Weather … again!

It looks as though we’re coming to the end of over a week of ghastly, awful weather. We’ve been blasted with rain every day on or off which is not nice when you’re stuck in a caravan. OK, now I’ve got my own electrical supply and can leave the heating on 24/7 at least it’s quite cosy, but the constant drumming on the roof does begin to get you down after a while. Especially when you’re trying to sleep!

And the other thing is that with the layer upon layer of oak leaves that have plastered the ground, you only have to walk outside and because they are so wet, clumps of the ruddy things stick to the soles of whatever you’re wearing on your feet and come walking in with you. So you find that although you only swept them up 5 minutes before, the floor is covered with them again, even though you tried everything to remove them before you stepped inside.

The other thing I’m finding, and I have to say that I expected this, is that because the concrete base of my new tool store extends beyond the edges of its roof, rainwater is pouring off its roof and immediately seeping under its metal base rails that are screwed to the base, and inside. As a consequence, I’m very worried about the two ‘tounelles’ that are in cardboard outers that have already been damaged by damp while they were being stored under the caravan and are again standing in large, and growing, damp patches.

I always intended to run a ribbon of mastic around the outside of the base rails where they join the base but as it’s been constantly wet ever since I finished the building, it’s been impossible. Hopefully after tomorrow it looks as though we can expect a week of much better weather with no rain and temperatures in the range of 10-12 degrees Celsius, so with a bit of luck it should be dry and warm enough to do it. If so the problem of dampness inside the tool store should be resolved, I’ll just have to wait and see.

On the health front, I had a bit of what turned out to be favourable news yesterday. At my last follow-up consultation with my oncologist a week or so ago, I mentioned that I was suffering from some eating problems. In particular, discomfort on swallowing some foods (most actually) and even problems with some sticking on its way to my stomach and having to be ‘unstuck’ with gulps of water which often could take some time to work and could itself present further problems.

Yet again I was impressed by how quickly things to do with health (some anyway, but that’s another story) can happen here in France and on the day of my consultation, my oncologist arranged with a colleague for me to have an endoscopic examination less than two weeks later, yesterday. My brother-in-law had fed me some lurid stories of his own experiences of such a procedure and how awful it would be, but I think he was trying to spook me because it didn’t turn out to be so bad and was soon over. And the result was that… I have a small stomach ulcer, so two months of two tablets a day with a further examination half-way through and that should hit it on the head.

I’m telling this story mainly for others who have had the unfortunate experience of being diagnosed and treated for cancer. It’s most important to maintain a positive mental attitude afterwards and to believe it when you’re told, as I was, that the chance of it returning is ‘faible’. You mustn’t think that every ache and pain you experience afterwards is the dreaded disease coming back again because although regrettably this will be true for some people, for the majority of us it won’t. You must just keep looking to the future, getting on with life and dealing with problems, health and otherwise as they arise. Like everyone else has to.