Cool cloudy and damp with occasional spells of rain today. Brown and yellow leaves are appearing early in tree tops and it feels like autumn is arriving a month ahead of usual. I got up after Thought for the Day to call the GP surgery at eight for a telephone appointment. I'm expecting a report on two small dark spots, one on each cheek, a legacy of old mosquito bites I recently consulted a doctor about. After a ten minute wait I was promised a call this morning, and sure enough twenty minutes later received a return call to say there's nothing of concern in the images taken and relayed to a consultant for an opinion.
Clare sent me a message at about the same time, saying that despite her fears, she managed to get some sleep, accompanied by owls hooting in the nearby woods. She asked me to bring her Nytol tablets and some digestion calming drops with me on my afternoon visit. There were still a few items of shopping to do, including some ground coriander. I'd been unsuccessful in finding any yesterday, but didn't go to the recently opened Turkish supermarket which carries a great variety of every culinary spice imaginable, plus some I'd never heard of before. Even there I had to scour the spice shelves to find what I was after, only one brand of spices out of half a dozen had coriander. When I got back I filled the empty spice jar and put the packet with the surplus in our spice cupboard. Tucked away I found a forgotten unopened packet! Ah well, it's nice to have an excuse to visit this supermarket. I came away with a small jar of olives too. Then I cooked pasta for lunch with the other half of the fresh tomato sugo made the other day.
On the last stretch of the journey to Hensol I made yesterday I reached the sign for the turning I missed in the early morning light. It was two signs, one above the other. The lower is a brown and white tourism destination sign, large and attention grabbing. Above it, the usual sign post to a couple of villages, plus a bilingual one of the hospital, all of equal size, of modest size, not easily readable in low light, but also not very noticeable, for the simple reason there's no H for hospital logo to draw attention to it. I can't think why the Rhondda Cynon Taff Council's signage design team would have omitted this.
Clare was in bed, feeling nauseous. She had already vomited after lunch, and was in the toilet when I arrived at her room with an outbreak of diarrhea. No stomach bug thankfully, but a total gastric reaction in the aftermath of the epidural she was given for the operation. She got out of bed last night to go to the toilet and again this morning. While I was there she did the same three times, using a zimmer frame. The nurse declared that she was making great progress. It certainly helps recovery being physically fit and fairly strong at our age. The effort was tiring so I only stayed an hour so she could recover. I'm relieved that despite the debilitating after effects she's making excellent progress.
I reached home just after four, and after a cup of tea, walked in the park until supper time. Afterwards I watched the first of a new crime series on ITVX called 'Ridley', starring Adrian Dunbar of 'Line of Duty' fame, as a recently retired detective, called in as homicide case consultant by former colleagues. It's set in the bleak uplands of Yorkshire, not spectacular scenery but with plenty of atmosphere. The surprise was that in playing his part, Dunbar plays the piano and sings, and does this very well indeed. As a retired cop his sensitivity and humanity are portrayed superbly, reminding us of what a fine actor he is.
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