Holiday day 8

First of all my apologies for 1 day delay with the  previous post. Yesterday was a very busy day from the very morning and I simply didn’t have chance to write the blog. 

No later than 10 am we should be at Dave’s (Alex and Terry’s friend) for the Royal Wedding brunch reception. We were getting organized from the very early morning in order to be on time. Champagne, lots of champagne, very nice british breakfast cooked by Dave (although i still can’t get over the fact that he forgot the eggs...) and then more Champagne. TV was on and we all watched the the weeding commenting on it, as well as checking FACEBOOK updates about it. David cousin Mandy is very good on updating FACEBOOK with her comments on such events and she didn’t disappoint this time either. Later on i have learned that FACEBOOK reached another record of status updates per second during the wedding. Over 650 thousands updates in 4 hours...wow.

After the ceremony we hit the Canal Street where the street party was well on the go. Few more beers and by 5 pm we were ready to go home. We stopped at a chippy for something to eat and then jump into a taxi and came back to the flat. We were all drunk and and simply crushed into beds. The plan was to go out later on at night, however feeling hangovers after some sleep we decided to stay home. Good call as i started to get dizzy again. This is just an observation at this stage, but i think i will need to change my drinking and partying habits (not that I really have a drinking habits). Yesterday i was find the whole day long and i had few drinks. The pills in the evening however, still cause the dizziness, hence by midnight I really need to be in bed. So, I am thinking that in the future, when meeting friends or organizing a party I should be thinking of am afternoon instead of evening. Hmmmm. Let see if that is achievable.

Holiday day 7

After long yet very pleasant drive we have arrived in Manchester. I have to say that so far the whole journey from Scotland to Southampton the Bournemouth then Portsmouth, Chichester, Haywards Heath and now back north we hardly have had any problems with the traffic. Even the famous M25 around London was very quiet on the part where we were driving. I guess we have been very lucky. Alex was not long in and Terry has just arrived after us. It is sooooo good to see the boys again. It has been long time. Last summer party if I am not mistaken, was the last time we have seen them. Welcome G&T (2 of them actually) and the latest gossip exchange. Love it ! David with assistance of Alex cooked a very nice dinner. We heard all about the FAB holiday in Australia and New Zealand and discussed the seats in different airlines and classes. I think we are going to settle for Virgin premium economy for our next year trip. It sounds very reasonable. Very nice afternoon and evening at their flat. Alex and myself went out for a while, but it really was a very short night out (around 40 minutes) as i started to get dizzy after taking the pills. Good Night sleep was required before the Friday Royal Wedding Brunch at Daves...

Holiday day 6

Lazy day around the house. Martin is working from home. Louise went for her doctor appointment and after that she is going to her office for the first time after Isla was born. So David and I were just lazying around and to be honest it was great. SO far we had a very busy holiday. Quiet time at friends home, reading, surfing the net, watching TV... nice !! I have checked some work emails to see if there is anything urgent and important. I’ve deleted the junk from the mailbox so when i am back at work I don’t have hundreds and hundreds unread mail.

The rash which seem to bother me for past few days (yes, yet again another rash) has also eased down a bit. The skin still looks a little red, but the itchiness is away.

Have just called up my clinic in order to check the blood results after last blood samples were taken (2 weeks ago). The nurses confirmed my request and i need to call back tomorrow to receive the numbers (CD4 count and Viroload). During my last visit at the clinic (4 weeks after starting the medication) I was told that i probably will not see a great difference in the CD4 count as the 4 weeks period is simply to short for the pills to make any difference, however they would expect that the level of virus in the blood is reduced to a level of 1000-2000. I guess everything is ok, otherwise they would already contact me wanting to come and see them. I really can’t complain, as overall the side effects I have experienced so far weren’t very bad. I am however a little annoyed about this rash again.

Martin has explain to me the general idea of the ‘Twitter’ community. I am thinking of perhaps introducing the blog to a bit wider audience, perhaps also people interested or affected in any way by HIV and different treatments. It turns out i still can do this anonymously which at the moment is very important to me.

