2021: another bumpy year

 

image from Clipart Library

It's odd, really, that I've struggled so much more this year than I did in 2020.  Perhaps, like so many folk, it's the cumulative effect of still being in the midst of Covid and all that that entails?  It's also been much more worrying, for all my family, due to various illnesses cropping up this year for both family members and friends.  

Dad was taken back into hospital in May with severe abdominal pain, which turned out to be an incarcerated hernia for which he had to have surgery.  We were all very worried as he's no spring chicken (he turned 85 this year) but he got over the surgery only to be taken back into hospital again in July, which turned out to be pancreatitis.  He was very poorly and it's taken him some little while to recover. 

Adrian and I travelled south in August to meet up with my sister.  It was rather a last-minute arrangement and I must admit that I found the travelling very stressful, especially with the face mask restrictions having been lifted in England.  We travelled by the overnight ferry to Aberdeen and from there by train, with an overnight stop in Newcastle as I struggle somewhat with my back if I have to spend long hours sitting on a train.  We hadn't been off Orkney for a couple of years, so the crowds of people everywhere was equally stressful!  We've been pretty cocooned up here, although Covid cases have been rising again recently.    

We spent a couple of days at my sister's ~ it was so good to see them "in the flesh" again rather than just on Zoom 😍 Then we all went on to Hitchin, where we decided to base ourselves, so that we could spend time with Mum and Dad and help them with various things that needed doing.  It was equally as good to see my parents and spend time with them, but I was a little shocked at how frail Dad seemed to be.  I don't know why, really, after all he is in his mid-eighties and had had a few months of being very poorly.  I suppose no matter how old you are, it's always hard to see your parents aging too.  

We spent the last couple of days of our visit south just in Hitchin so that we could catch up with Sam, who we also hadn't seen for a couple of years.  We didn't want to risk meeting up with him whilst we were still going back and forth to my parents.  Although we did indeed see him, we had a little scare in that one of his colleagues tested positive so it was a flurry of testing for all of us ~ thankfully, our results were all negative.  Coming home we had to make two overnight stops, one in Perth and the other in Thurso, as ScotRail were on strike....as I said, a very stressful trip south indeed and we were very pleased to get back home again!

Having said all that, I am making another trip south next Friday, this time with Beverly.  We are in the midst of having work done in the guest bedroom and whilst we would be perfectly happy to let the guys have a key, it's better for Adrian to stay home in case anything crops up!  Mum is having surgery on the 26th, so Beverly and I are going down to help out round the house for 12 days or so whilst she recovers.  This time, though, we are flying which I confess I am not looking forward to in the slightest 😟  Still needs must, not least because whilst Beverly wants to see her grandparents and brother, she is primarily coming with me because I am nervous about doing the journey on my own ~ and I think I feel a tad better about flying than she does about going on the ferry!  So we will be flying from Kirkwall to Aberdeen, with about a three hour wait to then get the onward flight down to Luton.

I shall be staying with my parents until the 8th December, whilst Beverly is hoping to spend a couple of days prior to that with her friend.  We are then both going on to Hitchin so we can see Sam, and I'm also hoping to catch up with my friend Olive if she will be around 😊  We then fly back from Luton on the 10th and hopefully should be landing in Kirkwall about 6.30pm.

2021 has turned out to be a pretty bumpy year and there is still a lot of ongoing "medical" stuff.  Whilst I admit that I can't help but worry about everyone concerned, nevertheless I am trying to stay positive that all will be well.