We Had Some Bad News,

we had not been able to contact Duncan for a few days,

but we had now found out that last week he had a fall in the nursing home he was in and was taken to hospital, where he lost his mobile telephone, a few days after being discharged and going back to his nursing home he fell again, this time breaking his hip and was now back in hospital, calling the hospital I was told that visiting time was strictly adhered to, and was from 2 to 3 in the afternoon, also 2 visitors were allowed and that was it, no one visitor going outside and a third coming in, with that in mind I arranged with Alan to meet him and we would travel to Tonbridge to visit Duncan, Steve said he would call in next week by himself, in the morning I posted the blog and was paid my daily visit by the crows,

in the morning out to the station, what a difference a day makes from the clouds a grey of yesterday to bright sunshine today,

the sporty looking car was back at the park entrance,

I did not check the train times, and just missed the one to Bromley South,

but at least I saw one of these, a rail cleaning train,

this is the business bit of the train that cleans the rails,

and here is mine,

I was soon passing the fun fair and camp of the group that run it, just outside of Rochester,

past the Russian submarine moored in the River Medway,

lots of building work continuing on the waterside,

a few more stops and I was in Rainham,

walking past the welly garden,

Alan picked me up and we made our way to the hospital, next we had some time to kill, so we called into a local nursery, Notcutts,

all set for Halloween,

Alan who very kindly gave me a lift,

I just had to!

as you might expect lots of seeds available for autumn/winter planting,

a nice Japanese style display,

Yo-Ho-Ho, and a bottle of rum, no wait a second that is not right!

what do you buy someone who has everything?

a home and garden Elk of course!

if you have to ask you can not afford it! we also popped into a local shop to buy Duncan a few goodies,

then back to the hospital, Duncan was in good sprits, although in a little pain he is doing well, apparently in a few days time he will go to a physiotherapy unit, and then back to his nursing home, I am sure we all wish him the best, I mentioned that only 2 visitors were allowed, after our visit we found out that another friend had arrived, but they were told to go home and come back tomorrow, which seems a bit strict, but there it is, on the way back disaster struck! Alan's automatic car decided that it only liked second gear, and that was it, 

we made our way to West Malling railway station where Alan called the RAC, and I bought a ticket to take me back to Swanley and then used my return ticket to get me back to Bromley South,

I was soon back in Beckenham, but things just got worse for Alan, having waited for a mechanic to arrive the news was not good, it was not a roadside fix, so Alan had to wait for a low loader, he did not arrive home until late in the evening, it just goes to show what can happen when you do a friend a favour!, but in any event many thanks Alan, Diana arrived home from work shortly after, so it was feet up for a Midsomer Murder, a New Tricks and we were off to bed.