Sir5R Journeys and Detours

Today has been an ‘okay’ day from a weather perspective… until quite recently when we were treated to a brief downpour. The temperature has plummeted, things have gone a bit gray…

At the home where we are currently staying, Andrew and Hayley’s on Pyle Hill Road, things are in quite a state. We are staying in their current house, an older frame house that has seen better days. But on the rest of their 2 acre plot, they are building a neo-Georgian mansion of 5000 square feet. The new house is absolutely huge… the current house, referred to alternately as the Clampett house or the ‘shed’ might be 2000 square feet in a pinch. The layout is, to my eye, odd. Long, rectangular rooms. I think that Andy made some quick upgrades just before they moved in (like new windows, a new bathroom/laundry room downstairs), but this house is a ‘throw away’. He’s going to knock it down once the new house is complete. You can lean (okay, big stretch) out the living room window and touch the new house. And things just got really interesting; the gentlemen installing a very nicely done split rail fence punctured the waterline to the ‘shed’. We will spend the evening ferrying water, bucket by bucket from the new house to this one. And Hayley is prepping dinner for guests… Thank goodness for low flush toilets. Why not just run a hose from the new house to this one? The plumbers haven’t yet installed the standard fittings in the new house; we’ll be tapping directly into the mains… I find it fascinating that there are two water feeds to this property.

Yesterday was a nice day with two shopping trips into the surrounding towns. First we ran out to Guildford to get a particular type of jeans for Jennifer. They’ve made changes to labels, or something, causing Gail to balk at the purchase until she can communicate with Jennifer. We then walked around a bit… something which did not cause me any grief at all. My shoulder and back seem to be getting strong enough to handle the walking… its the standing that remains the problem. And as we walked through Guildford, we passed a Boots pharmacy a number of times, and I completely forgot that we needed to pick up some Ensure each time. I didn’t remember until we got back to the house, and then had to ask Hayley to take us out again. Instead of Guildford, we went into the town of Woking, proper, and found a Boots. And they didn’t have any! In fact, the shop girls (interesting British invention; shop girls) were quite taken aback by the request. They wanted at least three days to get stock. Now understand that Boots is the British equivalent of London Drugs (same colours on the logos), Shoppers Drug Mart or Walgreen’s (USA). Frustrated, we called Gail’s mother in Southport to ask her where she got the stock that she has laid in for me. She suggested a place called Moss Pharmacy, which is a dedicated pharmacy, the likes of which we haven’t seen in Canada for some time. We found one, and discovered that yes, they had the Ensure. They keep it behind the counter. And, when asked how many I wanted, I said that I wanted a case; they were very surprised. I cleaned them out and still only managed to get a dozen cans/bottles.

But oddly enough, I am eating slightly better in the last couple of days…

Dinner tonight will be a collection of curries. For part of the shopping, Hayley and I went off to an East Indian grocery in Woking where I managed to score a tub of chocolate flavoured halvah! Lovely stuff, very tasty, but is proving to be very dry and drying… I grabbed the wrong stuff. If I had gone for the plain or pistachio flavoured halvah, its much wetter, and not unlike a spread like peanut butter or nutella.

I’m feeling pretty good. I took a walk down the road (a private road, no less) to the A320. No problems… everything is still working well. And the houses on this road are phenomenal! Andrew’s latest construction on this plot will do the road justice… and, I’m guessing here, based on some stuff that one of Andrew’s friends has said, but this new house should be worth in the £2 million plus range.

Guests have arrived… I’m going to have to go…