Back to Kooky Again

Lovely view from my hotel window.

Julian kindly found me a larger suitcase and brought it around, which was a help.

On the day, there were two latecomers and two who didn't turn up for the coach - seems they couldn't find a cab and decided to drive down, but caused some anxiety and delay in our departure. At a comfort stop on the way, a diabetic remembered leaving her needles at home, so I rang the GP who arranged to fax a prescription to the hotel. On arrival I cabbed it to the chemist while Romy reallocated rooms - usual hotel mistakes - mother and son put in a double rather than twin - people needing showers given baths and vice versa. The chemists said they would need the GP to send a signed prescription by post, but had the needles and after ringing the GP finally handed them over. I shot back to the hotel and found my room.

On the second day, someone else had left her drugs at home. Romy stayed at the hotel to sort out this problem which eventually took all morning, while I accompanied the others to Chichester for a shopping trip. At the end, someone's portable oxygen supply had run out. We hurried back to the hotel where she had a piped supply in the room.

On the third day we went into Southampton, and the starter motor for the coach broke, so our return was delayed for an hour, but generally people enjoyed the trip. A message was passed on our return that the oxygen patient had been taken to hospital, but sent back later to the hotel.

On Monday, we went to a car boot sale which was good and there were no mishaps there. Later on our return, we had a message that someone had been ill with gastrointestinal symptoms and had been confined to her room by the visiting doctor and given some medication.

Romy and I were contacted by the son of the previous patient, who had decided that despite being sent back to us by the hospital, his mother was really ill and had not eaten or drunk anything for 24 hours and was very breathless and confused. We decided on consultation with the London GP to call an ambulance. She was then admitted to hospital. We received regular progress reports from her son: she was likely to stay in and later be transferred to a London Hospital. Meanwhile Romy contacted a private ambulance company for a quote, just in case she was discharged locally, as we knew there was not enough portable oxygen to bring her back on the coach.

Wednesday passed without too much trouble - in the afternoon we had a very pleasant rail trip on the Watercress railway, with tea and scones on the train. It was a great adventure despite the rather dull weather, but it started raining heavily just as we got back into the coach. That evening, someone tripped over and hurt herself, but called a nurse who dealt with a bruise and was fine later.

Thursday was the last day - we went shopping in Portsmouth. It was a lovely day and some people went on a boat trip around the harbour, while we looked for bargains. I had decided to take our former Treasurer, who lived on the island, to dinner with his wife and Romy. He had given us dinner the previous year. It was good to see them again. We returned to the hotel at about 11pm and all was well.

Back again today. Kooky was fine, and I settled back in to do the washing and unpack. Apart from the few hours 'off' on Thursday evening, I estimate that I have worked about 13 hours a day. Romy has worked even longer since she joined in all the social events after 9pm in the evening, after I had wimped out and gone to bed. It will take me some time to recover.