Health related updates first and this week brought an unwelcome realisation; that was that I had missed my 3-month hormone injection one month ago. I discovered this whilst with Sandra in our GPs surgery, with both of us querying when the last one was. A quick check with the receptionist and she confirmed that is should have been in early October. I quickly got a rebooking, but not until towards the end of November, meaning a lag of 7 weeks. As the week wore on, I became more and more concerned about the potential impact of this time lag, as this is one of the two key parts of my current treatment regime. How did I miss that, what I have just done to myself through missing it, waiting 3 weeks for that to take place caused me heightened anxiety. The solution - I rang up on Friday, and they managed to get me in later that afternoon. So, injection taken care of, but will see if it had any impact through the blood results, which are being done this coming week, then talk to Dr Rahman the following week; we’ll see what unfolds.

Alongside that, another 3 walks in with times of 13:14, 13:08 and 13:06. So, still the other side of 13:00, but did manage improvements throughout; is any of that being impacted by the month delay in the hormone injection - who knows!

Sandra had another private physio on Monday, then her final hospital physio on Tuesday. Both sessions have increased the short term impact upon her, coupled with the ongoing disrupted sleep; she is very tired overall, at the moment. The hospital have fully signed her off and are very happy with how the operation went and how she has recovered. It is now Sandra dealing with the non-operation impacts of this, working through them and hopefully getting to a much improved overall health situation.

I continued my focus on Volume 7, but through a very disjointed week with lots of non-routine items to get through. I completed the first draft adjustments to existing maps from Volume 6 (and earlier volumes!), then started the first hand drawn new map for the timeframe of the new book. Alongside that, I also went through my photo archive and scanned almost 50% of the required images for this volume, then began the process of reaching out to fellow history enthusiast colleagues for those I do not have; a good friend from the Ukraine has already confirmed that he has dozens more needed.

On Tuesday, whilst at the hospital, Sandra and I checked out a potential car nearby, but it had clearly been used for other purposes and was on the higher end of the expected price bracket for the year. Karl and I had time together on Thursday, where we planned to test drive one of the cars I have already been to see, but upon checking with the seller, it had gone. On Saturday, I test drove a car that popped up a few streets away, then Karl was able to do the same towards the end of the day. We both decided it was not for me, as it has some questionable aspects. The cars we have been looking at are at the lower end of the ‘run around’ scale, but so far, nothing that is giving me what I seek; let’s see what this week brings, or maybe I am just not meant to have my own car right now.

We rounded off the week by travelling to Dover to see Dan, Alanna and the grandkids all take part in the Remembrance Sunday parade there, as part of their Scout troop (last year we joined Karl and Rachel in Folkestone), with our Granddaughter having the honour of laying their wreath for them. Following that, we went back to Folkestone, picked up Karl, Rachel and Grace, took them back to ours and had a nice lunch and afternoon catching up; one of the benefits of Karl being back in Kent. A nice end to the week, getting to spend time with all of the family.

In summary, a week of non-routine, but one where I adjusted to ensure forward movement was achieved in some key areas. Also one with a self-created health aspect with an unknown impact.

Thanks for the unrelenting support.

Peter