Sunday 17th February 2019
“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” — Margaret Atwood
It’s not quite spring yet but you would be mistaken again today for thinking it was. I spent some of the day in the garden as planned, the rest chilling out. I woke about 8.30am, and stayed in bed for a bit before getting up about 9.30am. I felt ok, a little tired still, but generally well and energetic.
Luke and I went to buy some soil and fertiliser, so we could plant the shrubs we got yesterday, and the new tree when it arrived. I swapped Luke with Parker then, who likes digging up worms and such like, Luke stayed indoors to help Jayne tidy the house. They then went out to get some ingredients for a meal Luke was going to cook, and then serve, so he could earn a cubs badge.
Parker and I spent about 3 hours in the garden, then going to the tip to get rid of a load of awful “new build” soil (aka clay and bricks) which we dug up and replaced with the new stuff. He was great, very helpful and didn’t get bored. We did half of the planter I built last year… (still awaiting plants for the other half.)

Then we dug up a tree that wasn’t doing so well, dug out all the crap soil and replaced it with some better stuff, carefully taking the half grown tulips out and replanting them in the process.

It looks like this now… 
…and will look like this when it grown
The (willing) child slave labour continued with some window cleaning. We had a great time ! They did the low windows, I did the high ones, and we all got wet !

After that, it was about 3pm and I was knackered. We retreated to the sofa for a while, before Jayne did an excellent job of helping Luke prepare his first ever family meal. Luke prepped all the ingredients, and made a very nice Cottage Pie. For dessert, he’d dipped strawberries in chocolate, and served them with mint choc chip ice cream 🙂
All in all, it’s been a fantastic day (and weekend) before going into hospital for 3 days again. I’ve felt ok today, nose still a little runny, still bleeds a little. My fingers are hurting again, I couldn’t open a can of drink before without the ring pull feeling like it was going to cut into my fingers. I’m still adjusting to this since I noticed it yesterday. Later on, around 7pm, I’ve developed an ache in my gum in the same place from about 2 weeks ago, next to my wisdom tooth, so I’ll be having painkillers before bed.
Other than that, it’s an early start again tomorrow to get to the hospital. Jayne is dropping me off so I’ll be there for about 8am again. Hopefully that will get me to a bed nice and early like it did 3 weeks ago, either that or my getting there early was pure coincidence. My bag is packed, it only took 10 minutes this time around knowing what to pack and not. Time for a shower, then bed. I’m absolutely knackered, and ready for a good nights sleep.


Good luck with the next 3 days Phil! Love the blog and knowing how you are getting on!
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Cheers Matt. Keen to get it all out of the way and be done with it !
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