A little under the weather

Wake at six needing the loo, Norman is still sleeping soundly so go bad to bed and sleep on until seven thirty. Outside its a beautiful morning, the sky a clear blue and the sun shining brightly to the southeast. Norman trots into the garden then sprints back enthusiastically in anticipation of his breakfast. My morning coughing dislodges ill smelling green phlegm, so there is still a way to go until I am recovered. The frying pan is on its last legs and when Sarah asked what I wanted for my birthday, a decent non stick pan was what I requested. The broadband is too slow to download the Guardian, or to interrogate my bank account. I will really have to change my supplier. Shower, dress and collect Dolly and Teddy by half past nine. It is another clear morning but there is a brisk wind out of the west, as we go into the woods. I phone Felicity to see if she is going to the Poppy Seed cafe, she says she is going for ten, but as its twenty to ten already when I phone, I tell her it is likely to be a quarter to eleven before I get there. I feel a little tired today, perhaps the chest bug, so give gardening a miss when we get back, and drive into town. We park at the top of Westwood Road and walk the quarter of a mile or so into town to the Poppy Seed, arriving at twenty to eleven, just in time to see Felicity totter round the corner into the Market Square. The cafe is otherwise empty, so we follow her and catch her up, she says she has been in the cafe on her own since ten and none of the others came, so she got fed up and left. We walk into town together and then she sits on a bench, whilst I pop into Tim's hairdressers for my monthly trim, she tires very quickly, so I walk her back to her house. En route we pass "The Copper Kettle Cafe", down Lairgate, it has been closed for ten years since the previous owner died, but has now reopened. They agree to Norman coming in, so we stop and have a soup and a roll, before continuing the journey back to Albert Terrace, where Felicity lives. It's less than two hundred yards, but she has to stop and rest on the wall half way. I don't need to tell her, because she knows she is failing fast and her great hope is to be able to stay in her own home. I see her safely in and then walk back to the car with Normy and drive back to Tickton for one. After giving Norman some biscuits and water, I take a cup of tea and some oaties in the garden and do a puzzle in the sunshine. After lunch, I drive back into Beverley and drop a pair of old but at one time expensive, Oxford shoes into the cobblers for new soles and heels and then park at Tesco's and walk with Normy through town to Wednesday Market. Later call in at Tesco's for some salad, bread, some more oven chips and lamb burgers. By the time I get home at four, I feel very tired, but make lamb burger chips and salad for dinner. Norman has the same, minus the salad and chips and comes back for seconds. I resist the temptation to lie down and listen to the news and then take Normy down the lane for his evening walk. It is starting to get dark and I am thankful that I put on a scarf with my fleece. We get back for seven and I read a book until bedtime. Turn in early at Nine thirty.