Looking back and looking forward

The heading speaks of the last week in a nutshell.   On Sunday I went over to Holyhead to preach in the Methodist Church that shares premises with the Church in Wales on the Morawelon Estate.   They have been in residence since December 2011 and this was my first visit.   Looking at my diary, I see that I was last preaching in Holyhead on 2nd January 2011 - if I actually made it.   At that time we were experiencing a great deal of snow if my memory is right.   If I didn't make on that occasion it must be over 2 years since I preached at Holyhead Methodist Church.

I was not originally on the plan to be there but the Superintendent Minister, who was, needed to be elsewhere and so I took the service in his place.   It was a pleasure to share worship with them - after Amlwch Methodist Church, it is my favourite preaching place.   I love the small congregation there!   They originally had their own building that became too much to manage so joined the Welsh Methodists in the next street to the Post Office.   Last year the Welsh church decided to close because their quinquennial inspection highlighted some very expensive repair work which they could not afford to carry out.   So, once more the small English congregation looked around for a new home.   They eventually accepted the invitation of the similarly small Church in Wales congregation at St David's, Morawelon to share their building.   The Circuit now have high hopes for the future in partnership with the Anglicans.   The looking forward bit also includes the fact that I am again preaching at Holyhead on Sunday - two Sundays together!

On Tuesday we drove over to Ysbyty Gwynedd to see the consultant who operated on Pauline's broken femur some nine weeks earlier.   He was satisfied with her progress and confirmed that she was now the proud owner of a shortened left leg.   Prior to seeing the surgeon, Pauline had an x-ray and the radiographer remarked on how well she was walking for her age at that stage in recovery.   Apparently the rest of the patients of that age still struggle at that stage of recovery.   So here we have another sense of looking forward to a great improvement.

In another month we shall be transmitting the balance of the money for both our holiday residence in Spain and the ferry to take us to Santander.   The time is beginning to fly!   It seems certain we shall need to take the wheelchair with us so Pauline can visit the places she wants to see in Toledo and elsewhere.   As with last year, we are travellling by ferry and car with a day's stop in Toledo on each journey.   Seeing the vast countryside stretching away to the horizon is quite something as you drive along the autovias with almost no traffic for company.

Incidentally, Pauline is now down to using a single crutch outdoors and a walking stick at home.   What a woman!

Rochdale Trip

On Saturday I had a meeting for Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) supporters in Rochdale.   It was in my thoughts to travel alone with Pauline resting at home.   However, as the meeting venue was just half a mile along the road from our son's family home I felt it would be wrong to come straight back to Anglesey at 4.00pm when the meeting ended.   I said this to Pauline and she agreed.   Well, the idea grew and grew until we had organised a lunch and tea with David and family for both of us.   Our daughter, Sue visited too, so it become a family meeting.

Each week we assess what Pauline has done in terms of progress with her recovery and think about what the next step might be.   (This is not a pun!)   At this point she had not been on a long car journey and we thought it was worth trying it by now.   As it happened we did a dry run by driving to Warrington and M & S to get some clothes for Pauline on Wednesday.   We now knew she could do the journey as Rochdale is only 25-30 minutes beyond Warrington.   Whilst at M & S we found a skirt we both liked but the store did not have Pauline's size in stock.   We called in Mandy, the M & S Ipad user.   She checked the stock on the website and as there was just one skirt in Pauline's size we ordered it.   We requested that it was delivered to the M & S store in Bangor and this was arranged.   Once home, I checked my emails and there was one from M & S confirming the skirt would be available at Bangor, Northern Ireland!   It was not possible to reroute the package and so, this morning, an email arrived saying it was ready for collection  in Northern Ireland.   By this time we had located another skirt that arrived yesterday whilst we were in Rochdale so we now await a refund when the item is returned to the warehouse.  

I can report that Pauline had a very painful leg by the time we arrived home at 9.45pm yesterday.   Mind you, we had enjoyed our day.   Half way to Rochdale I had met up with a woman who wished to let MAF have an album of First World War postcards to sell.   Amazingly, although we had never knowingly met, we discovered that she had been present at my first solo presentation on behalf of MAF in Rhyl and that she had grown up in Sudden just half a mile from our MAF meeting yesterday.

This morning I am driving across the island to take the service at Holyhead Methodist Church.   This is my first service in their new home at St Davids, Morawelon so I am looking forward to it.   I have not taken a service in Holyhead for about 2 years but shall be doing two back-to-back this week and next.   Just like buses when you wait a long time and they all come together!

On Tuesday we return to Ysbyty Gwynedd to see the surgeon who operated on Pauline's leg in April so we  will be getting an expert's opinion on her progress.   Watch this space!

Here comes the rain

In life every new experience adds to one's portfolio of knowledge.   With the coming of the rain we have discovered how treacherous it can be for someone depending on crutches.   The crutches have rubber ends which can slip in wet conditions.   Paths become quite dangerous to people with walking difficulties.   Each year I power wash our paths at home.   However, the one I have not yet done is the one from the kitchen door.   Pauline has found that the surface may look normal but is still on the slippery side, particularly the surface of a manhole cover.   This means that at the earliest opportunity I have to power wash the path and the lower part of the drive where Pauline gets in and out of the car.

She has continued to make progress and has walked a few steps unaided.   Today I took her to the weekly coffee morning at church.   This necessitated walking up a fairly steep slope and then up 3 steps to get in the building.   After this there are three more steps in the entrance corridor.   She navigated all these obstacles with skill.   Once inside she parked her crutches and sat down to chat to her friend, Liz.   In the meantime I parked the car and then joined her.

