Tobacconist

There are very few dedicated tobacconists left in the UK.  I’m not sure whether smoking has declined markedly (I suppose I should know that but having tried to find my way around the National Statistics Office website I am still no wiser) but certainly the number of dedicated tobacconists has.  However most tobacconists on items that were not readily available in every local convenience store or supermarket ie cigarettes.  My own observation would suggest, for example, that there are very few pipe smokers today.  However almost opposite my hotel in Ayr was a tobacconist with a wonderful array of items from the past:

 

Ayr

I stayed in Ayr overnight on Thursday.  Ayr is a small town of 46,000 with a long history (it was created a Royal Burgh in 1205 – 705 years ago) on the coast South and West of Glasgow. It’s an hour’s flight and an hour on the train with intervening car/bus rides from my house in Eagleton.

More specifically I was staying in The Ayrshire and Galloway Hotel.

 

It turned out to be a much larger hotel inside than the small frontage suggests.  Adjacent to the hotel is it’s restaurant (there is also a bistro in the hotel itself) called The Meridian.

If you want the perfect chip that’s the place to go.  I don’t eat many chips but when I’m eating out I often treat myself.  The food looked excellent and the menu is quite extensive.  Despite the wide variety of things on offer I decided to have fish and chips: a very good choice as it happens.  The batter was as light as a Japanese tempura batter and the fish was cooked to perfection.  Add to that the excellent and friendly service and if I lived in Ayr I know where I would be spending a few evenings!

Why was I in Ayr?  I was due to see the oncologist yesterday morning at the Ayr Hospital.  After the blood results which I mentioned a few days ago the Consultant was absolutely delighted.  For the first time in 12 years I have been moved from 3 monthly monitoring to 6 monthly.  In future they will have an annual phone consultation unless I feel that I need to see them for any reason.  How good is that?

I may never go to Ayr again!  For that reason, if for no other, I feel that I should say something about the place.  Yesterday evening I walked down the main street and was very distressed to see that there are dozens of shops vacant and for sale. 

 

There seemed to be a lack of 'quality shops and a greater than usual number of betting offices and cheap dress shops.  There is a general air of commercial despair in the evening when the shoppers are not there.  This morning I have to say that it seemed a lot more alive.  It would seem, however, that there are just far too many premises for the catchment area.

In amongst that the local Council has obviously tried to introduce an air of hope by some attempts to brighten the area up.  Unfortunately they are fighting  a losing battle. 

I Can’t Think of a Title

I know that I should be trying to find lots of interesting things to post like those of my Blogland friends.  However life has been too full on and I am way behind with my emails so I thought I’d do a sort of composite email of today because it has been a Really Good Day in some ways.

Yesterday evening Pat and Dave and seagoing daughter Kate came round to have dinner with me and seagoing son Gaz.   Gaz made sushi.  Like a twerp I didn’t photograph it.  There was a very large serving plate plus a dinner plate full of offerings.  “They’ll never eat all that” I said before everyone arrived.  Wrong!  The very last morsel did stay there for a while until Dave eventually agreed to polish it off.  Just after midnight we said our goodbyes and by the time the dishwasher had been loaded for the second time that evening Gaz and I fell into our beds.

Pat is not, I repeat not, a morning person.  I am.  Imagine my horror therefore when I was woken at 8 am on the dot by a text from Pat saying that she was down on the beach with Briagha (the dog).  How could it be that I was still asleep and Pat was not only awake but also on the beach?

Fortunately the day got much better from there on in.

I went to see the Consultant about my arthritic knee.  Met people I knew. Caught up.  Hugged (people I knew – not the Consultant).  X-ray.  Confirmed that the arthritis is still there.  Well that’s a relief.  I’d have been amazed if I’d made medical history and it had gone away.  So I have to come back in 12 month’s time.  That’s OK then.

Shopped.  Met people I knew.  More hugs.  This going away for 6 months thing is quite good!

Two weeks ago I had my bloods done (was it really two weeks!!).  Even though I’d had a check-up at the Doc’s since then I’d forgotten to ask for the results of the tests.  Just shows how worried I’d been!  The receptionist (another person I’ve known for 35 years – oh dear) printed them off and handed me them in an envelope which I pocketed. 

Went to book my flights for Thursday when I go to see the Oncologist in Ayr for my follow-up.  Ayr is an hour’s flight and an hour’s train journey from here.  While the ticket was being booked I took the envelope with the results out of my pocket.  My PSA reading is 0.00.  WOW.  It has never been that good since I had the cancer op in 1998.  The treatment last year seems to have worked beyond everyone’s wildest expectations.

I’m really rather pleased.

I had a hunch that Gaz might not be home for dinner this evening.  I knew that the weekend had been ‘interesting’.  A text early in the afternoon proved that my hunch had been correct.  I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

In the meantime I have a ‘free’ night for catching up.

Return From A Temporary Absence

I've just spent a few very enjoyable days in Glasgow catching up before I leave for New Zealand - I have 10 more sleeps in Eagleton.  I caught up with Gaz who, yesterday, went to Egypt to kite surf.  I stayed with a friend, Anna, and 'did' things on Thursday (A blog posting on that will doubtless follow).  Yesterday I went to Ayr to see the Oncologist and I'll blog about that tomorrow.  Today I returned via lunch with an old friend.  What is amazing is the circular links between us all and the smallness of the world.  I met Anna in New Zealand but she lives near Glasgow.  The friend I lunched with is also part of my New Zealand world although we knew each other many years before either of us had ever set foot in the Southern hemisphere.

So tomorrow normal service on this blog will be resumed.

A Journey

I'm sorry that I appear to have disappeared without notice. Yesterday was very hectic because unexpected things happened. I won't go into them all but one very enjoyable thing was lunch with my Boss from nearly 35 years ago and his wife who were on the Island for a holiday and had been trying to get in touch with me. They just found me in time. Because in the afternoon I flew down to Glasgow where a friend collected me from the Airport and I stayed the night with her (her he is at their house in France at the moment) in Renfrew before getting a train to Ayr this morning for a check-up at the hospital. So I'm writing this on the train on the way back to Renfrew for the night. It's good to catch up with old friends. It'd be even nicer though if it hadn't been cold and wet and generally yuck all day. I'm not used to this. Nor am I used to all this public transport. Not too bad though!

Another view above the clouds. This one is going the other way. You can tell can't you?

Above the Clyde coming into Glasgow

This is to prove that I have been on a bus. My friends won't believe it otherwise

And a train!

Just loved the waiting room

I Have Returned

I have returned from Ayr Hospital where I had my CT Bone Scan and MRI Scan. I go back there next Friday for the results. It would have liked to Blog on the hospital itself because it is a lovely hospital and, like the Western Isles Hospital in Stornoway, it has lots of greenery and attractive spaces which helped to create a very pleasant environment. The hospital was built on the outskirts of Ayr in 1991 and replaced a number of old hospitals. It is surrounded by trees and fields. The x-ray and nuclear medicine departments that I visited were attractive and the staff were brilliant, helpful and friendly. Needless to say, despite having acres of car parking, cars were parked on any space anywhere were a car would fit. I went by public transport - a bus!

I would have loved to have taken photos - the dining room with it's huge conservatory area overlooking the countryside was a joy to be in - but somehow photographing a hospital doesn't seem the thing to do. I did, however, take a photo of some of its visitors: a family of Oystercatchers in one of the inter-ward green spaces.