A busy morning preparing for a few days away at my mother-in-law’s. The first time I have been away overnight since the operation. This requires a level of planning and forethought I’ve not needed before, especially as we will be away for a few days.  As we are traveling to Consett in Co Durham I also need to plan for a journey of over four and a half hours. Much of the journey is on the A1(M)/M1 and you can never be certain of whether the traffic will be a problem or not. We have found detours around problems end up saving you little time as everyone else is following similar instructions!

We set off and it is a very long and very tedious journey. With crashes, roadworks and crashes in roadworks(!) the journey eventually takes 6 hours. Sitting for so long in one position has become uncomfortable on my recently repaired abdominal muscles. My only relief is getting out at the Services and having a stroll around.

After all this I am very tired on arrival. When I get this tired I get irritable so I stay quiet and avoid conversation as much as possible until I can get to bed. If only people would leave me alone in exchange………