Going AWOL

Well not exactly AWOL, but I will be away for a couple of weeks.  I am going back up to see my aunt and check that she is ok, and help her host a party on Thursday for her former vicar's wife (hope that makes sense to you because I think I lost the plot around about former).  Then I am off to Ely in Cambridgeshire for a couple of days and then over to the Peak District for a few more days, a pit-stop at my aunt's and then home for a blood test before treatment.

I am one of the 'lucky' metavivors because I am not on chemo, but I am on Letrozole (Femara) for hormone control (about the only thing that is under control at the moment, touch wood) and Zoledronic Acid (Zometa) which is a bisphosphonate to strengthen my bones.  However my life does, to a certain extent, still revolve around the four weekly treatments.  Working as an administrator in a sixth form college (mostly 16 - 18 year olds) means that I get a long summer holiday which seems to go by quicker and quicker each year.  Ah, remember those long summers when you where a child?  It was difficult to even remember what school was by the end of them; though on the flip-side the terms were interminable.  But I still have about four glorious weeks before the nose needs to be put back on the grindstone.

I don't really have too much planned for my stay away, but I love Ely cathedral, and I will have time to look around the city a bit more.  It is a time to read some books - I've kind of got out of the habit of reading at the moment - and just do not a lot.  Of course, this being England, a lot will depend on the weather.  But I do want to go to Hardwick Hall when I am in the Peaks.  http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hardwick/things-to-see-and-do/page-1/  It was built by Bess of Hardwick who married her way up the Tudor social ladder and ended up as an extremely rich and powerful woman in her own right, which at that time was very unusual.  I especially love the Tudor period and this house hasn't been changed much so it should be a real treat.  I may also go to Chatsworth House the home of the Duke of Devonshire.  It is a real treasure house, and the Cavendish family was once so rich they put gold leaf on the outside of the window frames, or so I was once told.  http://www.chatsworth.org/  They certainly didn't do subtle and understated in those days.

I will be taking my netbook with me and hope to be able to get some internet access while I am on the road.  Sit in a Costa Coffee shop with an extra large soya latte and surf?  So I might see you around some time ... or see you in a couple of weeks.  Just don't forget me, please.