A Weekend in Wales

This was our third trip to Llangollen. The first time we were just passing through and stopped because it was so beautiful. The second time we stayed on a canal boat and this time we stayed at the Cornerstones Bed and Breakfast. The breakfast was fabulous - fresh fruit, Welsh-produced yogurt, and the full English fry up. We could hear the River Dee thundering past our room at night and we could sit by the window and watch it in the morning.

We had reservations for the dining room at the Chainbridge Hotel on Friday night. The food there is excellent. It also looks like a great place to stay. This picture of it was taken from the Llangollen Heritage Railway.

The last time we were there we ate at Gale's - just across the street from our B&B. Unfortunately, I think there was a wait to put your name on the wait list. I don't know how anyone could have enjoyed being in there that night. It was so packed that the people who were waiting, or trying to get their names on the list were constantly being pushed into the diners. But we discovered a new place - The Corn Mill. Excellent food and a deck that extends right over the river, although February is a little cool for al fresco dining. This picture was taken from the deck. The food was so good that we went back for lunch on Sunday.

In the summer and fall they have a horse-drawn canal boat trip. It's not operational in February so we took a ride on the Llangollen Heritage Railway. We did it on Sunday so we could take the steam engine.

 Here are a few photos taken in and around Llangollen.

For Medicinal Purposes

You would think that by the time you've reached your sixties that you would have been vaccinated or developed an immunity to every germ and bug known to man. Unfortunately this is not the case. You're probably a bit more susceptible to some of them. And if you do get sick, it can take you longer to recover than if you were in your forties. The worst culprits for spreading germs and disease?? That's right - grandchildren.

It finally occurred to me to stop visiting my grandchildren the week before we were scheduled to fly anywhere. When I did visit, I found that I increased the likelihood of a flight plagued by congestion, aches and pains. But now that we have grandchildren on the other side of the pond, what's a grandparent to do?

This trip, within two days of initial contact with the little darlings, I was sneezing. (It wasn't nearly so bad as when we all caught the Norovirus.) Of course, the over-the-counter brands that I'm familiar with here in Texas aren't available in England. Plus being on blood pressure meds makes it more challenging. We found a capsule that was okay for people taking blood pressure meds and although it didn't mention anything about taking it with food, I soon found out that food was more than just a good idea. In my case, it was essential. But even when I took it with food, the food seemed to wear off before the drug did and I felt nauseous until I ate something. I know!! Cookies and potato chips for medicinal purposes! Who'd have thought it possible?

I asked Mark to go to the pharmacist (or chemist, as they are known in England) to see if they had something that might be a little gentler and last longer than four hours. Unfortunately, the chemist was busy and he had to speak to the assistant who informed him that NOTHING was available for people who took blood pressure medication. This guy is a complete idiot who should never be licensed to dispense drugs. He probably shouldn't work in any profession that requires interaction with the general public. Fortunately, the sneezing and congestion was short lived and I moved on to a sore throat and cough. Lozenges. Easy. No eucalyptus. Strawberry was fine.

We took our leave of the grandchildren and spent the weekend in Wales where I found I no longer needed the decongestants and rarely needed the lozenges. By the time we got back home to Texas, I was pretty much over all of it. I still have a slight pain in the back of my neck. If I take anything for it, my stomach gets upset. But it's okay. I have some Girl Scout Cookies.  For medicinal purposes.

Bathroom Electronics

I'm not that good with electronics. I'm okay with my phone and my computer but most other stuff mystifies me. (I still have to have Mark turn off the flash on my camera, nor do I have any idea how to use most of the buttons on the three remote controls we have.) I admit to being technologically challenged. So it's always a bit of a challenge for me when we travel to the UK because most of the showers fall into the "electronics" category.

Seriously, look at all the knobs, lights and dials on these things. And to make matters worse, sometimes it won't work unless you flip a switch on the wall or pull a cord attached to the ceiling. Not only that, as with most electronics, there seems to be no standard. Do any of these look alike to you?

It's really no wonder I have difficulty with them. I'm so glad I'm married to an engineer who can perform daunting tasks like turning on the shower and making sure the water temperature is right. God help me if they come up with an electronic toilet.

Bed and Breakfast and Dinner

We wanted to stop overnight near Standon so Mark could catch up with an old friend. He'd booked a room at the Kick and Dicky, a B&B that supposedly served food. It had good TripAdvisor ratings and the pictures looked very inviting. We booked it before we left Texas. When we arrived on Sunday afternoon at a construction site, we were a bit surprised. The proprietor told Mark that the room was available for sleeping, but no food. And he was very understanding when Mark said he wanted to look elsewhere. It looked nice before. Once it's renovated, it should be very nice.

