Then we came to the end

So, weekend is here, and Cardioversion is done. Nicky and I went up to London on Tuesday afternoon, and had a wander round - mostly seeking to kill time so that we weren't sat in our hotel thinking about the day ahead. We walked all the way along the South Bank to Blackfriars Bridge, across there and down Fleet Street / The Strand, and up past Covent Garden and through to Leicester Square. Along the way we stopped off in a few shops, had a coffee and a muffin at EAT, and went to our favourite travel bookshop, Stanfords (where we bought a Lonely Planet guide to Coastal California and a pop up map of London - not of the bus routes this time!).

When we got to Leicester Square, there were crowd barriers up, and it was about to be the premiere of The Lovely Bones. We waited around for about an hour, hoping to see a few celebs, but it turned out that we were at the wrong end of the red carpet, and the stars weren't doing a very good job of being punctual. Given that the rain had started to come down pretty hard, we decided to abandon our posts, and went to Chinatown for a meal.

After dinner we walked up Charing Cross Road and went to Blackwells and Borders - I was determined to buy a new book so that I would have something to read in hospital if I finished the book I'd brought. Finally, I settled on a book of short stories by A.M. Homes (who'd written "This book will save your life" which I'd read and enjoyed whilst we were sunning ourselves in Nice a couple of years ago). Then it was cab back to the hotel and off to bed.

Early start on Wednesday as I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything after 6am, so I had a Nutrigrain and a cup of coffee. Nicky opened her birthday cards and her pressie from me which was a Tiffany necklace in the shape of a heart with a small cut out heart for the chain to go through (big heart = Nicky, little heart = me!).

We arrived at Evan Jones ward promptly at 8am, and once I was settled in with books, newspaper and ipod, Nicky went off to the shops. I think that she probably spent more time texting than shopping during the morning - probably sending and receiving about a hundred. At hospital I read the paper, did the crossword and the kenken, and sure enough did finish my book (Then we came to the end by Joshua Ferris).

I went off for my Cardioversion at about half past two, and all went fine. I was enjoying taking deep breaths on the oxygen mask as they injected the anaesthetic, and I could feel the cold fluid coming up my arm from my hand where it went in, but I don't remember the feeling getting much past my elbow! Next think I knew I was waking up again and all was done. I think that we had to wait longer for a porter to take me upstairs than the procedure actually took.

Once back on the ward, one of the nurses retrieved my watch and phone from the ward safe, and I texted Nicky to say that I'd been done, and got one back seconds later to say that she was on her way. The kind nurses on the ward brought me a sandwich and yogurt to eat, and just after I'd had those the menu came round for dinner. Thinking that I might be there for a few hours I make my choices, but never got to have them as I was discharged before dinner came round!

It turned out that they had needed to shock me three times (which is the maximum they are allowed to do) before my heart decided to behave, but ever since then it has been beating strong and regular. Apparently when the did an ECG to check, there seems to still be some minor abnormality - something to do with a delay in the electrical signal travelling from the top to the bottom of the heart. Don't know whether there's some other issue or whether it was due to the Cardioversion that had just happened, but they are going to get me back for a follow up in January and will check then.

Once we were away from the hospital we went back along to the hotel to drop off my bag and so that I could admire Nicky's shopping haul, before heading out for dinner. We went to the Riverfront restaurant on the South Bank, and then in to Foyles bookshop for a "mooch" (careful with the spelling!) and assuming that there's no way that Jake would read any of this waffle, I can mention that we found another Christmas present for him - a signed hardback copy of the latest Young Bond story by Charlie Higson.

I didn't get a very good night's sleep on Wednesday, because my chest was stinging from where the paddles had been, but we got some E45 from the chemist on Thursday and it is much better now.

I'm still on all of the tablets for the time being, and will still be having my weekly blood tests, but in a way that's a good thing as if I have any problems whilst we are on holiday, my heart rate will still be kept in check by the medication. Talking of holidays, the only downside is that our travel insurance cost has just gone up by about a factor of four. Oh well - nevermind!

Fine Burger

I'm on the Ebbsfleet express again, although at the moment it's not going anywhere as it isn't due to depart until 7.26. Annoyingly I missed the 6.37 by about a minute and this was the next one. The one thing they could do with improving on is the timetable. Trains are every half an hour, apart from this large gap after the half past six one. Then, the 7.26 is the last train of the day. Carrying on the half hourly service through a bit more of the evening would be a very good idea - especially if we wanted to use this service for days out in London.

