Waiting, queuing, cockstops and a dolphin - I'd been phoned on wednesday to go for a CT appointment for the friday. I arrived for the 9.30 appointment and starting drinking the aniseed tasting dye stuff and sat and waited. It then occurred to me that no-one else had been called in and by 1020 I was told the machine had stopped working and there were still 3 people ahead of me. I wanted to leave as I was going to Folkestone and it was the Bank Holiday weekend. Since the consultant had told me that they would not be doing anyhting until I next went back on 14th september, I asked if the appointment could be rescheduled and told it could be. I had just reached the carpark machine when I got a telephone call saying if I came back they could do it on a diffferent machine so I went back. I sat and waited and the first person went in and then I was told if I went down to neuro, they could do it now. I went down there and eventually it was done even if I was there until 1215. I then went back to collect the children and pak the car. This I duly did and switched the engine on and nothing - the battery had gone flat!! Luckily, our neighbour is a car mechanic and he had a powerpack and off we went at 2pm. I drove a different way back along the A27, A24, and M23 onto the M25 . This was where the problem started. We hit a huge queue just after the M23 and M25 joined and tootled along and stopped frequently until we got to Clacketts service station where I gave in and up and the children had what they call a'Mr Wimpy' and I had a coffee. The queue was no better and the M26 just crawled along. the traffic updates were no help at all and informed me I was in a queue. Yes, I knew that thanks!! Eventually, I got back to Folkstone at 7pm - an epic 5 hour journey covering 140 miles. The first thing mum said was 'don't flush the toilet' as I've got no water pressure' Great - just what you want to know with 3 children especially with one who has had some sennacot!! She explained that a man from the 'care and repair' scheme came the day before to replace the washers on the taps but since then she had been unable to use the shower or the washing machine due to low pressure and the cockstop was dripping. She had asked the 'care and reapir' man to come back but he hadn't and nor did the neighbour who said he'd pop in. We could fill up a jug from the kitchen every 10 minutes or so and this is what we had to use for any water needs. At 10pm, mum found an insurance document that seemed to cover this sort of thing but by this stage we could not face having someone in the house and so she phoned the next morning. Would you believe, the first thing they did was try to sell her an upgraded policy and after explaining several times she had no water and a drippy cockstop, they called the plumber. I went out with the children to meet my sister and by the time we'd returned a new cockstop had been fitted and there was running water. Good job - it had rained a lot of the day and you could tell the children had been on a farm and playing outside and were in desparate need of a bath.
We had a lovely time in Folkestone. We went on the beach and the children swam in the sea. I collected lots of shells for no purpose whatsoever but that I wanted to. We even saw a dolphin in the sea. I could see lots of notices about dolphins and lots of people standing around and thought maybe it was still there but didn't think we could be that lucky. Suddenly, I saw it and pointed it out to mum and Woody. AJ and Laura had run off. Woody managed to shout loud enough for AJ to stop and he saw it but wasn't impressed. By the time, we'd attracted Laura's attention, the dolphin had disappeared. Eventually, it came back and kept swimming near 2 men in the water. We went onto the seawall for a closer look and Laura spent the next 20 minutes or so laying on the wall and pontificating about dolphins. Typically, we had no camera or my mobile to catch the moment but we were all so pleased.
On wednesday, we had to return home but decided to spend the day at Drusilla's Park. The journey was a nightmare and it was a long queue to get in but it was worth it. We loved the animals and the children enjoyed all the adventure play equipment and I enjoyed sitting and drinking tea. As it was so expensive, we left at the final moment to make it worthwhile and so got stuck in another queue on the way home.
I'm so pleased we managed to get back to the sea this summer and to see a dolphin was fantastic. Poor hubby had to work this time and so missed out on the experience.