on very little but had a considerable number of very wealthy and influential friends who visited them, bringing gifts, money and pieces of carved oak from around the world. They patched it together and had it installed around the house in an amazing patchwork of styles. They also salvaged stained glass and had it soldered together in leaded windows, creating an amazing rainbow of colour. Having run away together from Ireland, causing a huge stir in the process, they were horrified when a female friend, having lost her ‘special friend’ to a convent, asked if she could come and live with them. They favoured masculine clothing and did not like sitting for portraits so the only ones available are those done somewhat furtively. They seemed to have been huge celebrities in their time although it seemed their lifestyle was the thing they were most celebrated for.

This week is going to be another busy one. Despite my intention to do things slowly, have time to relax and rest, I seem incapable of clearing my diary for a week. My mind is racing way ahead of my body most of the time so I am hoping my body will catch up. The bloody lymphodoema compression sleeve is mis-behaving in that it keeps rolling down. It’s at this point I remember the nurse saying “It mustn’t roll down or you might get a blood clot” so will be going back to the hospital to show them the recalcitrant sleeve and see whether they can provide a better behaved one. Fran suggests they make them with the slightly sticky rubbery stuff you get on the inside of hold-up stockings. I think this is a good idea so may enquire if they have such a thing. The tattoo sleeves have proved a massive hit and once I have a compliant sleeve, I will post photos.