We went on to visit with our friends and asked if they had any recommendations. The first country inn they recommended made it clear that they did not do food on Sunday evenings. The second place we called, The Chequers, also said they did not do food on Sunday evenings but that there were any number of restaurants within walking distance. That worked for us.

The room was nothing special. Not incredibly large nor remarkably small. Average on all counts - what you'd expect for a room over a pub. We ate dinner at the Royal Bengal which served exceptionally good Indian food. (All kinds of award stickers in their windows.) The next morning we missed breakfast by 15 minutes. If they'd have told us what time breakfast was served when we checked in, we might not have missed it.  Since we didn't want to head up to Manchester with empty stomachs, we walked down the high street in search of a cafe serving breakfast.

Since it was starting to rain, we went into the first place serving food. I can't remember the name of it. Which is lucky for them because I don't have anything flattering to say about the experience. You know how some restaurants (Denny's and IHOP, for example) show pictures of menu items? This place had a picture of every single menu item except for the side orders. I suppose it caters to people who can't read and need to point. The thing was that the pictures made the food look so bad that I didn't want to eat any of it. And from what I could see of the food on other peoples' plates, those pictures were fairly accurate. We had toast.

It Started with a Twinge

It started with a twinge, but it ended badly. And this just confirms my answer to that ER doctor last July who asked if I seriously wanted to inject my body with narcotics. That answer is a resounding "YES!"

I don't know if it was the long flight (not that long, really - landed over an hour early) or the drive from Clacton to Chatham in that uncomfortable Vauxhall (only a couple of hours) that caused the problem. Whatever it was, I thought I was prepared. I had the valium and the codeine that had been prescribed last July. When it became obvious that the twinges were going to escalate rather than go away, I started with the valium. When nothing happened, I added the codeine. When we arrived at Janet's, she encouraged me to throw a bit of something called sulfadene (not at all sure about the spelling, but it seemed a bit like Alka Seltzer) into the mix.

It was working fairly well but we went out to eat a bit late and before we'd finished our meal, the twinging started again. Back home for more valium, codeine and sulfadene. I woke up the next morning a bit unsure of how I felt. The original plan was to go shopping and have lunch at one of the newer retail centers near Chatham. After a piece of toast failed to squelch the nausea, I decided to lay down again for a while. This story doesn't get any better so let me shorten it for you. I spent the entire day in bed. Asleep. Waking up and consuming more drugs at appropriate intervals. I don't know what Mark and Janet ended up doing all day. They checked on me when it was nearing time for the evening meal. We were all going to meet up with Mark's aunt and uncle at a local Gurka restaurant. I thought I was feeling a bit better, but not really enough. I was afraid I'd get there and then someone would have to take me back home. Better to just stay home in the first place. I insisted that they both go. I wasn't going to do anything I'd need any assistance with. They should go and enjoy the evening. They went out and I went back to bed. I finally started to feel better just as they got back home - around 11 pm. But my entire day of sleeping didn't stop me from sleeping well all night.

The next morning it was like it never happened! So now at least I have confirmed that going to the ER when those pains starts is absolutely the right thing to do. If I could only figure out what causes it, I might have a better shot at prevention.

Judging Flight 78

Usually flights from Dallas to Heathrow are full. This one was half empty. I suspect it was because so many flights from the midwest had been cancelled that the people who would normally be on the flight were still stuck in Iowa, Colorado, and other places. I'm sure the airline wasn't particularly happy but I liked it better. It doesn't take so long to board and you have more opportunities to stretch a bit. Not to mention that the crew doesn't feel so hassled and are more pleasant. On the plus side, we were told we'd arrive more than an hour early. Usually this doesn't make any difference because there's no place to land and no place to park and you end up circling around until it's your scheduled turn. But not this time, again probably due to all of the east coast flight cancellations - plenty of room. I judge that as good.

While we were waiting to board, I noticed a very tall young lady - (you automatically notice anyone that tall - even if they aren't wearing an orange hat.) She was wrangling a roller bag and a backpack. She seemed to be managing them just fine. She managed to wheel and carry them all the way over to the service desk and stood around tending them until her wheel chair arrived. Did you get that? Her wheel chair arrived. I've seen people try all sorts of stunts to get on the plane ahead of other people, but this one takes the cake. Seriously, the woman looked like an athlete. But, who am I to judge? She may have problems that can't be seen. She was sitting several rows ahead of us, so I thought I'd just see what she did when she got to Heathrow. She got her bags down from the overhead storage bin and proceeded to exit the plane. Then when she was off the plane, she stopped to wait for the wheelchair. She still looked perfectly healthy to me. But perhaps she has a less than visible health issue. Maybe she's just lazy. Who knows? I found it odd, but I'm probably not qualified to judge.

