Summer Incentive

Photos Copyright: Maggie May

I've continued to go Gromit hunting throughout the summer and spotted this one......

 and this one..........

and this one.........  Altogether I think I visited about 66 out of the 80 scattered about our city and surroundings, so far. (Except that ones in London.)

This helped me to visit places that I would never have thought of going to before and I think I now know Bristol a bit better than I thought I did before.

I met young people who stopped to talk but far more older people, either alone or in couples. If anyone spies another person with a Gromit map in their hand, then a conversation strikes up. "Have you seen this one?"  "Do you know how to get to such and such a place?" "I can't find this one."

This project has attracted so many people and has given me an incentive to get out and about and I really enjoyed hunting them down.

The weather was extremely warm and dry, which helped.

However, with only a week or so before the wedding, I was battling with not feeling at all well and noticed a couple of lumps in my neck.

My own GP scared me by saying, if I didn't get to Oncology as an emergency, then they would ring from the surgery and book me in.  Of course they had to cover themselves because the nature of the cancer that I'd had previously in 2009, was in the lymph.

I had to wait almost a week to get into the Oncology Clinic and between my GP and the cancer nurse that I spoke to on the phone, I was convinced that I was definitely suffering a recurrence.

I was immediately worrying about how I'd cope with a sick husband and wondered who would be able to look after my rabbits.  (Not the easiest of pets to look after.)

With this in mind, I rang up a lovely lady who runs a small rescue shelter for rabbits and who had told me she would take my bunnies in if I got sick again. So it was arranged that they could be taken in with the possibility of being rehoused after the summer holidays when she'd finished boarding out rabbits.

I was rather surprised to hear that Oncology were not unduly worried about the glands in my neck as they were symmetrical in shape and size and the Consultant thought I was obviously fighting off some illness. She gave me a thorough examination and after finding nothing to be suspicious of, told me to come back in a fortnights time.

My daughter had promised to take Harry back to the east coast with her to give me a break before the wedding. Unfortunately it was the week that I had to wait to see the Oncologist so I was neither well nor relaxed while he was away. I forced myself to Gromit hunt though, so that I wouldn't be moping in the house thinking the worst.

Anyway, Harry came back home in time for the wedding but everyone had been worried and the preparations running up to that week had been tainted by the possibility of my cancer returning.

What will I do about my rabbits? Reluctantly, I have decided to let them go to the Rescue Centre because I believe in the long run it will be for the best. They stand a better chance of getting used to the great outdoors before the winter sets in and before they get used to the central heating in our house. They will be housed most of the time in the owner's huge shed. That lady is nutty about rabbits and has been doing this work for 25 years and is totally dedicated to the cause. She vets out all applicants to see if they are suitable pet owners and she gets everyone to sign a form to promise that they will bring back the pets if it doesn't work out for them and they wouldn't be passed on to a third party who might know nothing about rabbit care.

In the meantime it is breaking my heart and the precious days left with them are slipping away fast.

It is my greatest sacrifice for a long time because I know that sooner or later, I won't be so lucky health wise and I have to think of them longterm.......