Thomas in hospital

We had an interesting conversation with James (aged 10) last night. Phil and number 3 daughter were on the 3 hour round trip to see Thomas and #2 daughter at the hospital and take what they needed for the overnight stay. James sat with us and cried and told us how hard it was to cope with unexpected situations. He also said he feels bad because he’s not been eating properly all holiday but when he’s nervous he feels sick. He was looking forward to going home as he misses his dog. Sandy makes him feel calm. He also said he’d have to apologise to Ella as he shouted at her for crunching crisps so loudly. Loud noise in general stresses him as does crowds. He says he’d can’t always explain all of this to the people who are “assessing his mental health issues”. He went on to describe how the closer he is to people the safer he feels. He gave examples. With Ella and Nathaniel he feels there are 2 guns protecting him, with Thomas its guns and a bulletproof vest and with his parents it’s an armoured tank. “Those are metaphors” he explained to me. There was a lot more before him saying it made him feel better to have talked about it all. I praised him for dealing so well with the difficult day we’d had and did my best to reassure him. Poor lad. I wish they’d just sort out the assessments for autism then things would be easier at school.

We all managed to get sorted and out of the houses in time. Phil and James got to their new accommodation and left their stuff then drove to rescue #2 daughter and Thomas who was discharged as fit to go provided he took it easy. As you see he looked himself in the blip sent by his mum. Thank you all for your kind comments and concern. It was really appreciated.

Our journey through Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium to France and Dunkirk port was an easy 5.5 hour drive with no hold ups. Consequently we were put on the earlier 4pm ferry.

Instead of going straight to our Travel Lodge at the outskirts of Whitstaple we decided to go to the harbour area for seafood as friends had recommended the Oyster Shack which also sold fish. It took ages to get there as the roads were narrow with boy racers speeding along in 30mph zones. We had a wander but all the seafood stalls must close by early evening. It was a pretty place but very busy. Once at the Oyster Shack we discovered no prices displayed and loud music. Everywhere I looked up on my phone charged £24.75 plus for fish and chips. Mr C thought we’d just eat at Travel Lodge for half the price. However there was a diversion that took us almost to Margate. Once at the accommodation we discovered they had no restaurant. By then it was 9pm French time so we walked to a nearby garage with a Greggs. It was closed so we got a cheese sandwich from the garage. Meanwhile #3 daughter and family are having a lovely French meal in Lille.