So let me judge the entertainment. I'm qualified for that. Robert Redford's All is Lost was playing. We'd intended to see it when it was in the theatre but missed it. Oh boy am I glad I didn't pay good money to see that. See under the title where it says Never Give Up? I couldn't help it, I gave up. I didn't get the ear buds until about 10 minutes into the film, but from the synopsis I knew that his boat had been hit by a whale. I left it on for the next 10 minutes. Paint drying would have been more interesting. No dialogue to speak of and all I saw in the 10 minutes I watched was Robert Redford patching his boat, eating beans from a can, getting rained on and patching his boat again. There was a time when just looking at Robert Redford would have been enough. Those days are gone. (At least for me.) I waited a few minutes for the next showing of Last Vegas. It had a fairly preposterous plot, but at least it had one. And it had dialogue. Nothing fantastic, but pleasant enough and it was pretty much the only other movie I hadn't already seen.

Let's judge the food. Airline food isn't known to be high quality. It's not so bad in first class and business, but in coach it can be pretty bad. Mark had chicken and rice that he tasted and left on his tray. I had lasagne that I tasted and pushed around the tray a bit. The salad had too many shredded carrots, the roll was cold. There was a cracker and some cheddar cheese that I opted to save for later. The brownie was nice. Back in the day they used to give you a late night snack of Toblerone candy and shortbread cookies. That must be what pushed American Airlines into bankruptcy. They no longer do that - in fact they haven't done it for years, which is why I save my cheese and cracker. Then there's breakfast. Orange juice from concentrate. At least it was 100% juice. Then there was some yogurt with fruit, or maybe fruit flavoring. There was a croissant and some "Fresh Buttery Taste Spread" and some strawberry jam. The Fresh Buttery Taste Spread was 48% vegetable oil spread. It made me wonder about the other 52%. Unfortunately it's not a secret; it's water, soybean oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil and contains less than 2% of salt and butter. The rest of it is that stuff that is difficult to pronounce - things like monoglycerides, sodium benzoate, palmitate - stuff that grandma never put in her food. I was sorry I looked. I thought I'd feel better about the strawberry jam. But it had High Fructose Corn Syrup AND sugar. (Why do you need both?) At least strawberries were the number one ingredient. I'm a big believer in better living through chemistry - but I don't want chemicals in my food. I've got to judge the food as bad.

I can hardly wait for the trip back home. No breakfast. We're always given a "pizza" an hour or so before we land. It is served in a bowl with an exceptionally thick and doughy crust. Mark can't eat it at all. I find that if you limit yourself to spooning out the sauce and pepperoni, it is palatable.

The Quest for Affordable Healthcare - Part 8

I felt pretty good about going on holiday. Although I knew it was important to resolve the healthcare issue, I have an American Express travel policy that covers health care expenses when I'm more than 50 miles away from home. So before we left, I had a talk with God about the problem. I also exchanged some emails and voice mails with Gene, my long-suffering and very patient insurance agent. I also had an exchange, (skirmish might be a better word) with the federal employee assigned to handle my "complaint".

I'm not sure what happened, or how it happened and I'm certainly not going to ask too many questions - but yesterday I got a "welcome" email from Cigna. I tried to establish a login id and password just to see if they had me signed up for the right policy, but I was unable to do it. No choice but to phone. Toll free numbers aren't toll free when they're dialed from outside the United States. But I was very eager to resolve the issues, so didn't mind paying the charges.

The wait time was minimal. I was able to establish that they have me down for a silver policy and even though they seemed to have a credit card and a bank account on file, they had not charged either account. I authorized the charge. I was given a policy number and a payment confirmation number. I asked if it could start on March 1 since I'd already made other arrangements for February. I was warned that any changes would have to be sent back through "The Marketplace". Well, no. I would rather pay five premiums for the same month than have to deal with them again.

I believe this saga is over. I have made the March 15th deadline and my premiums will be about $30 per month less than what I'm paying now. My copays will be about the same but my deductible should be a bit smaller. I'll just have to wait and see on prescription drugs. I am much relieved. Thank God I didn't have to involve any of my "elected" representatives. As soon as I can print off a card, I'll be ready to do the "happy dance".