I had a good Birthday. The Cabin Boy walked the Ship’s dog so that I could have the ‘day off’, bless him. He’d bought me a card and surprised me by buying me some chocolates for my Birthday. It was most unexpected, and well received – coffee creams, yummy! I didn’t buy a Birthday cake in the end, none of them took me by the throat, or else they were too big so I settled for a small cheesecake which we both like.

My friend bought me a nice bunch of flowers and offered to take me to lunch. I’ve had a ‘funny’ stomach for over a week, so graciously accepted a bacon roll at our favourite garden centre. It wasn’t what we had planned, but there’s no point paying good money for food that you know you’ll regret later - I feel the need for plain food at the moment. I had a nice amount of cards from family, and spent a few hours with my sister who’d made me some gloves and socks to keep me warm.

On that note, I had an appointment today (Wednesday) at the hospital with the neurologist for them to test the nerves in my hands. I took out the lifeboat, and had to travel about 15 miles to the main hospital. I was early and settled myself down with a book which was fun as I had to wear gloves to keep my hands warm for the test. I’d only read a page when I was called in. I don’t think I’ve ever been seen before my appointment time, so I was well pleased. I was ‘wired up’ and they passed a current through to see the reaction times of my nerves; most peculiar. I was told it wouldn’t hurt. They lied! It wasn’t very painful, but as they turned up the voltage, it was bordering on quite painful. I’ll have the results in about 2 weeks. I was at the hospital less than an hour, but was charged over £2 to get the lifeboat back out. Shocking!

Locally, it’s rained every single day this month and the buckets on the deck have been getting quite full. We had the driest September on record, and now I think we might be heading for the wettest October. The garden needed a drink, but I’m getting fed up of it now and finding it hard to get laundry dry. Every winter I think about getting a tumble dryer, but I really have nowhere to put it. The shed would have been ideal, but not long after I’d moved in water got through the roof and fried all the electrics out there. It had to be isolated from the main fuse box due to blowing the house electrics. We’ve had some fun on this ship…

Hope you enjoy the rest of the week. We’re on the downward slide to the weekend :)