GOING, GOING, GONE!

 The view at the back of the house has improved no end!

Yesterday morning Enedis vans turned up in convoy and one by one removed the long since redundant pylons.  The electricity supply was placed underground two years ago.

The first job was the removal of all dangling wires then the digging of the concrete pylons out of the ground.  A man on a tower tied something round each pylon about half way up and it was lifted up in the air then lowered carefully to the ground.  Clever stuff.

It was a nervous moment when they set about the one immediately behind the house as it would definitely have taken out the landing and kitchen if it had fallen the wrong way. But these guys knew what they were doing and it was safely on the ground in minutes, stripped of its glass and metal crown and taken away to join the others now piled up at the side of the road.

Maybe now our farmer will finish the work on the field.  We can hope!

The other thing that happened yesterday is that I had my MRI scan on my head.  I was dreading it but as always, although not exactly pleasant, it was not as bad as I expected.  The amazing thing is that I left the clinic with a CD of more than a hundred scan images and three hours later the results arrived by email, being sent to my GP at the same time.  It makes an interesting contrast with the experience of a friend who had an MRI scan in the UK in July and has been told he will have to wait 10-12 weeks for the results.

It's baffling why there is such a difference.  In France there was clearly somebody assessing the images immediately after the scan was done and produced a fairly comprehensive report, presumably filling in a pro forma document online and sending it by email to both patient and GP.  Why on earth can that not be done in the UK in these days of technology?  I'm sure somebody out there knows why but I would guess that the images are sent to someone who looks at them and sends the report on in just the same way.  Is it because there are not enough trained people to assess them and there is a huge backlog?

The good news is that the scan revealed nothing of significance.  Which is good news especially when added to the blood test results which all came back normal too.  The bad news is that so far nothing has been found yet to explain the weird situation with my ears - the tinnitus, the snuffly cold and the headaches I've been having for the last seven months.  I have however managed to secure an appointment with a different ENT specialist one month earlier - in October.  The previous appointment should have been in July but it was cancelled by the clinic at two days' notice and I had to go to the back of the queue for another one.   The earliest available with that person was late November.  Still, at least when I do eventually see someone I will be armed with all significant tests done.

In other news, we have had a busy week.  On Monday morning Nick went to the GP for his prescription review and in the afternoon he drove me to Chatellerault to collect my Harley from the garage complete with a service and a CT (MOT) good for three years.  On Tuesday afternoon Nick got a haircut then I drove him to Chatellerault to collect his Harley with the same and it's good to see them both back in the barn, gleamingly legal and fettled for riding.  On Wednesday morning at 7.15 the nurse arrived at the house to take blood samples for Nick's annual review and we met up with friends for a pizza in the evening.  On Thursday (yesterday) I got my MRI scan and by the time we got home the last few pylons were being removed.  This morning (Friday) we had six stères of logs delivered  at 8.30 and we had stacked all of them in the wood shed by lunchtime.  (A stère is roughly a cubic metre and six of them makes a big pile of logs!)  It was jolly hard work but we were glad for the light drizzle and to get it done before the sun came out!

Last but not least, as I write this Yvonne is corralled in the bedroom because we are going on holiday tomorrow.  We shall use the dish of tuna method to trick her into the cage but she clearly has already sussed that something's afoot.  Then she will be trying out a new cattery.  The one we usually use was fully booked so it's fingers crossed that she will be ok with the new one.  Fingers are however already crossed that we can actually get her into her cage!

Then, tomorrow morning, Nick, Hugo and I are off to the seaside.  We have booked a gite near the north coast of France in a region called Finistère.  We have never explored that area before but it looks beautiful.  It will be the first real holiday we have had since our wet week in Norfolk in May 2021!