04 January 2012

So far, 2012 is not good.

Happy New Year! Or is it? Not in this neck of the woods. It has not been the best of starts. Nothing catastrophic of truly major proportions, but not exactly hunky dory either. Here is a litany of my woes......

January 1st - at about 11am- Kay and I take Snoopy for his first walk of the year around the block. See a middle-aged woman sitting on a wall outside our local vet, crying her eyes out. I ask if I can help. She tells me amid sobs and gulps with a mascara-streaked face that her dog is just being put down. Her husband is inside the vet's house, so she does not need any help, but thanks me anyway. I feel for her and spend the rest of the day thinking about her.

January 2nd - Kay wakes up with the beginnings of a cold and a huge ulcer in her cheek (her wisdom tooth had crumbled over Christmas. According to the dentist it was a naturally-weak and useless tooth) and had rubbed this huge hole in her cheek which was failing to heal.

January 3rd - Kay is due to get a train at 11 from Kings Cross back to uni up north. She wakes up feeling real awful with swollen neck glands, a swollen cheek, earache and a sore throat, not to mention pouring nose. She cannot swallow and feels sick. There follows a short debate as to whether she should go or stay, but I tell her that I have to get my mum back home (60 miles away) tomorrow, we have ordered a supermarket delivery for her on 4th and a new (digital) TV is being delivered to her on 6th. I therefore cannot be around to help Kay, if she decided to stay at home for any longer. Kay reluctantly agrees it is better for her to return north today.

We struggle on public transport and in heavy rain and winds with two heavy cases, a laptop and handbag to Kings Cross. We get there with half an hour to spare: things are looking good. Until we see the indicator board. Her 11:00 train has been cancelled along with her seat reservation. Great ! The next train is an hour later but with no guaranteed seat. In fact there will now be two train-loads of people trying to get the few random unreserved seats. There are hundreds of people in the station forecourt all in the same position, as several trains have been cancelled - not sure whether it is due to adverse weather, or signal failure somewhere in the midlands, or both. There is a film crew gleefully shoving a furry microphone on a pole thingymy in people's faces as they complain to the harrassed-looking station staff behind the information desk. Then we are told the 12:00 train has also been cancelled and we have to wait for the 13:00 one. THat's three train-loads all vying for non-reserved seats. Kay will only be guaranteed her passage (but still not the seat reservation on that one). If she fails to get that and wants to take a much later train (to guarantee a better chance of some more random free seats) she will have to pay £124. Kay breaks down in tears. Her neck glands and cheek are excruciatingly painful; she will doubtless miss the appointment with a doctor she had made to get some medication; she faces the prospect of a two-hour wait on the chilly station forecourt and (eventually, although who knows when) a three hour journey standing all the way with two suitcases. And a laptop. And a handbag. I relent. I tell her she can come home. I will cancel all the commitments. We stagger back in the opposite direction for home with the two suitcases, the laptop and the handbag. As we emerge from our local station, the heavens suddenly open. There are 60mph gales and a torrent of water that is like a wall of glass. We dash for my parked car and head the last half-mile home in a sea of water that even the fastest windscreen wipers cannot cope with. All I can see is oncoming headlights with no car attached to them - the wall of water has turned into a thick fog, the rain is so heavy. The road is covered in a 6-inch film of water, so driving at speed is out of the question. We get home and sit in the car for about 5 minutes as it is definitely too wet (and dangerous) to leave the safety of the car for the 6-foot walk to the front door at that moment).

Eventually we dash for the warmth and dry of the house and I set about frantically cancelling or rearranging all the deliveries to my mother over the next few days, or notifying everyone who I had told I was going to my mother's for a few days that I was now going to be home again after all. Then I take Kay to our local hospital walk-in clinic (as she is no longer registered with our local doctor). We wait nearly three hours to be seen and she has now thankfully been prescribed penicillin for her ulcer and throat pain. She has booked another train north for Saturday. I will take my mother home on Sunday and stay a few days with her, set up her new TV etc.

Tuesday 4th - I head off to the dentist to have a temporary filling as one of my large molar fillings fell out yesterday. When I get back, I discover Snoopy has somehow got hold of a packet of chocolate biscuits (Jaffa cakes) and eaten about 8 of them, smearing the melted chocolate on the cellophane wrapper all over the carpet. Watch this space.......Chocolate and dogs do not go together, so what comes out in due course will not be pleasant.

Happy New Year!!!

18 comments:

Furtheron said...

Oh dear not a good start.

The train service was a joke yesterday, you could have expected it after all the rows about the fare rises. We had three different excuses for why my train was 27 mins late into St Pancras in the morning... 27 mins... that is 3 mins just inside the limit at which refunds get paid!

As that band clever old Brian Cox was once in said "Things can only get better"

Happy New Year

Kit Courteney said...

Bloody hell.

I'm crossing everything that things start to improve... including... erm... the Snoopy thing.

Nice.

Happy New Year?

:)

hyperCRYPTICal said...

Oh Dear Addy,

'Tis indeed a poor start - but it can only get better!

Hope Kay feels the benefit of ABs soon - and er, thinking of you with Snoopy!

Anna :o]

AGuidingLife said...

ahhh bugger. Maybe you're just getting all the rotten stuff out of the way quickly so the year has only nice things left for it?

Strawberry Jam Anne said...

Oh no - what a beginning - things can only get better can't they. I do hope that Kay is much better soon and hope that Snoopy doesn't have too many ill effects from the Jaffa cakes. Happy New Year to all of you anyway! A x

Elizabeth said...

Travelling when you're really sick is just awful so I am glad the sick Kay was spared. Your trains sound worse than ours.

Eliza said...

Oh poor you and poor Kay! What a dreadful start to 2012, things can only get better hopefully. My Mothers dog got through a box of After Eights, a packet of Thornton's, and a box of Turkish Delight on Christmas Eve without any side effects :-)

Flowerpot said...

Oh no Addy what a start to the year! Still, it can only get better. Hope the rest just improves daily xx

Anonymous said...

Dare I say it? Happy New Year - it can only get better!

Hope Kay gets that ulcer sorted out, it sounds very painful.

CJ x

Nota Bene said...

Well I expect Snoopy's happy - for a little bit anyway!

I'd put that song on the CD player...you know the one that goes "Thing can only get better"!

Rehab Alert said...

Yes, traveling when you are sick is not a good way to start the new year :(

ChrisB said...

O M G!!! You poor things, it never rains but it pours - literally! I think there were fallen trees on the railway lines and power cables that had blown down in the gales. Reckon you made the right decision in the end, and Kay can get better in peace before she embarks on the journey again!! Happy New Year!!!

Anonymous said...

It can only get better...I hope!

Bon courage,

SP

Ellen said...

So sorry to hear of your disasterous start to 2012. I hope that Kay is beginning to feel much better now and that your Mother is settled back at home and is enjoying new new TV.

I hope that the rest of 2012 will prove to be happy, healthy and problem free - fingers crossed x

Achelois said...

Oh my word - everything went wrong all at the same time. I sincerely hope that the rest of 2012 goes much much better.
xoxooxo

DD's Diary said...

Oh my goodness! Not the greatest start .... but on the plus side, more time with Kay and your mum .... hope Kay's now feeling a lot better and that your tooth is ok too. And good luck with Snoopy too! Happy New Year x

Pets-Kids Photography said...

I was touched by your story. Hang in there! 2012 just began! Regards.

Pam said...

Hope things have improved since then. Poor you.