"Game on, frankly!"

Team Poole has flown South!

Newcastle did us proud, and in some ways we were rather sad to leave. I’ve lost count of the number of people who lavished their medical/nursing/domestic/motivational/love bombing/mucking out skills on James – a very big thank-you to every single one of you.

Tommy and David were Saturday’s ambulance transfer crew for the road trip to London. With a cheerful “Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to ....” (or the Geordie equivalent) they hit the road at 10.00am, delivering their precious bundle to Ward AW4 at The Royal London, Whitechapel Road (and into the arms of J’s beloved Bean) just over five hours later. Duncan and I collected our belongings from Simon & Pauline’s flat in Newcastle (for which, once again, many thanks!) and beetled down the A1, heading for James’s flat in Mile End, just over a mile from the hospital.

The rest of the week-end was pretty sociable for everyone and James happily received several visitors, took in multiple siestas and got acquainted with his new surroundings. The prospect of a Nando’s Mexican takeway (conveniently located just across the road from the hospital) is definitely pepping him up – as will the hot chilli sauce he says he wants liberally doused on the chicken wrap at the top of his snack wish list!

It really is the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness here in London. I went out for a jog along the Regent’s Canal towpath and round Victoria Park this morning and got a real endorphin hit from the autumn colours and hazy sunshine. OK, I also stopped off at a rather chi chi cafe in London Fields for a hyper strong coffee and two thick slices of liberally buttered and jammed toast – thus completely cancelling out the benefits of the exercise, but hey .....

James is in line for a medical assessment today – and his new physio regime should also kick in (quite literally, as football seems to be part of the deal). The whole ‘rehab’ scene is a bit of an unknown quantity for Team Poole, but to quote James from the end of last week: “Game on, frankly!”

We’ll let you know how things go!

Penny X