I have not blogged all throughout May as it has been a very difficult few weeks in which I have fallen off the food wagon more than once and resorted to eating crisps as my go to poison of choice just because it has been quite emotionally challenging. I have been so upset and angry with life that I haven’t been able to do much personal writing (thank goodness professional science writing has been flowing – probably because I can use it to escape for a couple of hours at a time).
May started out OK but as often happens in life it is the things that you neither expect, predict or are even worrying about being on your radar that knock you sideways when they occur.
The run of unpleasant stuff began when I was reversing out of Asda car park one day, when picking up Feisty daughter to get her hair done for her prom when two idiots met! I had crunched my car into another lady who was reversing round a truck. Neither of us had seen each other, probably because we were both preoccupied with getting other stuff done, fortunately we had neither of us done much damage to each other’s cars but things like that shake you up and make you realise that you are fallible.
Managed to get Feisty daughter to the hairdresser in time to get her hair done and it looked beautiful. She looked lovely for her prom too so all was going well and she managed to have a good time with her friends at Luton Hoo, where the prom was held.
The weekend proved more challenging as Feisty daughter is doing her GCSEs which were due to begin on the Tuesday after the prom (no idea why her school has done this crazy idea IMHO) but hey ho this is the first and probably last year they are doing the prom before exams (usually do it after so the girls can celebrate properly).
Supportive husband had been into London on Saturday 11th May to go to the Ideal Home show and got back around 4pm. Feisty daughter and I then went out shopping to get some pizzas for Saturday’s dinner. When we came back Supportive husband delivered some terrible news, our neighbour had been round and was in a terrible state because she had seen on our village facebook page (Ickleford Life https://www.facebook.com/groups/Icklefordians/) that a cat had been run over and put on the side of the road. Supportive husband had checked it out and it was Sybil, our mad Abyssinian that had been run over and killed and he had buried her in the garden in her favourite spot to sit so as not to upset us before we got back.
Sybil RIP in her favourite spot in the garden
Needless to say we were all devastated as we had her from a kitten for four years and she was so much a part of our lives and family. I spent most of the weekend trying to keep a lid on it and failing as I didn’t want to make it worse for Feisty Daughter who had to try and get back to exam revision.
Fortunately, I had an extra role in a film on the Monday so had to pick myself and up to go into London. The film (Dad Jokes) was about a man who was disabled at the age of 11 and was afraid to be a dad. It helped put the cat’s death into perspective and also took my mind off it for the day. I met some lovely people on set and had some really good chats about life with them which helped me feel better and the best part was the prosecco at the end of the shoot.
The following week, Smart son was ill again (he’s had tonsillitis keep recurring) so I told him to get a test for glandular fever as he had all the symptoms. It came back positive. I knew it would as I had had glandular fever when I was at uni and the symptoms he had were the same. It’s so awful when your child is ill and they are so far away as you feel helpless. When he told me, I thought oh well at least that’s the last horrible thing (for some reason bad news always comes in threes!)
Towards the end of the month, things seemed to improve. I took the car to be looked at and there is no major damage so both I and the other lady involved in the accident decided not to claim on our insurance. My insurer now says this means I won’t lose my full no 9-years’ claims bonus and my insurance won’t be affected – phew.
Supportive husband could see how upset Feisty daughter and I were without a cat in the house so he spent hours trawling the adopt an animal web sites and found a cat that he thought would be just right for us. He contacted her owner and we went to visit her and then her owner dropped her off at our house on Feisty Daughter’s 16th birthday, which was a lovely way to celebrate. Our new cat is called Daisy and she is a very gentle, sweet natured cat who has settled into our house really well now and we love her to bits. We took her to the vets for a check up and she is a very healthy cat. Thankfully, she is more of a house cat than Sybil was (we couldn’t keep Sybil in if we tried as she could open the front door). Daisy only likes to go in the garden, field and woods at the back of our house so we look forward to many happy years with her .
Smart son also felt better and thought that his first year maths exams went well, despite being so poorly. He is now home from uni for the summer with all his dirty washing – nice. I think this week, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and am looking forward to a much better few months now and to perhaps blogging a bit more often.
Thanks for reading my long ramble, if you want to make any comments about any posts you’d like me to do in future please feel free.
Dr Sue Pearson 