Friday January 5th 2007
Took the morning off in the hope of being organised enough to set off at midday to Newcastle (via Scarborough to visit my nana).. Mr K called again in the morning and that set the tone for me..
He's such a darling. Loaded the car up with mega suitcase complete with 3 tops to choose from and all other necessary essentials.. CD packs, mug (travelodge mugs are way too tiny for CD!).. water flavouring, bouillon, made 2 muffins (i know, I know,, there is a 15 minute rule but I couldn't face 2 and half days of only soups! lol).. so made 2 of them and wrapped them in foil.. also took phone chargers, straighteners.. every toiletry known to man and some not! lol Jeans.. socks.. pants.. (all big sucky-in-da-flabby-belly ones!), me gorgeous red bra.. scarves, gloves.. (well 'tis cold oop north tha knows..).. nanas extra Christmas presents.. maps.. books.. (Peter Kay one.. dying to get into it but determined to finish book I'm struggling through first).. more maps.. water.. perfectly clear strawb & kiwi... chewing gum.. kitchen roll... well., you get the picture.. Remember (thankfully) that washer bottle is empty and struggle to remember how to open bonnet (have to twizzle ford badge, insert key, turn one way, then the other - all very complicated!!).. then identify washer bottle filler bit.. and then it took 2 litres!! Didn't have a lot of screenwash so its very diluted (must make a note to buy some more although I think there may be some lurking in the shed...)... managed to get of roughly on time.. filled up the car, zeroed the trip.. oh, cleaned the kitchen up again and left message on the blackboard for Zoe asking her to ensure house was clean and tidy on Sunday for when I got home but promising to give her several hours notice of my impending arrival! lol.. posted a final toodle pip type thing on her and then off I set! (route kindly sorted by Sarah, on her laptop whilst I was topping up washer bottle and scribbling notes at same time! - mega- multi - tasker eh. lol)..
So.. off up the A45, A14, M1 and A1 I went! In a funny kind of mood.. anticipation, nerves and a little bit sorry I wasn't going to be able to msn with Mr K and also get on here all weekend.. knew that might make SSing a bit tougher as I get so much support on here and also BIG time from Mr K (in a completely non-pressured way I hasten to add.. lol).
Put on some great music (Terry Shaughnessy, then Brian Houston.. then more of their stuff as I have loads of cds in car) lol.. Got to the turn off for York (A64) in good time as roads pretty clear for a change.. and headed east to Scarry-bow-row (our pet name for it).. drove to my favorite viewpoint first.. it's right where that hotel slid into the sea a few years back... and the view is stunning.. I love it.. and my nana's home (residential not nursing) is on that road.. got there at 3.50 (exactly 205 miles from home) and went in to surprise her.. well.. she was surprised.. lol
She was, at least initially, very pleased to see me, but soon reverted to type.. I told her my news, gave her love from my girls and my sis and her boys... gave her her presents... told her about coming off all my tablets since starting on the diet.. talked about the girls.. and about my neice who is expecting a little girl in May and who they are going to call Emily (such a pretty name).. and how well my mum looked and although Edward (my step dad) is clearly never going to improve, he still seemed in good spirits.. that covered most of the visit and after an hour I started to make noises to leave as I still had a fair journey to go, and by now it was pitch black outside and I was beginning to feel tired...
When I stood up she said.. "Oh, you have lost a little bit of weight haven't you" (bear in mind I've not seen her since way before I started on CD!).... and continued with.." still, you
were a
tremendous size and you never walked you know, you waddled!" and that was that.. her thoughts and views done and dusted.. I was extremely hurt but smiled through gritted teeth and simply said., yes.. that's right, I was. I couldn't get out of there quick enough and remembered why it was I had no compunction to visit her in November when mum last went up!! I bade her farewell and for the first time in years of visiting her, I wasn't sorry to be leaving her behind.. I feel bad for that but you know what.. it wouldn't have killed her to say something nice to me for a change.. just this once... just this once...
