Living With Gladys Full Time

As our little away day to Cambridge draws to a close and we get ready to head back to our base at Epping I thought it might be a good time to put pen to paper (or, apply pressure to key pad) and reflect on the months activities.

Its been quite busy being up here, mostly in terms of driving to get everywhere else I needed to be! The little C1 has certainly put in some overtime this month. As you will remember from the last post I had been quite unsettled at the start of the month up here. Apart from missing the proximity to the kids and all that, we realised that a big part of it was that I felt so disorientated. Geographically I didn’t know where I was in relation to anything (that won’t surprise anyone that knows me well, my geography and sense of direction is nearly as bad as my logic and pattern matching ability)! A month in and I am getting myself from pillar to post quite happily, so for our next move, a study of the map before hand will be really important for me.

The C1 is also the culprit for title of this blog!
The longer journeys and the non lumbar supported seats have awakened an old back injury that Alistair had. Like a poor old man, he’s been laid up for a week, unable to move very far and bent over like an old codger. So with Alistair out of action who was left to do the very important mans jobs? yes, the Roustabout of course.
So let me be clear here, this week I have earned my Brownie badge for Waste and Sewerage Removal! I knew it was coming, in the privacy and quiet of my own mind I had been noting the rising levels of waste on the indicator board compared with the diminishing levels of Alistair’s movements and it didn’t take a genius to work out that 2 were not compatible! I did it though, and whats more I feel confident that I could do it again although I do prefer the very well defined jobs in Gladys of girls jobs and boys jobs!

I also had to go the extra mile and drive Alistair to the ‘Hand Puppet’ this week. Nothing to be alarmed about, he decided to get his PSA levels checked and also wanted a couple of forms signed. Suffice to say we have not been persuaded to change our opinion of Hand Puppets, they really are next to useless.
We asked if we could have a referral to an Osteopath (erm… not on the NHS, we can give you a prescription for some rather costly drugs though). We asked if the NHS would pay for Alistairs alternative health supplements (erm… no but we could prescribe you some very expensive drugs though). What the puppet didn’t tell us though was that if you have cancer you can get your prescriptions for free!
Anyway, the PSA test is booked and we can at least get an indicator of how things are going at a biochemical level. As ever it makes us both feel a bit funny, a little unsettled and unsure as to whether it is the right thing to be doing, who knows?

Talking of cancer, its really strange but when you mention it to people I have noticed that there seems to be a specific ‘cancer sympathy’ look that is almost universal in its users and they seem to do it unconsciously!
It looks like this, on hearing the words (usually, my husband has Prostate cancer) the listeners head noticeably slants to the left or right whilst simultaneously their eyes squint and their mouth puckers together forming the shape of an ‘oh’. Don’t get me wrong, I am not criticising here’ it really does convey sympathy and feeling its just its made me chuckle and I find myself waiting for it whenever I mention the ‘curve ball’ to new ears!

So I am happy to share that life is good,apart from his back Alisatir is well, Gladys is fab and we just love coming home to her.In fact when Candace and Roy popped by on their way home from Northampton last week as soon as Candace got in the door she said ” Oh good home in Gladys even though its in a different place”!

I was nattering to a new acquaintance on the Biomedicine course that I am on and as I heard myself talking about how we live in an RV and the lifestyle that we lead I thought it sounded pretty cool really, the sort of thing I used to hear other people say and wish we could be doing, and now we are!