After my session in the gym this afternoon I came home and showered prior to going to visit an old gentleman who had offered to show me round the village church at Llanfechell.   When I arrived he thought I had come to view his house which is for sale.   I managed to get him back on track and off we went to visit the church.   As I reached the village centre I asked where I should park.   He replied, "This isn't my church, so I haven't a key for it."   On we drove to his church which turned out to be St Patrick 's in Cemaes.   It was a lovely church but not as old as that in Llanfechell.

On the way back he suggested we should call at the church warden's house to see if we could borrow the key for the village church.   I agreed to this, but when I asked him where to drive he told me to go down Mountain Road and turn left.   This took us back to his house!   He had forgotten the plan to look up the church warden to get the key for the village church!   It was quite a different afternoon today.

Another Dimension in Recovery

On Saturday, 2nd June, as I reported in my last jottings, Pauline tried out a wheelchair whilst at Fron Goch Garden Centre.   Quite some time ago I introduced the idea of using a wheelchair to give her wider access.   I think she felt it was giving in in terms of recovery and that she needed to walk more and more with the crutches.   So the idea was rejected.   I was not surprised because I might feel just the same in her place.

So I was mildly surprised to hear her say on Thursday that she had decided that a wheelchair was a good idea.   However, I had, some weeks earlier, taken her library books back which left her short of reading matter.   Pauline can go only so far without a book to read.   I have a sneaky feeling that this was the deciding factor in going for a wheelchair.   On Thursday I rang a lady a few miles away who was the local Red Cross representative for issuing wheelchairs etc.   She told me it was £40 to hire a chair for three months and we arranged for her to deliver a chair on Friday morning.

My particular interest was how to collapse and expand the wheelchair and whether it would be easy to handle it in and out of the car boot.   I was given full instructions on how to do this and also how to avoid a nasty crack on the shins from the swinging footrests.   So, on Saturday we set off for the library at Llangefni.   It was difficult to handle both the basket we use for transporting books and pushing the chair.   After returning the books I got Pauline to drive the chair herself.   She was a little unsure but the library proved a great place to practice because of its layout.   It needed lots of turns and Pauline soon got the hang of it.

This now means that we can go to more places together and lead a more normal life which is excellent for us both.   For instance, we can visit Bodnant Gardens in the Conwy Valley, a National Trust establishment, and reach just about the whole estate.   All we need is some suitable weather.

Incidentally, last week we had lunch at the Maenan Abbey Hotel - also in the Conwy Valley.   About 3 weeks ago Pauline said she would like to have lunch at a place with style.   I thought about where I could take her and hit on the idea of the Maenan Abbey where I had welcomed back our Superintendent Minister, Rev Alf Williams, from his month long walk along the Cistercian Way.   It was the perfect choice!   The place has style and the food is excellent and inexpensive.   Pauline really enjoyed her meal there.

We now enter a busy period of meetings relating to Amlwch Methodist Church and the local Circuit.   It is important that Pauline can exercise more independence when I am out at meetings.   It started this afternoon when I went over to Penmaenmawr for a circuit service.   the pressure was on me to get home in time to cook dinner.   I made it and Pauline made some lovely gravy, standing unaided at the hob.   All in all we are doing well and I think we shall be able to look forward to a successful pair of visits to Toledo in Spain in September.   We managed to see only the cathedral there last year so it's important to see more of that amazing place this year.

So I feel I can say my darling wife is doing very well indeed.   She does suffer pain from time to time but it averages less each week.

A Good Week

Pauline is now making very good progress and enjoyed a few days visit from granddaughter, Emelia (10 years) and her mum, Cath.   The week's weather has been quite good and we both enjoyed having them with us.   The word is that they enjoyed it too!

On Tuesday I drove Pauline to her art club at Llaneilian WI and she took the steps in her stride with ease.   before w set off she asked me to see her up these steps.   It was not necessary!   She is very much more confident using the steps in and out of the house.   My input is now reducing, which is a pointer to the progress being made.

Yesterday we decided to visit Fron Goch Garden Centre on the other side of Caernarfon.   They provide wheelchairs so this helped Pauline to see all parts of the establishment.   The chair I chose was a self propelled version so Pauline could drive herself and I could deal with a trolley.   However, when it came to one area which didn't have a hard surface she met a few problems.   Having got into the chair she suddenly realised she did not know how to turn it.   I explained how to hold one wheel whilst pushing on the other.   It took quite a lot of practice and when she tried to navigate the vegetable shop she twice hit the counter.   The assistant was very amused!

Today we went to buy some meat from the local butcher and then went for a drive across the island.   At Holyhead we saw that a cruise ship was in port as were the ferries for Ireland.   No visit to that area is ever complete without calling in at Trearddur Bay for an ice cream.   Anglesey Ice Cream is always of a high standard, so I bought two 99s.   They went down a treat!   Afterwards we drove back home to Penysarn and enjoyed barbecued sausages on ciabatta rolls.   Afterwards I returned to a long term task I have of weeding the drive.   My neighbour commented, whilst I was doing this, that rain was forecast at 4.00pm.   It was early!   It started at 3.30pm!!

Tomorrow I have the task of preaching at my church in Amlwch and the sermon is on the love of God.   It's always a good thing to preach on this subject because one is never short of material!