So, very deflated and tired, I left for the onward journey - one I had never driven before.. and I tell you now.. never again either!!! It was, as I said, pitch black.. the road was the A171 (I think) via Whiby and around to Middlesborough and along the A19 and back onto the A1 again. Nightmare road.. music blaring (party animal this time to pick up me spirits).. I set off.. 2 hours or so later I reached my home for the next 2 nights. The travelodge at Washington Services on the A1 Northbound. The girl on reception was lovely - so helpful.. gave me a ground floor room as she saw I had so much stuff with me.. in fact.. she gave me a disabled room as it was free all weekend.. the bathroom was enormous! the wardrobe half height which was ok except for my coat, lol.. and no tv remote but she soon got me one that would turn it on and off and volume up and down.. I didn't mind getting up and down to change channel.. was just glad to have got there in one piece! lol
I unpacked and rang my neice.. (she lives in Hetton-Le-Hole).. she was thrilled to hear I was in the area and promptly volunteered to jump in her car with hubby and 4 year old Joshua and come and see me (to save me doing any more driving) bless her..
Well, lol, their reactions MORE than made up for my granny from hell.. their faces were an absolute picture! lol (I haven't seen her for many many months., and, she told me later, although her mum had told her of my loss she couldn't picture what I would look like.. ).. lol.. they both stood open-mouthed as I ushered them into the room.. lol It was too funny.
Josh didn't recognise me at all and then kept calling me nana (thinking I was my sister) lol.. so.. we sat on the bed and chatted.. for hours.. it was lovely.. I gave them their Christmas presents.. I had bought Joshua Battleships.. (a game I adore!!) and promptly put it all together and showed him (very basically) how to play it. He was thrilled with it. David kept saying how amazed he was at the change in me and Claire just stared and said she had never ever seen me this size before.. which is about right as she is 21 and won't ever remember me this size because in her lifetime this is the lightest I have ever been!! (which is bizarre! lol)
They asked about the diet and I told them. David is a very large man, he is only 5ft 9 and considerably obese, morbidly so. He is desperate to lose weight now as he has become almost agrophobic with embarassment.. I felt very sad for him but told him that he has the power to change things and we had a lovely chat. If I had the money I would pay for him to do CD but I don't and they don't either.. what a shame you can't get it on prescription. He is out of work and has applied to loads of places but is convinced they turn him down because of his size, and you know what.. I think he'r probably right..
We had a bit of a heart to heart about lots of things.. and I really hope life improves for him soon. As for my neice - she looks wonderful.. baby due in May, she showed me the scan photos.. lovely! I went all gooey inside. .lol.. So good to see her looking so well, but a lot of responsibility for one so young. Married, one 4yr old and a baby on the way, only her income coming in.. not good really. Hope they will be ok. I'm sure they will, she is a strong woman just like her mum, auntie and grandma! lol
We agreed that if I wasn't too tired, I would give her a call in the morning and go shopping. They left and I had a lovely bubble bath and turned in for the night.. already very tired.. got a text from Mr K to say he would ring me in the morning.. I was chuffed about that.
I rang Mich and told her I was there and not coming out to play.. boring old fart I was.. wish I'd gone now.. lol.. anyway.. I didn't and instead I unpacked and went to bed (having had 2 muffins and a soup in the space of 3 hours.. lol).
Saturday 6th December
Toon time! Mr K rang to wake me.. it was so lovely to chat to him.. he told me that he missed me and that at 2 am he had sent me a text only to realise he had sent it to his ex who was asleep upstairs!!! lol I did giggle as he told me how he had tippy-toed up there and into her room, retrieved her phone from the bedside table, deleted the message, replaced the phone and tippy-toed back to his room.. LOLOLOL Bless him... lol lol I rang my neice and she came and picked me up and we set off for the Galleries shopping centre.. now.. I'm not really all that keen on shopping per se but I did want to get another pair of my hiking style boots, and in pink this time.. and what do you know! lol First shop I went into I got some! We mooched around the shops and Mr K called
Mich rang and we arranged to meet at 1.30 so we could have a natter before everyone else arrived.. I carried on shopping (spoilt my great-nephew rotten.. lol) and then filled up my neices car for her and went back to get ready for the afternoon.
What a freakin nightmare Newcastle is to drive in!!!! I can't even begin to tell you how much I hated that journey!!!
Despite Irene's sister-in-law (or might have been her sis) giving me directions I got totally and utterly lost.. everyone I asked sent me somewhere new and not where I needed to be.. in the end... and an hour and a half later (grrrrrrrr) I found myself being talked in by Irene (thank the lord for Irene!!) and I finally parked in a car park that was, at least, almost near where I needed to be!!
to be continued...