Jumble of barges at Allington

Firstly, thank you for your concern and support over events of last night with Doreen. All was well in the end. I was sent home at 2.00am as there was no point in both of us being there although I didn’t sleep much until Susan got back. The community nurse arrived at 3.15am, Susan got home at 3.45, 7 hours after calling 111. There’s only one team covering the whole of Kent overnight.

It was an understandably later start to the day. As the weather was fine we drove to Waitrose for some supplies and walked along the Medway from there. As soon as we set off it rained making it pretty dismal the whole way. The river was high and chocolatey, flowing quickly with wild torrents of water forging out of the sluice gates at Allington. I always like the collection of barges here. Many are occupied. One woman was taking supplies to her vessel in a wheelbarrow.

I was back in time for a spot of lunch by after which it was time for my vaccination. All went very smoothly, very well organised and quick. Much praise and thanks to staff and volunteers.

We took a chance to book a week in the Lakes in the middle of June. Lots of places were fully booked. Many people, like us, are taking a chance that we’ll be in a better place come the summer.

It was a shame about Pauline’s funeral, we’re hoping that the service was recorded and we’ll be able to watch it in full. All being well there will be a wake at sometime in the future.