Tuesday 4 November 2014

Another hospital visit.

This time it was for the farmer to be taught exercises to help his balance which is not good because of difficulties with his inner ear.
James Cook University Hospital is forty miles away from the farm and his appointment was for half past nine, so (much to Tess's horror) we had to set off at crack of dawn (almost before).  Hitting Middlesbrough during the rush hour and the time of schools starting is not a good idea, but we were there in plenty of time, parking was easy and we were in in good time at Audiology.




He went in for his training and I repaired to the Costa Coffee Shop for an Americano and a Pain au Raisin with today's Guardian newspaper (well, one has to treat oneself on days like this).

Paying for the Guardian at a self-service till flummoxed me totally until a kindly assistant thought 'poor old dear' and came and did it for me.

Our journey took us through what I believe is the largest army garrison in Europe.   There are a lot of disadvantages to living relatively near to such a place but there is one advantage and it was much in evidence today.   There is not a single piece of rubbish of any kind throughout the three miles or so, all the grass verges are neatly mown, all the leaves are swept up almost as they fall, and the verges are all planted with stands of the most beautiful indigenous broadleaf trees.   These are mostly beech, birch, silver birch and horse chestnut - trees which are lovely as they come in to leaf in the Spring, pleasant during the Summer, a riot of colour at this time of the year and beautiful shapes in their Winter bareness.   Not an evergreen tree to be seen until we are leaving the garrison, and then here and there the everygreens are enlivened with silver birch and stands of deciduous larch.   Such beauty.   And sometimes in Winter, if you are really lucky, you can see Blackcock in those silver birches.

Early morning heavy mist was a great help as we were driving due East and by the time we returned it had dispersed and it was a beautiful sunny day.   Instructions have been posted on the wardrobe door - exercise routine begins after tonight's shower.

13 comments:

jinxxxygirl said...

My daughter works for the Veteran Administration in the Audiology Department. :) She helps to fit Veterans with hearing aides....etc.. So your post made me smile. Sounds like you have a beautiful military base there. I hope the exercises help the Farmer. My hubs is terrible about doing any kind of physical therapy. He'll do it a couple times...say its not working , then quit. Hugs! deb

Maureen @ Josephina Ballerina said...

I used the word Flummoxed in an email just this morning. Great minds, eh?

angryparsnip said...

Because of your wonderful writing I felt as if I was driving along with you. Also two trees ? that I do not know.

cheers, parsnip

Acornmoon said...

I hope all goes well re the hospital appointment. Your mentioning trees made me wonder how the ash trees are doing near you?

Terra said...

Those trees you describe sound handsome, I do like native trees. I hope The Farmer's balance improves with these techniques he is learning.

MorningAJ said...

It's got nothing to do with 'poor old dear'. I HATE those self service tills. If you have more than a couple of items they just won't wait for you to do things at your own rate.

Give our love to the Farmer. My Dad had inner ear problems and he couldn't even drive when it played up.

Bovey Belle said...

I hope that the exercises help. I think that the military barracks was probably the one my husband was at many many years ago. . .

Joanne Noragon said...

Best of luck to the farmer on his improvement. He will improve.
I love people taking pity and helping old ladies.

Heather said...

I hope the exercises work - that must be so frustrating for a busy man like the farmer.
You make a mundane trip to the hospital sound interesting with your keen eye for beauty in your surroundings, and your ability to describe them so well.

Helsie said...

When we holidayed in Askrigg we drove there ( to Catterick Garrison )to shop and were very impressed with the whole town. We always went to MacDonalds for the free wifi and loved seeing the army people with their children there. There seemed to be some nice schools too- possibly military connected?- with well dressed and well behaved teenagers ( for a change !!) It was nice to see young people, we seldom saw them in the small Yorkshire villages. I guess the young people all want to leave the country for the bright lights of the bigger cities. It's the same all over the world!

Cro Magnon said...

I did a very short 'officer training' course at Catterick. Lovely part of the world (not that I got to see much of it).

mumasu said...

I had to use the self service in the Post Office for a special delivery for work the other day. In the end I had to have the customer assistant help me every step of the way. It took much longer than going to the counter would have done. I hated it.

Gwil W said...

Maybe all this self service springing up everywhere has something to do with the rising unemployment , here the number of jobless has increased month on month over the last two years. The days of people being employed to assist in banks, post offices, even shops, may be drawing to a close. Even railway stations are often deserted, the ubiquitous ticket machine replacing the friendly station master. Not much fun when waiting for a late train.