Hospital Day.

It was down to Exeter Hospital today to have a nerve block injected into my spine. Peter took the day off to take me as I didn't think I would be able to talk my way out and take myself home as I had done on all my previous day surgeries at our local hospital. Everything went well apart from my surgeon losing his theatre slot so that instead of being done within the hour I had to wait 3 hours before finally going to theatre. The injections didn't take long and were not too bad. I could see the x-rays of my spine but chose not to watch as the needle went in in case it made me flinch. It made me a little light headed but after coffee and toast I was ready to go. The RDE Hospital was Peter's work base for 12 years so he went off to catch up with old friends while I was on the ward. Conditions have got more stressful and the pension package reduced so they are envious he got out when he did. He came back to pick me up with roses and chocolate, how sweet!

Exeter lies in the hills of Suoth Devon. We took the back road out over one of the hills behind Exeter. The city lies in the valley and then spreads out to the left of these 2 pictures. It was a warm day but as we approached Exeter we could see a weather front which by the afternoon had moved across the city. For part of our drive home we were under an almost black sky and then at Lapford we emerged from under the front into beautiful sunshine.

We drove to Exeter along the Crediton Road which follows the same route as the train along the wide Taw Valley. The valley is full of lush water meadows and fields of ripe wheat and corn, very different to our hill farms. On the north side of the valley the road winds through some small forested sections which were very pretty with the dappled sunlight.

Again it is quite a different sort of landscape to our little corner of North Devon.

We did a little shopping on our way home and then Peter cooked up a barbecue. We still had plenty of salads from yesterday and I had bratwurst and courgettes. Courgettes are so sweet when grilled with a little oil and herbs.

I saw these unusual clouds yesterday evening. I could spend hours just watching the sky.