I finally did have chance to start working on the summer party invitations. Yes, we have decided to host the party once again this summer. For past 5 years we are hosting our Annual Summer Bash (as we like to call it). I have to say that for past 4 years for me it was a great opportunity to see our friends. Working abroad makes my social life very difficult sometimes. At our summer party I have chance to see and have some good time with all our friends. It has been tradition that I am preparing an official invitation for the party and this year I am not going to fail either (although I have to admit it is late as usually the invites for july are out by now). Anyway, i have prepared 3 different designs which I need to show to my hubby for the proof reading and final editing comments. Last year I haven’t done it and there was a date discrepancy on the actual invite... 

Hitting the road again today... next stop Manchesterford !

Holiday day 5

It was a very nice Easter Weekend we have spent with Isabelle, Michael, Nathalie and Mike. We had a great time. Having said that i was looking forward to the next part of the holiday. Visiting Martin and Louise and their new born baby daughter (Isla Niamh).

We have left Southampton around 10 am with no particular plans. Tom Tom set for Haywards Heath. Not very long distance, so we have decided to take it easy and stop in few places just for a wee breaks. Before arriving at Martins in the early afternoon we had a nice walk around the historical sea front in Portsmouth, did some shopping in a lovely town of Chichester and had a great lunch in a Black Horse Pub in a village of Amberley.  Really lovely part of the country.

We arrived in Haywards Heath after 3 pm. Welcomed by Martin only as Louise was still out with the baby. We sat in the back garden enjoying the sun catching up on the busy life of the happy couple (trio actually)...and then Louise came and... well the most gorgeous and delicate wee thing i have ever seen was introduced. I don’t have much experience with babies and i was a little bit afraid taking her on my arms but gosh what a great feeling having her laying on my forearm sleeping, looking happy. Few minutes latter David (who is far more natural with the babies than i am) was sitting on the sofa, holding Isla and feeding her (No, don’t worry - i didn’t mean breast feeding). She was sick a few times (as babies are) all over his shirt but it didn’t matter. He absolutely loved it.....and so did I to be honest.

I was holding her close to my chest with her head on my shoulder tapping and rubbing her back so she would burp and she also was sick over me as well but again, it didn’t matter.

Very relaxing rest of the afternoon and evening. Lou and Martin are very happy as Isle is a very quiet baby and she sleeps a lot. After the dinner we just sat and.....watched the wedding video (which Lou and Martin also haven’t seen yet),then talked about the next year trip to Australia, a little bit about the football, royal wedding... I know i am staring repeating myself with this statement but well... yet another great day of our holiday.

Holiday day 4

Yesterday morning we have dropped Isabelle at the Bournemouth airport.... Nice times always pass so quick (sad face)

My God, I take it all back what i have said about Edinburgh Airport (a dirty robbing bastards and all that stuff) because they are charging a £1 for drop off zone. Here in Bournemouth they beat that one... £2.5 for drop off and there is no other choice. In Edinburgh there is a free drop of zone, ok You need to walk for a bit but you have an option. Here you don’t have choice unless you want to walk through fields....

Apart of that, Bournemouth is a very very very nice seaside town. Once again the weather was awesome. The pier, the promenade and the beach full of people (some of them even swimming in the sea). What we have noticed however that at least 75% of those people were Polish, I am not exaggerating. At some point David looked at me a bit confused as it easily could be a beach in Sopot (Poland) and not UK. We had a Ice Cream at the beach and a bit later a nice Haddock with chips for lunch. After that walked through the town to the car park where we left the car. On the way back we also stopped in a lovely little village called Christchurch with beautiful marina and very old priory church. We had a nice walk through the village, visited the church and i was sooo happy and relaxed and just ..perfect holiday mood. Yes, the ‘until’ is coming... in the church David said i should read a short poster. He said its a story about how the church was build. And the bubble has burst.... long story short they wanted me to believe ‘Jesus’ was helping them at the building site....

In the evening we have met with Nathalie, Mike and their friends, had nice pork burgers (double burgers that is) and say our goodbyes. It was a great Easter Weekend.

Heading towards Gatwick this morning... to meet the BABY :)