Encouraging Gypsy cat to drink milk after her funny turn
As usual time has flown past. We had a hiccup on Saturday, just about to go out for the day when little Gypsy had a turn of some sort, she jumped off the sofa only to find her legs weren’t really hers, and not just because they were asleep. She made it to the kitchen only to be sick, she was obviously very shocked and stressed. I immediately rang the vets, where she doesn’t often go, she tends to savage them if they try to do anything apparently! They were closing in an hour for the bank holiday but would see us as an emergency, so across the road to Gill to borrow a cat basket and off we went.
Ron the heron surveying the canal from a tree top
By now she was suffering from nystagmus (no, I’d never heard of it either) which is dilated pupils, rapidly moving from side to side. The vet nurse took one look and took us to a side room as this is an indicator of her brain being in overdrive with a potential for another fit, so keep her calm and dark, which we did for the next hour and a half till the vet saw us. She had quietened down by then, been put on a warm bed as her temperature was low and did manage to walk in a straight line for the vet. This made me very happy as she’d either been staggering or leaning against things when we’d left the house. So blood test, and cleaning out of the ear which may have been affecting her balance and take her home.
The very nice Queens Park in Loughborough
The call from the vet with the blood results came very quickly and was good news, all the readings were in the normal range, though one kidney result was top end of normal. Poor little Gypsy just slept all afternoon and evening, waking only to drink despite visits from Gill and us offering her all sorts to eat. She did continue to improve and was back to her normal self by the time Peter returned home, so our initial fears that she’d had a stroke seem, fortunately, to be unfounded however looking at her age, her weight loss, her increased drinking, the quality of her fur and things, with my best vets hat on I suspect she is beginning to have kidney problems. Poor Gypsy, poor Peter and poor us!
Wollaton Hall near Nottingham
We finally made it to Wollaton Hall where we had been about to go on Bank Holiday Monday, Brian’s Birthday. Had a lovely day out, the Nottingham Industrial Museum, a very interesting woman in role play as a nail maker, the Hall with its collection of stuffed birds and animals and a random man wandering about with a parrot. What’s not to like? We followed this up with a meal out thanks to the gift card Fiona had sent, not the best, as they were obviously suffering bank holiday fatigue, but a good round off to the day.
Jackie with a very friendly parrot
Peter and Jenny arrived back on Tuesday so we had a very pleasant meal with them before Jenny went home as her son was delivering her cat back to her. One last coffee in bed with Gypsy, who just makes you smile, on the bed, 'you may fuss me till I’ve had enough, however if you stop before I’ve had enough I’ll just gently pat you....'
And Brian too!
Change of plan then followed, not back to mum, but back to Sooty, as Abi had been in hospital since Sunday, she’d gone to the doctor thinking she might have a flea bite or two, only to be told to go straight to hospital where they went through meningitis, chickenpox and measles, before finally settling on an allergy to the antibiotics for her root canal needing tooth! She had been completely out of it at times, but by the time we got to the hospital, having had a cup of tea with Mary, her mum, who really needed to talk, and then to go home, she was almost back to normal, only a few barely visible spots (there had been more, she’d posted them on Facebook) and making as much sense as usual 😉. We waited two hours till she finally got discharged and took her home.
He even gave little kisses
Big Ted having his MOT done
Yesterday both Big Ted and the car were booked in for MOT’s, that neither of them were due, but would put them at a more convenient time for us next year. The van passed with flying colours, but sadly the car needed a new spring fitting. Thought we’d better do this before taking mum and Charles and Caroline away, so, very conveniently, left it with them. A good evening in the Weighbridge pub with mum, before today pottering in Redditch. A curry tonight with Helen and Ian before going to my brothers tomorrow for a party. Charles is 16 today and Caroline is 14 on September 11th.
What Jackie didn't mention was the mild panic she was having over the entrance door height. When I booked 'Big Ted' in I'd told them he was 3.1m high and they measured their door at 3.17m. Not much clearance and we were a bit worried how accurate the 3.1m height of Big Ted is. Here he is being driven in - all pretty close!
