The blasted oak

Well, it's not an oak but it looks a bit blasted. We walked up the river to Kyson Point and some of the walkers went to the church at Martlesham, St Mary's where my in-laws ashes lay buried. I am not a gravestone kind of person to be truthful, and my right hip was whining a bit (it has a cut off at about 6 kilometers and we had to walk home as well) so I turned round. Lovely to walk along the river, the extra shows almost the same scene as yesterday's extra but in completely different weather and at low tide. Woodbridge on Mud.
We called to see our Ghanaian friend Dela this morning, she has been really poorly and has had to have an unplanned operation to sort out some kind of blockage in her bowel. It wasn't cancer, which is great news, but she now has a stoma which is a big change in her life. She's a retired nurse and is comping magnificently, with the help of lovely John and her sister Abui who came up from London to help. What a hard life she's had, healthwise. She has sickle cell and it makes everything harder, especially operations where her blood has to be replaced with non-sickle blood first. She was telling the long and involved tale and is obviously processing all that has happened to her - she was treated at Adenbrooks and was singing their praises no end - how wonderful to feel so well cared for. Thank God for the NHS.

Husband John was out shopping so we didn't see him, a pub date has now been arranged for this evening before we go off to enjoy an Indian meal. We are treating our gracious hosts (and ourselves!) with the added joy of having nephew Alexander with us too. He's just got home from filming drone sequences in Geordie Shore and will be off to the Yukon on Tuesday for 10 weeks doing something similar. How fortunate to coincide with him!

I've packed my suitcase for the next (last) major move of the holiday and a drag-of-the-bags across London tomorrow. Woodbridge is a lovely place to be and I have enjoyed every minute of this stay. It rained a bit today as I wandered home at a gentle pace, but the sun is out now and the grey clouds seem to be buzzing off. Westminster is one big grey cloud, what a disgrace this government is. The satirists are having a field day of course, with plenty of amazing material to play with. One silver lining is John Crace, another i Marina Hyde, both in the Guardian. And in Ukraine the war goes on, people die, horrors are uncovered, terror is perpetuated. Read Max for more of a personal account.