Two normal days in the life…(Day 274-275)
Back in Bristol, two normal days in the life of the Grownup travellers...
We’re staying at the nice Airbnb that we stayed when we were back in May. This time the owners are on holiday, so we are on our own. Up and out for our eye appointments. No funny spectacles to wear, where the optician slides the various strengths of lenses, fiddling around until you can see clearly. Instead, the optician has all mod cons now; “look through this machine…now I am just going to puff onto your eyes”. Tim’s eyes haven’t changed, whereas mine has slightly deteriorated, so I had fun trying on various pairs of glasses with very different shapes to my current ones.
Back to John’s, our youngest, and the three of us when and registered at the Doctor’s Surgery. At the reception, we could see that the desk was split into two and it turned out that there are two doctors’ practices within the same building. What does this demonstrate, I wonder?
A lovely lunch with John at a little deli in Brislington. It opened in June and we chatted to the owners just before we left in November. It was certainly thriving which is lovely to see. Salad for me – I’ve got to fit in that outfit for Saturday!
John offered to give me some treatment. He is a soft tissue therapist with his own business BodyCare Therapy and has a fabulous treatment room in a very nice building called [Here] with ITV Studios next to him. Wow – he’s good, both professional and competent. He was so informative, telling me what was wrong with my knee and the impact this has had on my body. He did various techniques to “release off fascial restriction and improve muscle functionality”. Not exactly relaxing. “Breathe,” he said. I could definitely tell the difference.
Later Tim and I drove into Bristol centre for a bit of shopping. Sandals for me which magically I got straight away, trousers and jeans for Tim – he has lost so much weight – all his muscles are evaporating as he doesn’t go and see his “mate” Gym now. Interestingly and sadly we noticed a big change in Marks and Spencer. It used to be renowned for its excellent customer service, where assistants were at the customers’ beck and call. Today it was like playing hide and seek to find one. I had to bellow out “Hello” to get someone’s attention so that we could pay at the till!
Day 275 was a day of driving; first, over two hours to Winsford to pick up Kath, Tim’s Mum. And then 3.5 hours to Salisbury, picking up our eldest George and his girlfriend Laura. Next a short 20-minute drive to our Airbnb – Sunny Cottage. What a delightful place. We opened the thatched cottage to be greeted with organic bread, jam, ginger biscuits, local freshly laid eggs and milk in the fridge. How lovely is that!
Later John and his girlfriend Georgia arrived with the food shopping he had kindly got for us all. Dinner was assembled, a family effort, everyone mucking in and do their bit. Chatting, eating and now time for sleep before the big day.