And we thought Big Ted was big! Whilst waiting for the MOT this huge vehicle pulled in to fill up. Two panels this side and two the other side slide out to give an immense space inside. The owner was telling us it is just for the two of them and they tow a car behind as well. They are leaving the UK in November for a three month trip in Spain, perhaps we'll see them on the road (lets hope we don't meet them coming the other way on a narrow road!)
A 45 mile (1hr 20min) journey took us north-east from Sooty cat in Hall Green, Birmingham to our next charge, Gypsy cat in Loughborough, Leicestershire for 10 days while owner Peter has a holiday in Anglesea, Wales.
Peter greeted us on arrival, cooked us dinner and we had a splendid evening over wine and G&T swapping various stories, while getting to know 17 year old Gypsy cat. It's Friday now, we're halfway through, we've got to know Gypsy cat (who sleeps for what seems like 22 hours per day), had several half days out in Loughborough and a day out with my sister Denise and husband Paul in Loughborough, Rothley and on the Great Central Railway, more on that later.
Gypsy cat awake...
Gypsy, when she's awake, likes company, often following us around and sitting with us at mealtimes, likes strokes and early morning breakfast. Peter gets up much earlier than us (5:00am) so Gypsy is used to early breakfast so wanders into our bedroom at that time meowing with her raspy voice until Jackie gets up and feeds her (I, of course never hear this, pretending to be asleep!). Peters house backs onto the Grand Union canal, so it's quite nice looking out over water and seeing the odd narrowboat pass by, but it's not that easy to get to the towpath to take a walk. I've never really thought about it before, but living on the wrong side of the canal towpath means a long walk to the nearest bridge, unless you have a boat to take you across, so that realisation came as a disappointment.
...and most often how we see her
Gypsy cat asleep in the conservatory
Anyway, 10 minutes walk takes us to the towpath in one direction or into Loughborough town centre in the other. It's a nice enough town, very good university, pedestranised shopping area with lots of restaurants and pubs to suit all pockets, a few interesting old buildings (the town hall and the NatWest building to name but 2), some nice parks, good local walks and the Great Central Heritage Railway, severed from the main London line in 1966 and now the UK's only double track heritage railway and the only place in the world where full sized steam engines can be seen passing each other. (see: http://www.gcrailway.co.uk/)
The canal at the bottom of the garden, towpath on opposite bank
We'd finally managed to arrange to meet up with my sister, Denise and husband Paul, only the second time we've seen them this year and they came up here so we could go out for a walk, followed by a beer and a pub dinner. Where to take them? My thoughts went to the local Beacon Hill, the highest point in the county with great views and I looked at a walk through woods and up the hill of about 8 miles. That'd be nice I thought, until I saw a message from her saying 'I don't want to go too far, not too fast and I don't do hills!'. Mmmm, something else then. Nearby Swithland reservoir looked good, great views, flat (fulfills one of her requirements) and with a viaduct carrying the Great Central Railway, but a long 11 to 12 mile walk round, mostly on roads (not fulfilling her other request).
At Loughborough Central Railway station
Canal walk out to Charnwood Water then back into town? Bit short really. In the end, as it was a holiday period and the heritage railway was running, we planned a canal walk to Loughborough Great Central (the start of the heritage railway), only about 2 miles away, a steam train ride down through Quorn station, over the Swithland reservoir viaduct to Rothley station, a bit of a walk back to the reservoir, catch the last train back to Loughborough at 4:00pm and then a walk into town for a beer and meal. Perfect! The trains were every hour, it was just after 11:00am so we would catch the 12:00 and have plenty of time to amble to the reservoir and back before the 4:00pm last train.
