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2008 - July 28th - Monday

In spite of her early-morning arrival back at the Lawn GH, JH slept extremely well and emerged at about 8.30am: on the shut door of the dining room a notice was pinned – directing the guests to the sitting room next door; a busy lady was serving breakfasts; on enquiring, JH was told that Brent was sweeping up the ceiling - of the dining room - which had collapsed during the night – Oh Dear!  Apparently, the only persons to hear the crash were the folks occupying the bedroom above – and they had thought it was a RTA which they had heard.  The GH is a splendid Victorian building but - at some point in the past – there had been a water leak above the dining room which finally brought the plaster down; the busy lady, who had been rung up by Brent at 6.30am and asked to come and serve breakfasts, was of the opinion that perhaps the folks in the room above where elephants – but JH did not identify these persons {it was not JH so it was not a Hippo}.


 

JH packed up her wheelie, and had a leisurely morning reading, and listening to the radio, and drinking coffee – until such time as she went outside to wait for Estelle.  JH sat by the bush on the grass verge, as the sun was streaming down; JH was still waiting at about 12.20pm – the rendezvous-time having been 12.00md – and wondered if their had been a misunderstanding, and that Estelle was expecting to meet JH at The Harvesters for lunch, or perhaps the lady whom JH had seen driving past, had been Estelle – who might not have quite remembered which GH JH was staying in; Brent spotted JH looking disconsolately about and was happy for JH to use his phone to, firstly, phone Estelle’s number, but she was not in; Brent then searched out the phone number for the Pub and, just at that moment JH saw Estelle walking in the gate – Estelle had just not quite recollected the time of our rendezvous.  Brent gave JH the Pub’s phone number for further reference.  Estelle and JH had a most enjoyable lunch and long chat at The Harvesters, and subsequently Estelle dropped JH at Maidenhead Station: our car trips along the Bath Road were somewhat hot, dusty and tedious, because of the road works which reduced the traffic to one-way progress which was controlled by two workmen with ‘Stop’, and ‘Go’ lollipop signs. 

JH caught a train from Maidenhead at +/-1500 to Reading, from where she anticipated catching the 1532 train to Plymouth.  However, the start of the third ‘inconvenience’ in less than 24 hours then occurred: the departure of the train was delayed until nearly 4.00pm because of a points problem just West of the station; in fact, several men in fluorescent orange clothing wielding large implements could be seen from the platform.  Anyway . . . the train then set off and, during the journey, JH sat back and relaxed whilst undertaking her usual in-train activities.  However . . . at Exeter the train stood in the station for over half and hour and then finally got cancelled!  The passengers were initially informed, via the intercom on the train, that the ‘fresh’ driver and crew had not arrived and that passengers for Plymouth were advised to go across to another platform to catch a train about to proceed towards Plymouth; JH was reluctant to rush over the bridge to catch this train (there being no time apparently to use the lifts), and so made a decision to get back on the stationary train but just at that moment another passenger alighted and said “The train’s not going anywhere!”.  Ah Well . . . JH eventually reached the other platform and was able to catch the second train departing for Plymouth at 1845, which reached its destination at 1950 – so JH got home at about 8.20pm (2020 24-hour timetable time!).  Within the next few days, JH sent a Claim for Compensation with regards to this journey home – during which she was delayed +/- one hour; JH received £43 compensation in the form of vouchers which are valid for one year!

Kathy had left two messages on JH’s phone over the WE.  The first message was left at 8.40pm on 24th July; Kathy explained that she was feeling ‘very bad’ and was back in the RLH; she was having blood cultures, X-rays, scans – and the rest – performed; she doubted that she would be at the picnic on 27th July, but Ralph should be.   The second message was left by Kathy on JH’s phone at 11.11am on 28th July – this morning; Kathy said that she was sorry to have missed seeing JH yesterday; she would be in hospital ‘for a while’, and continued to have ‘tests, test, and more tests’ including an echocardiogram; she still had infection which everyone is trying to sort.



 
 
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