Richmond Park

 

A quick visit to the clinic for them to give another verdict on my swollen left leg and also to get a referral to Specsavers for a hearing test. Time to have these medical issues sorted before the big trip. The doctor gave me the referrals, not only for the hearing test, but also for the swollen leg where I was directed to West Middlesex Hospital. Hopefully that will not be delayed too much because of the coming nurses' strike. As it is, there are 7.1 million patients currently on hospital waiting lists, so just how can things get worse?

Following that I had nearly the whole day to myself  before a 7pm zoom conference with the Federation of Poles in Great Britain. So I drove to Richmond Park. I hoped to get to the central parking area but the road was blocked on the southern route as an area had been set up for the annual cull of the deer. So I parked at Broomfield Hill and trudged over to the central car park. I sat on a park bench for some time trying to read a newspaper in the brisk wind, Then I gave up, walked up through Spankers Hill Wood (I love that name!), and then over to the causeway between the pen ponds after passing through the so called Deer Park. Funnily enough, I have seen deer all over the place in Richmond Park in the past, but never in the Deer Park or at the pens. They're probably in hiding somewhere now, hoping to avoid the cull. It's a true darwinian selection as the weakest and least physically attractive are chosen for elimination. Natural selection, or ethnic cleansing?

While there, I got a call from Rolcruise reminding me that this was the last day in which to pay the remaining balance for our world trip. I had to apologize that I was not at home but suggested they ring in the afternoon when I would be back home. Sure enough, that afternoon I made contact again and transferred £29,000. A mere trifle. The balance of £3,000 I shall send tomorrow as I had criossed the limit of what Barclays would allow me to spend in any one day. We are committed now. There is no turning back.