At Charnwood Water
Tea and chat meant it was 11:25 before we left and, coupled with the fact that we weren't entirely sure where the railway station was and ended up on a parallel road with 2 minutes to go meant that the leisurely walk quickened markedly in pace, culminating in us all running the last 100m after we heard the trains horn hoot. Yes, I can confirm, I saw my sister running, an event rarely if ever seen (I suspect the last time was at sports day when we were at junior school!). The brutal truth was, we missed it! the very nice man at the ticket counter told me that one was only a diesel anyway, the one at 1:00pm would be a steam train. 'Only a diesel!' That happened to be a 'Class 37' and the class (of then 300 of them) I designed and supplied a fan clutch for in the 1980's, I have intimate knowledge of its working!
Buying tickets in the foyer of Central Railway Station
Never mind, lets walk to nearby Charnwood Water to pass the hour (the miles are ticking up!). It was a little further than anticipated but a nice lakeside walk and by the time we'd chatted a bit more and taken a few selfies time was getting on and we needed to go, so back to the station with 10 minutes to spare and still only about 4 miles walked. Feeling a bit peckish we ordered very reasonably priced sandwiches and drinks in the buffet car, which needed making so we sat down in a carriage, the train pulled out and in 9 minutes we were in Quorn & Woodhouse station with no sandwiches and only about another 10 minutes before we reached Rothley. Sandwiches arrived, train pulled out, we munched very nice sandwiches very quickly while going over Swithland reservoir viaduct and had just finished in time to get off at Rothley. So much for the leisurely day!
The lovely Loughborough Central station
We watched the train head on to Leicester where, according to the station master, it would turn round and return here in about 40 minutes (I spent time telling him about the fan clutch I designed for the Class 37, but he didn't seem impressed!). Well, we've got time to walk to Swithland reservoir viaduct and get a photo of the train perfectly reflected in the reservoir, I said to much complaining. Off we went at a reasonable pace, along roads, through fields and, eventually into Swithland town where there was a pub, The Griffin.
The Royal Mail waggons that we think were used in the film 'Buster'
Denise and Jackie wanted to stop and have a beer and with only 5 minutes before the train and a longish walk through another field it didn't look good, but my powers of persuasion won through and we all marched off across a field up hill with a promise to return for a beer after capturing the perfect shot. High hedgerows obscured the view but, running I ran through a gate, heard the hoot of the train and saw it passing in the far distance through some trees. I tried to enthuse them to continue the walk through to Quorn and catch the train back from there, but it was no use, we returned to The Griffin and had a beer (walk distance: 6.5 miles).
Our train at Rothley station
Studying the map I could see the road passed over the reservoir by the viaduct only a mile or so away and we might be in time to get a perfect shot of the Class 37 reflected in the reservoir and we had 10 minutes to spare - more complaining. Another brisk walk and with 30 seconds to go to get a view we heard the hoot and sound of a train passing by! Blast! However, in 10 minutes the steam train we were to catch back would be coming out over the viaduct on it's way to Leicester so, on the third attempt we were ready and positioned and....got the perfect shot! Result finally! (walk distance: 8 miles). Now only a walk back, catch the train and then walk into town for another beer and dinner.
THE perfect shot!
We were back at the station with 20 minutes to spare so time for an ice cream at the cafe and a piece of cake cooked by Steph and carried by Denise, a pleasant ride back, walk into town and a great beer and dinner at The Three Nuns pub in Loughborough (it was supposed to be called The Three Tuns, but the name was mis-heard and wrongly registered). Total walk distance: 11.5 miles. In all I didn't fulfill Denises requests very well, it was much further and much faster than she wanted, but at least it was relatively flat. However, she went home with a smile on her face, it was a particularly good day. We can really recommend a day out on the Great Central Railway, very reasonably priced, friendly people and a real trip down memory lane. The other interesting thing about this railway is that scenes from the 1988 film 'Buster', starring Phil Collins and about the 1963 Great Train Robbery, were filmed here and we passed some Royal Mail waggons that we assume were used in the film. (see:https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/loco-in-great-train-robbery.40679/ and: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094819/locations)
Our route (including train journey)
Having our tickets clipped by a very nice guard
So, since then we've spent much more time with Gypsy cat, been shopping in Loughborough, been to the excellent Thursday market (amazingly cheap fruit, veg and meat), been to a museum and Queens Park and Jackie has been cooking fabulous dinners using up marrows and courgettes given to us by friends. We're enjoying it here, what will we do for the next five days....
