Back in time in Lincolnshire

Today is one of the biggest days of the year. Its Sunday 1^st of September and in a couple of hours United will play Liverpool at Anfield.  Enough said.

The week has been a mix of ups and downs. The downs have been centred on me and my left shoulder and arm, which as I type are still giving me hassle. I have been in constant pain all week. Sometimes just a dull ache and at other times the worst pain I can honestly remember. It is like someone is gripping my fingers in a vice and slowly pulling all the muscles in my arm out through my fingertips. My sleep has suffered and I have been the laziest I have ever been. Clothes lay strewn around the bedroom as I am unable to bend to pick them up. For god’s sake, it even hurts to brush my teeth! The physio has been great though. She saw me again on Friday and eased a bit of the pain and I have another appointment tomorrow. The pain is beginning to subside and I just hope it continues to improve as apart from the visit to Skegness, we have done very little this week.

Digby Duck enjoying the ride!

The visit to Skegness was pretty good. Buffy and I took it in turns to drive there across the peak district and around Sheffield, arriving in time to see my mum and dad and enjoy a big shepherd’s pie for dinner.

After a night in with my parents, we went out the next day and headed north towards Cleethorpes. This is another little seaside town a bit like Skegness, with a few less people in wheelchairs though. (We had counted 51 of them on one drive through Skegness when we arrived – still 16 short of the record of 67 counted by myself ad James a couple of years ago). On the way my dad showed us a few sites in the countryside around Skegness. One being a lovely view over the fields of Lincolnshire and another being one of the oldest churches in the country – almost completely collapsed now, with just a couple of archways and two walls remaining of what was built hundreds of years ago and now sits atop a small hill in a farmers cow field.

The archway

Buffy and dad explore the church

After finding a good parking spot in the seafront car park we took a nice walk around Cleethorpes itself. My mum carrying her little oxygen tank, we wandered along the front and get a taste of some of the weird and wonderful seafood from a stall before stopping for a hot dog and a coffee and for my mum to get a well deserved rest. It’s great to see my mum out and about. The oxygen that she carries (and wouldn’t let anyone else carry) seems to be doing her the world of good and I really happy that she is now able to walk a considerable distance further than she could the last time I was here. 

Would you eat these? Yum!

Me, mum and her oxygen!

A nice spot of lunch

We noticed that one of the fountains had a large amount of foam in it as the remnants of the foam flew around our heads as we ate our hot dogs, so we went to take a closer look at it, before coming back along the front and spending a while watching people ride the old Victorian fairground rides on the beach. Then it was getting late and we decided to drive home to Skegness along the coastal road, passing through Mablethorpe, Chapel and Sutton on Sea before arriving home just in time for a sit down dinner in Skeggy’s best chip shop ‘The Seaview’.

Foamy fountain

Cute Cleethorpes

Donkey rides on the beach

Skegness was home for the next two day but we couldn’t do half as much as we wanted as every time I walked for more than 5 minutes I had shooting pains all down my arm and felt quite sick. So we contented ourselves with a quick walk along the seafront and then a visit to the amusement arcades where we played some games between rests. Me and Buffy decided to have a competition to see who would have to buy the first round in the pub and so we took each other on. The first two games went my way as I beat her at Pinball and a strange shooting dinosaur game. So it was two nil and I was on my way to a cheap night out. 

Close up at the fountain

Skeggy sunset

On the famous pier (whats left of it)

Taking a break

But the third game changed it. Buffy pulling a point back by beating me at mini ten pin bowling. I’m blaming my dodgy arm for my poor score. Game four was air hockey (or in this case, air soccer) Buffy played a good game and beat me again leaving the score at 2-2 and a decider had to be played. We decided on another game of air soccer and I pulled out a 6-2 lead before some dodgy defending let Buffy in to equalise and then win the game 7-6. She had beaten me and I was devastated! Fortunately, it all worked out well enough as when I bought the round in the pub it came to a grand total of £2 for two pints. That’s about $3.20 in Canadian money and the cheapest round I have bought in about two years! Haahaa. Awesome!

A final night in at my mum and dad’s was followed by a lovely big English breakfast, complete with sausages, real bacon, beans, toast, mushrooms and black pudding, then a goodbye to my mum and dad before we took a leisurely drive back along the motorway to Manchester. 

Winning the pinball

Buffy winning the bowling

Shit scores!

We had to be back by 3pm for my physio appointment and we made it easily. The appointment wasn’t so easy though as Julie put me through some big pain as she tried to fix my dodgy shoulder. It is an improvement, but is really beginning to get right on my tits now. It’s been over a week of agony and pain and I want it gone. I have another appointment on Monday, so have been spending most of this weekend laid down around the house or in the bath where I get respite from the pain. 

Beaten at Air Soccer. Gutted

 

2 beers - 2 pound!

Skeggy at night

We did manage to get a night in the pub of Friday though (My physio says that alcohol is really good as a pain killer!) and spent a good evening in Gareth’s favourite Manchester drinking hole. The Melville Hotel. Buffy tried her first (and probably last) pint of Holts Bitter. She nearly ended up with on the floor as she tasted and then reviled the flavours that passed by her lips. It’s something that you get used to I suppose, but me and Chris were pleasantly surprised at how nice it was for a pint of Holts. Normally it is a lot worse!

So now it’s Sunday and when I get out of bed, I will get ready for an afternoon in the pub hopefully watching another United victory at Anfield and even more hopefully the last day of my shoulder nightmare! 

Buffy driving home to Manchester