Time off - Tue 8 to Wed 9 July 2025

 

Strangely I’m going to start this with my Monday night at work. I was training up a newbie, so I wasn’t able to listen to an podcasts while at work, which I mention in a blogpost about the week’s listening. 

On Tuesday I got home for about nine in the morning, and had a quick half an hour or so before getting up at twenty to eleven in the morning, because there was an appointment to take Louise to. 

I took my girl to see a private ear specialist, who cleared the wax from her ears, that was lodged hard against the eardrum I think. The NHS doctor’s thought was that the wax had caused an imbalance, but it was in fact that her hearing is very different from one ear to another. 

Luckily the tablets that the doctor had given Louise were helping to make up for the imbalance, which allowed her to have a semblance of life, quite literally. 

It was a worthwhile appointment, and I’m glad that it happened, although I wasn’t a fan of only getting about thirty minutes of sleep. 

When we came out I took us both to the Dunkin’ Donuts place that was basically next door, where we both had what they were calling a Flat White coffee, but the froth told me otherwise. We also had a donut each, and a huge milk chocolate cookie to share. 

There was a recording with Ed for When They Was Fab again that night, which was to extend the second episode that has our chat with The Ajjancy and Fernando about cover versions of Beatles songs. 

On Wednesday I picked up my brother James, whereupon we grabbed a coffee at Costa in Mansfield, before both of us went to visit mum at the care home. We spent about an hour there, but very little of what she was saying made any sense. Alzheimer’s is an awful thing! I bet it’s frustrating for mum as well? 

After me and my brother finished, there was a long time to wait for him to get his train back home, we drove around a few places from our history - a couple of places where mum and James’ dad (my stepdad) lived, as well our late grandma and granddad, and a couple of places where I lived. 

I also told James the story of my last interaction with his dad the night before he passed away, which is still a tough thing to talk about.

After seeing James onto  the train I took Louise to the doctors, for a follow up to the previous doctor’s visit, giving them updates from the ear clinic the previous day.

We watched The Good Life season two episodes 4 and 5 on the BBC iPlayer. 

Thursday wasn’t great, and thinking back I made a mistake saying yes…

Initially I called  my Doctors surgery at 8am, to see if I could get an appointment, before getting through the on hold system at ten to nine, when I obviously didn’t get one as such. Instead I was informed that a doctor would call me during the day to chat with me, and make an appointment in the process. 

I’d been stupid, because I still hadn't changed my doctors from when we moved three and a half years ago, so it is around an hour’s drive there. With this in mind the doctor’s called me at ten to eleven to see if I could make an emergency appointment at ten past twelve. 

I got a bath of course, because the problem was me not having been to the toilet for nearly three weeks at that point. There may not be poop there, but it’s still not great for someone to look into. 

So, I got ready, and left for the doctors. On the way there were a couple of lots of roadworks with temporary traffic lights, and at 12:04, when I was six minutes away from the appointment time, I was thinking of the said appointment when I accidentally went through a crossing, knocking a pedestrian at the crossing over with my car. 

I was bothered that I wouldn’t make the appointment, but more bothered about the lady. 

I did however ring to tell the doctors that I wouldn’t make the appointment. It took so long for an ambulance to come for the lady, and when her family arrived, they understandably didn’t want me to be around, instead standing out of eyesight. 

The police spoke with me in an interview room at the police station, and then I went home, got ready for work, and drove all the way back to the town where the accident took place, because that’s where my doctor’s surgery was. 

I say “was” because during the day my registration had gone through to a GP surgery a few minutes away from where we now live. 

I went there on the way home, and was given a prescription only remedy to use, being told to call them if it hasn’t worked by Monday - I went to the toilet a couple of times a few days later on the Sunday. 

When I got to work I had another night of training someone at work. 

1. I should have changed my GP long before I did. 

2. I should have said no to the appointment, because of the tight timing. 

3. I should have just accepted that I wasn’t going to make the appointment on the way there, pulled up, and called the doctors surgery to say I was nowhere near to get there in time. Then I should have turned around and gone back home. 

However, I had all sorts of things on my mind, surprisingly being bothered about the fact that I could have had some sort of cancer or something. That was blinding me. I should just have accepted that if that was the case, then that’s how it is. I’ve never been bothered in life and death situations before. Hell, I turn up to alarm activations at work sometimes hoping that I might not make it out alive. 

What can I say? For the most part my life is and always has been absolutely shit! All that is good in my life is Louise. 

I’m sorry for the Debbie Downer ending. Thursday was negative, and I can’t sugarcoat it. 

I spoke with my dad about this while I was at the incident, and he’s very poorly at the moment, as is his wife, and I feel bad that I added this to their situation. I just needed parental advice and support.