Oh, forgot to add that, on our way back from the park today, a young boy leant over the brick wall in his house adjacent to the road and said 'excuse me', when Jackie looked he said 'no, not you, him'. He asked me if I knew how to fix gates (I thought he asked me if I knew how to fix skates), I said 'possibly, let me have a look'. He invited me up the steps to the gate but said not to go in, his mum won't allow it. He had a bolt in his hand, some tools and screws and, on the gate was an old bolt he was trying to remove. I couldn't go in and, of course, the bolt was on the inside, so I had to do it by leaning through. He was very interested and passed tools and screws, often telling me to keep my voice down so his mum couldn't hear. I fitted the new bolt and took the old one off showing him waht I was doing and how to do it and then we wished him well and left as we heard him calling his mum. I bet he told her how he'd fixed the new bolt on the gate! Well, if you can't help people what can you do. He was very polite and very grateful!
The beautifully preserved memorabilia at all of the stations
Sunday Tea Club: Crystal, Corinne, Ruben, Pete, Hillary, Jackie, Brian, Helen & Ian
We got back from Tim and Jill to Sooty, who hasn’t been enjoying the hot weather and had stopped eating, as it cooled down though, she has fortunately started again, she is however on medication for her thyroid which goes in her ear... easier than administering any other way but the first time we’ve come across it.
Ruby dog at Tim & Jills before we left
Out for a curry with Helen and Ian, Manu and Crystal, Pete and Hilary and Reuben, the full Sunday tea club gang, but it was Saturday and curry.... anyway, lovely evening but if Brian had eaten what I did he probably wouldn’t have had to take the magic powder in preparation for his colonoscopy! However he did, so I went to a Cross family turkey dinner without him. Had a lovely time, he did join the party for a bit on FaceTime, to allow for cake, candles and singing. Monday passed in a bit of a blur, neither of us feeling good for much, though his procedure all went without a hitch. Tuesday back to the hospital, again, for a study he is taking part in, then to Redditch for eye tests, via mum to collect tools, then onto Malvern to a solicitor where I had to prove my identity so I can be a witness for Abi. Fill the day, no time to waste.
Jackie may have mentioned in the last blog about the jigsaw of a map of Birmingham we did at Tim and Jills. Alex gave it to us as a present and we thought it would be easy. Not so, it was hard! At least we could refer to Google Maps to find out where obscure places were
Sooty cat looking alert...
Wednesday, chill and coffee, for me, with Alex, first time this year! And then Thursday, Abi arrived bright and early and we got down to work, the hall this time. Laminate floor, improvements to the newly plastered walls, a rubbish job, we were not impressed with, buying, cutting, waxing and fitting architrave, skirting and picture rail all done. Filler applied, all she has to do is paint the walls and replace the mirror. The radiator and alarm are back up and Brian has had a good clean round. Quick bite of lunch and off to meet Gypsy and Peter in Loughborough. Another old cat, we seem to be meeting a few of them at the moment.
Sooty cat chilling out
Just to add my little bit and say I'm now 80% of the way through my medical MOT, so far with a clean bill of health, so if anyone wants to know the finer details of a cystoscopy (its not as bad as it sounds, but always causes most men to go 'ooooh', sit up straight and look in pain), a colonoscopy (also not as bad as it sounds, the prep beforehand is the worst), prostate test and skin cancer check, then do let me know, I can go into lots of detail if required! Only a CT scan to go and that'll do me for a couple of years (waiting for an appointment for that one and that will determine when we can head off to Europe in 'Big Ted'). Its what happens when you get older, but its routine for me now and, on our National Health Service, it costs us nothing! I hope I haven't put you off your dinner, lunch or breakfast or whenever you're reading this!
