I did my usual workout and shower but leg not good so need to keep an eye on that. I'm sure I've just pulled something but it's a bit swollen and sore now. I've put ice on it and elevated it a bit so fingers crossed it won't take too long to heal.
Kelly with a Pug came round with her 2 kiddies and they all spent most of their time in and out the pool which was lush.
They stayed for some lunch and then once they had left I made some phone calls for MIL sitting in my cool lounge.
After a bit of clearing up the phone went again. It was about MIL. Basically she had a telephone appointment with her physio where they discussed some symptoms, which weren't new, but she was worried and so asked me to take her to A&E straight away to see a doctor and potentially get an MRI.
It was nice to be in an air conditioned car to cool down a bit and we had no trouble finding a disabled space and getting her to the right department on her scooter. I checked her in with a bit of faff and then I headed into town. You're now allowed to stay with the patient and I needed a drink anyway. The hospital was like a ghost town and Costa was closed.
I sat by the docks people watching and typing this out. It was actually quite a pleasant time, although the bench was killing by butt! 😂
I needed the loo and thought the hospital would be calling me any minute, little did I know, so I went back to the hospital to use their facilities and sat in the waiting room, bored. Then there was a fire alarm so out we all went, eventually and stood around waiting some more. I ended up sitting in the car and MIL arrived back at the car about 4 1/2 hours after I'd dropped her off! No MRI and everything seems as it has been.
I dropped her home via the Chinese takeaway, which she hasn't had in forever, so she was very grateful for that. FIL was waiting on the curb when we arrived and he promptly helped her in.
I got home to decontaminate, finish this and get to bed! 😴
Last night my head was buzzing and I couldn't settle off to sleep so I tried one of the Headspace soothing sleep talks and next thing I remember was waking up to take my headphones off. Worked a treat! 👍 Would highly recommend it to anyone who struggles to switch off at night, it's a free one.
Where they to? 11th August Quebec City
An earlyish start again today. We got the bus from Toronto to Quebec City which means 2 different bus operators and a change in Montreal. Rob kindly dropped us off at the station in Scarborough town centre and we found ourselves jostling for position because, with the number of people arriving, it was looking dangerously like reaching the point where not everybody would fit on the bus. Standing our ground, (our rucksacks are helpful with that as you can easily send someone skittling by turning on your heels and make it look like an accident) we made it on the bus but were forced to sit apart. I found myself sitting next to a delightful French-Canadian lady by the name of Colette who was telling me about her experiences of the Second World War and The Depression in Quebec.
Mush nodded off quite soon after we set off and I was determined to try to do the same. The seats have good head rests with those bits that protrude from the either side to lean against so I thought I might stand a chance but I've come to the conclusion that I suffer from the same disorder as the Elephant Man. My skull is simply too fat and heavy for me to sleep upright. John Merrick had to sleep every night with his head supported by his knees as it was such a great big lump. It was his desperation to try to be normal and sleep lying prone like everyone else that would ultimately be his downfall. One night, when trying to lie flat, he managed to break his neck and kill himself. Whereas most people, when they sleep upright, do those little nods and their head jerks back up, I fear that mine may just snap off and roll down the aisle of the bus leaving me grinning at the driver. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any diets or exercises that target a porky skull so I guess I'll just have to live with it. I wonder if there are any circuses in town that might be interested in hiring a new Incredible Mutton-headed Man?
The scenery in the East isn't unlike the rolling fields you see as you cruise along the motorways back home and Coach Canada, unlike Greyhound, don't have films on for you too watch, so it was a pretty dull 6 hours to Montreal. It's weird when you are within a single country's borders, though, to see the shop and road signs gradually change language. They start out in English, gradually become bilingual, and then, become solely French.
We waited an hour in the bus station for the connection to Quebec City. There was a seat next to a stern looking old woman in the bus station concerning which Mush enquired if it was empty. She told us that it was occupied and, after half-an-hour of watching us stand nearby, the old bag got up and wandered over to a coach where she sat on her own. It turns out that she simply wanted to keep the seat for her handbag rather than give it up to someone else. It's probably good for us and for her that we weren't on the same bus.
We boarded the OrlÈans Express to Quebec City and settled in for another 3 hours on the bus. Despite the lack of a TV, this bus was still more comfortable than the last which meant that the journey passed fairly quickly and we were soon in Quebec City. You can tell as you approach that this is one of Canada's older towns. Narrow streets and alleys and old, continental style architecture give a very different ambience to anywhere else we've been, so far, in Canada.
Quebec City is the only walled City in North America and its defensive structures once lead it to be described by Churchill as the "Gibraltar of North America". In 1759, the most significant battle in Canada's history took place here between the British and the French. The battle had been raging for 3 months when the British, under General James Wolfe, found that the French had forgotten to guard a track to the top of the cliff. The British crept up the cliff, taking the French from behind and, within 20 minutes had duffed them up a bit and taken control of the City. Whoopsy-daisy. The Treaty of Paris was signed in 1763 confirming that the British were, indeed, the Daddies of this joint. Madame de Pompadour commented "It makes little difference; Canada is useful only to provide me with furs." Sounds to me like someone was suffering from an ickle dose of sour grapes. Mind you, the French having sour grapes is nothing new, the British even make better wine than them these days. I wonder if she took her ball home if she was losing, too?
In 1775, the Yanks attacked but the Brits whooped their sorry arses too. I expect we looked at all the tracks up the cliffs and stationed troops on each one. It isn't rocket science, now, is it? We continued to run the show until the advent of steamships. Yep, that's right, the ships invented by the honorary Englishman, Brunel, who was discerning enough to live somewhere civilised and do stuff like build bridges, railways and steamships in a land where it would be recognised and appreciated. His ships could get further up the St Lawrence River to Montreal so we said "Bugger this, we've had our fill. Let's leave the French to it." And they've been here ever since, reminiscing about the glory days, shrugging their shoulders and eating escargots.
On the map, our accommodation looked quite close to the bus station so we decided to walk it. Big mistake. Streetmaps don't show gradients and, remember, this is a walled City. They generally only build walled Cities where there is already a stinking, great big lump of earth there to build on top of. After about an hour, I had excruciating shin-splints, Mush's bag had cut the circulation from her arms and our hearts were pounding in our chests. We sat down on someone's doorstep to consider our options. Had we seen any buses or bus stops? No. Had we seen any taxis or a taxi stand? No. Did it feel safe enough to leave Mush here on her own with the bags while I went and found a taxi? No. Our options considered, we carried on walking. It took us nearly 2 hours and we were in more pain than when we climbed Sulphur Mountain a week or so ago but we eventually found our accommodation. Our room was small but had everything we needed. Well, I say everything, everything except somewhere for 2 people to sleep. We soon noticed a fold-up bed tucked in the corner with some bedding stashed inside. I galantly offered Mush the proper bed but she expressed some concern that the fold-up bed might not be up to the job of supporting my 'substantial girth.' I don't know why she bothered, she'd have had a right laugh if I'd sat on it only to end up with my head on the floor with my arms and legs wrapped amongst the springs. We wrung out our sweat-sodden clothes, showered and turned in for an early night which was destined to be interrupted by the inevitable leg cramps from our over-exertion. Marvellous.
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Taking iPad to bed to watch a bit of The Fall. I hope it speeds up a bit as I'm getting bored and I was enjoying it. It's 11pm though and I need to get up early for my longer run, leg permitting, and I need to clean the pool before the kids get back in. I'm also debating getting shoes sorted tomorrow so that will be joyous! Not. x
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