LAVENHAM (A TRIAL ESCAPE)

Lavenham for a day and a night sounded the perfect trial getaway for me. Considered one of England's most perfect medieval villages, every house is beautifully painted and beautifully looked after. 

There are also lots of unusual shops, several of which are woolly shops. Well before the industrial revolution, Lavenham's specialty was a woollen fabric known as 'Lavenham Blue', the yarn dyed before spinning using woad ...

The industry declined when Dutch weavers produced cheaper cloth, and a new industry developed - weaving horsehair. The most recent addition to Lavenham's history is of course the filming location of Harry Potter's birthplace, Godric's Hollow'...

Hoping to capture some of our hotel's charm, I decided to photograph it in the morning before we left, hoping for better weather, only to discover a grey, dismal day. Not at its best, sadly. The folded up brolly you see below, was in a sweet little courtyard in our hotel. 

The hotel was great but our room was miles away from the dining room and the sitting room (or 'lounge' as they call it now), so you went up a staircase, through a little corridor, down a few steps, then you went along and then up a few steps and then you went along, and then down another lot of steps and then you went along and then you went up and around and turned this way and that way... I felt I'd walked a marathon before I got to my room!! Perhaps not surprising then, that I had a little fall on the way down, after we'd rested and had to retrace the marathon for dinner! Couldn't possibly do it all again for breakfast - before and after - so we packed our things before breakfast and the hotel staff brought our suitcases down for us. There were closer rooms downstairs, but the hotel was absolutely full.

Lavenham was my trial escape, and it was good, but I felt very much out of my comfort zone, and it was quite an ordeal to go away. Not the packing, rather the being somewhere you didn't know, and being faced with things you didn't know. The staff not wearing masks worried me a little, although not for long. You get used to things, don't you? But it made me appreciate home more and more. I was so sure I wanted to travel. I thought I would like to go further afield... well, I don't! I don't want to. I'm very happy here. And why wouldn't I be?

 

Appreciation!

I realise that I have not acknowledged all the wonderful loving kindness of my family and friends over the last nine, now nearly ten weeks of being a patient! Everyone has been phenomenal and I have received beautiful cards full of encouraging words, letters and phone calls. I've been ferried about and looked after, helped with major decisions and kept company at my chemo sessions even when I fall asleep. So here and now I want to say 'a big THANK YOU' to you all and thank you especially to the stoic ones who haven't become bored with me and shower me with their love, keep me laughing and smiling and distracted.  All loved by me too. I'm not going to write about my family as they know how much I love them and what strength they give me - they are all the most precious jewels and I am so lucky. This postscript must be added, however, because today I received the most unexpected parcel from my four elder grandchildren.  Such a surprise! Inside I discovered the most luxurious sheepskin slipper boots one could ever wish for...

My feet have been very sore and numb (neuropathy to those in the know!) and these slippers are B..L..I..S..S. Not sure I will ever take them off.  A huge thank you to these wonderful children from their everloving Granny T.

I could write so much about my wig experience (if you're ever in the same position, do email and I can fill you in) which was made so easy being accompanied on several occasions by another loving friend. The wig expert was fun and kind and knew exactly what I wanted. The only scary bit was having my hair shaved off and looking like Yul Brynner! However, this enabled me to wear my lovely turbans bought for me by a dear friend whose husband died in June after living for many years with cancer.

Our families have been close friends for forty six years and my greatest sadness is that I have only been able to give support by phone and email as she lives too far away for me to visit at the moment. Her grief is far worse than my problem but, I suppose, we will both mend eventually!