Facetime chat at Fionas house. All the family are there except Brian (bottom half of the phone) and granddaughter Abbie (top half of the phone)
Ivy very interested in Jackies shoes
Three days work, laminate floor, skirting, architrave, picture rail and all the prep associated with it
Meanwhile, Sooty kept out of the way. Believe it or not, there is a cat hiding in those bushes....
Teddy here: we arrived back at Tim and Jill’s having left Big Ted at his storage depot, he seemed quite happy, which is more than can be said for me, the small black bundle of energy they call Ruby has for it in for me, and socks, and pants and shoes..... but they have no feelings! It started off fine as J&B ate with the family before Jill, Ellie and James headed off on holiday on Sunday. The Ruby Dog was well exercised as her mate Ebony also walks in the field where they chase like mad things, in between snuffling, digging and being encouraged with ‘sausages’ any old bit of dog food they can be encouraged with as a treat. As I quiver under the duvet I can frequently hear the call of “Ruby, sausage, come here Ruby, good girl want a sausage?” All sounds very odd to me!
Stimpy cat
The days have passed quickly as they try to tire out the black peril, which lasts for about an hour, then boundless energy is back. In between Brian going back to Birmingham for various bits of his MOT which have all been fine, and them trying to do a ridiculously hard jigsaw, a Birthday present of a street map of Birmingham. This has been a good excuse to stay in, in the cool while spending some time with Stimpy cat, as they are in ‘her’ sitting room, though I believe explaining this to Ruby has been tricky!
Jackie, Tim and Ruby dog with best friend Ebony dog
Ruby and Ebony dogs rough and tumble, looked on by Ebony's owner Joanne
Tim and Jills house from the other side of their field
Ruby dog and Brian at the start of the Jinny Nature Trail walk
The old Jinny Nature Trail railway station closed in 1948, unearthed from the undergrowth by locals and planted out with wild flowers. See their website: http://rolleston-on-dove-station.co.uk/
The line of the old railway on the Jinny Nature Trail
Things missed out of the last blog, were pictures taken at Spey Bay on the relaxed Friday and that one morning as I was feeding scraps to the chickens I had a fly past by the Red Arrows, that doesn’t happen every day! No pictures but a great sight.
Our campsite at Stirling
The journey to Stirling was longer than expected, seems to be a recurring problem, so sightseeing was off as the campsite was calling (Location: 56deg 2'47.9"N 2deg 53'35.2"W), though neither of us had that much energy anyway.... a nice enough campsite, but slightly overpriced we felt, but a good nights sleep before we finally got to see the Falkirk Wheel which was actually turning as we arrived, fortunately, as that was the last movement till we gave up and left, but it is a huge structure to join two canals of very differing heights, and really very interesting.
The Falkirk Wheel
A shorter journey followed to Jedburgh, still a couple of hours, and still just in Scotland..... it really is very big. Very basic campsite (Location: 55deg 26'01.6"N 2deg 33'06.1"W), but we loved the view, the walks they had marked all round the farm and the fact we were on our own. It poured with rain but by then we’d walked and were back in to cook the best fillet steak I’ve ever cooked, and the best I’ve ever cooked steak. We decided to open the bottle of wine that Victor and Greg had given us, that would go well with steak, and how right they were. You know it was a good meal when you keep cutting the last bite smaller and smaller so you delay finishing!
The Falkirk Wheel halfway through its cycle
Catterick on Tuesday, no real reason except that I’d found the Foxglove Covert Nature Reserve, accessed through Catterick Garrison army barracks, it all sounded very exciting and too good to miss, who wouldn’t want to go to a covert nature reserve? I may have been putting the wrong spin on it, but it cracked me up, as well as the man with a gun who allowed us in to get the parking permit before we drove to a second gate where we had to wait for another man in uniform to come and let us through. As far as nature reserves go, it was beautifully laid out and maintained, there were loads of volunteers about, but we didn’t actually see any nature! Still a good walk in lovely surroundings.