Talking to Nicky, we agreed that I should get something to eat at the station, so I went to the "Fine Burger Company" which is at the bottom of the escalator from the Ebbsfleet platform. They were doing a two pounds off a meal deal promotion so my BBQ burger, chips and coke were 5.45 rather than 7.45 (no pound sign on Treo keyboard).

The Fine Burger Company (www.fineburger.co.uk) isn't trying quite as hard as the Gourmet Burger Company, but clearly wants to market itself as a step up from McDs and BK. Burger was ok if nothing special. Chips were midway between fries and chip shop chips. Probably worth the 5.45 (especially given the location) but not sure if the same would be true of the full price. Will it survive? They seemed to be doing decent trade, but no doubt the key question is how many burgers do they need to sell to pay what is no doubt a huge rent to their St Pancras landlords.

(By the way, in a day of eating on trains, lunch was a little bit healthier - prawn sarnie, grapes and fruit juice.)

Been in Reading today. First time in nearly 4 months. Definitely lots for me to be doing.

(And we're off!)

Nicky told me that we've had another offer on the house today. Reassuring from an interest perspective, but hopefully irrelevant given that we've already accepted a previous (higher) offer.

Rightmove

... and now we're on Rightmove as well. Check out the listing here.

On the market

Haig Avenue is now officially on the market (and if you don't believe me, check out the details on the Your Move website here - it should hopefully be appearing on Rightmove as well tomorrow). The HIP came through today, and so the marketing can begin in earnest now. Apparently we already have three viewings for tomorrow. Come on those offers!

The other cause of the "delay week" posting a little while ago seems to be moving along as well, as I had a call from the hospital a couple of days ago and I'm booked in for my Cardioversion on 25 November.

Early morning

Honestly, who was the bright spark who agreed to a 9am meeting in Central London (nr Marylebone). I wouldn't mind so much now that I've discovered the joys of Ebbsfleet, but idiot that I am I also ended up with an afternoon meeting in the office that I really need to get to.

So, up at six (first time of getting up in the dark for a while) and on the road to Gatwick where I just made the 7.50 Gatwick Express. Am now sat (at least sat!) in a packed first class carriage with lots of other grumpy commuters. Should get in to Victoria at 8.20 giving me enough time to get my two tube trains.

Looking forward to some working from home days later this week!

House for sale

I must try to blog occasionally other than on a Sunday morning sat by the side of the pool! This is our second visit of the week to the Math, as we came to the open evening on Wednesday. The school certainly has grown since my day, with lots more rooms to accommodate the two extra forms in each year. Jake came here and to the Chatham open evening, and I think that the jury is out as to which one he prefers. Still, no rush as decision-making is a year away, all being well with the 11+!

The other piece of news from this week is that we've signed up with an agent - Your Move, and Haig should be appearing on the market just as soon as the HIP has been completed. Asking price is 219,995 so if you know anyone who wants a lovely new house, do let them know!

Big football day today as it's Chelsea against Man U this afternoon, so Jake will be shouting at the telly! Spurs won yesterday and are back up to 4th. There may be some more football news tomorrow. We'll see ...

Samsung Sunday

Well I've finally broken the Sony monopoly and bought a Samsung TV, and no it wasn't (entirely) done to please Chelsea Jake. By the way, we're not talking about football - not this weekend anyway. The telly does lots of cool stuff including having lots of built in features (games etc.). Particular favourites so far are that it will play slideshows and videos straight from a USB stick and that it connects to the internet and has widgets (!) to use which inclide Flickr and Twitter. The key thing we need now is an actual HD input to plug in! May have to go online and order Sky HD later on.

Timing of the purchase wasn't exactly perfect - two days before the house sale fell through. I blame Samsung for having a cash back promotion which ran out at the end of October.

Hopefully we'll be back on track with the sale soon. We have another viewer this evening, and will go ahead with an agent at the start of next week as well. Interestingly the agents recommend putting it up with a price range rather than a specific sum. I think the theory is that it gets more people through the door, encourages competition and could almost turn things into a mini auction if there is enough interest. We'll see. I would be disappointed to have to accept an offer at the bottom of the range.

November is upon us (happy birthday Mum) and the weather is doing its best to remind us that it really is Autumn - it's chucking it down and blowing a gale. As Jake pointed out on the way down to swimming, probably not a day for playing footie outside Nanny and Grandad's before lunch! Still it was dry for trick or treating yesterday, which is embraced as a good opportunity for gathering sweets by the bucketload. Obvously Jake wouldn't miss out on that so he got dressed up and went out (with Mum and Barley in tow). I didn't get a picture of him in his costume so I might have to ask him to put it back on later so that I can post it here, along with a picture of Nicky's intricately carved pumpkin.