Fish.

Dad went into hospital to get his Hip replacement operation today, looking most unhappy about it. He really didn't want to get it done and has been putting it off for years but now the pain is so unbearable that he really has to. (although what with falling off a ladder last week - don't ask, mum left the house for a couple of hours and during that time he took it into his head to look into the loft, the ladder slipped and he very nearly took a tumble over the banisters and head first down the stairs - and scraping his leg I was starting to suspect he was subconsciously trying to sabotage having the operation..) Mum and I left him there around midday and then really didn't know what to do with ourselves while we waited for news. The op was scheduled for around 2pm but his blood pressure had been really high and we were starting to wonder if they would even take him. He was so anxious about it and the look on his face when we were leaving just about set us both off. So it was a pretty stressful wait.
We went to Hobbycraft and got some more art supplies but really didn't feel much like wandering about so we just went into Simpsons Garden Centre for a bit of lunch then to see the aquariums. They have loads and loads of them, some huge, some tiny but all filled with lots of interesting fish and other creatures - it was so calming and taking lots of pics cheered us up. I might try and do some fish based paintings at some point in the future...
There didn't seem any point spending the rest of the day in Inverness so we just came home. Phoned the hospital to find that he had been taken in for surgery but there was no news as yet. However when we called again at 6pm it was all fine, the op had gone well and he was up in the ward, sitting up in bed eating his dinner! Huge relief!
We went back up for visiting hours and he was in a lot of pain across his back (still couldn't feel his legs which was bothering him more than anything else!) but doing ok otherwise. Hopefully he manages to get some sleep tonight (I don't think any of us slept last night!) and it's not too noisy on the ward.