The Falkirk Wheel just arriving to deliver a narrowboat, floating in a bath on the upper part of the wheel, to the upper canal heading off into the upper distance
Our campsite near Jedburgh on Tuesday night
A busier campsite than the last, on another working farm (Location: 54deg 22'39.1"N 2deg 41'52.9"W). First cat of this bit of the trip. On looking at the map we realised that half way between Catterick and Alvechurch was Derby, so we messaged Tim and Jill and invited ourselves to stay. We stopped en route at Clumber Park, a National Trust Property just outside Worksop with many miles of bike trails, and we hadn’t used the bikes yet... it was a lovely afternoon, the atmosphere was a delight, kids on bikes with stabilisers, kids in trailers, tandems, adults, everyone just pottering about. Going to Tim and Jill’s actually gave us a really good chance to meet our new charge for next week, little Ruby dog, 8 months old and full of beans, she is a real sweetie, and maybe a bit of a handful, Stimpy cat certainly agrees, she’s not that impressed, though it has apparently made her more affectionate!
Country and wood walks near Jedburgh
It’s handy knowing people with a drive big enough to fit Big Ted (this may be the name for the van, as little Ted has traveled with us for a long time). We’d said we could be self sufficient, but the invite to the bed we will be in from tonight anyway, and to the local curry house was too good to miss.
Fillet steak and Californian wine in Big Ted near Jedburgh
Back to mums in Alvechurch Thursday to empty Big Ted of the stuff we will need for the next month, and off to storage for him. Yesterday we went to see Charles and Caroline, which was lovely, revision, exams and Scotland had all got in the way so it was the first time we’d seen them since we got back from skiing. It was very hot, so we went to Ashridge Woods, hoping they would be cool, which they were, so general tree climbing, silliness and chatting were the order of the day.
On the Scottish side of the border on the A68 looking to England
Fabulous, we even came up with a plan for the beginning of next month when we are going away for a few days before they have to go back to school. Today was sorting out, and general DIY before we head back to Derby and Tim and Jill for our next Housesit. It’ll be slightly odd as it turns out, Jill is away with Ellie and James while Tim has the annual shareholder meetings in London and Edinburgh so he’ll be in and out, but not there to look after Ruby.
Looking back to Scotland
A week of curry and food provided by Nicky, veggies fresh from the garden, and marked down meat from her freezer, you don’t mind taking £11.50’s worth of steak from someone when it only cost £1.25, not including her staff discount...!
Dashcam footage of our arrival at the army barracks to see the covert nature reserve (I probably should have fuzzed out the faces, but I lack the knowledge of how to do it!)
Driving through the army base following the signs
Walking through the Foxglove Covert Nature Reserve
Looking through the window of a bird hide. Nothing much to see unfortunately
Leaving the nature reserve. Not often we can get Big Ted and a tank in the same picture
Our working farm campsite at Catterick
Arriving at Clumber Park. That gate looks very slim for our 2.3m wide motorhome! It was fine, just us having a mild panic
On our bike ride in Clumber Park
Jackie looking cool
Taking a break by the lake in Clumber Park. The buildings opposite are all that remains of the old mansion, demolished in 1938
In the Walled Garden at Clumber Park
Big Ted parked up in his sport at the storage area. See you again in a month or so
Forgot to add this photo of Ruby dog sitting in Big Ted at Tim and Jills house
Charles trying out the rope swing at Ashridge Woods, looked on by Caroline
Caroline also having a go
How to climb trees and still look cool!
Caroline can climb trees too
Still looking cool up another tree
Caroline and Jackie trying out a den in the woods
And even Uncle Brian can still climb trees. "You're not bad for 62" Charles told me!
