29. More grit please.

We have both been horrendously ill which has been difficult. We went down to the Midlands just before Christmas to spend it with family and friends. Both of us went down with a flu like virus a couple of days before Christmas. We spent Christmas day in bed in a Travelodge, the only food we could get hold of was takeaway pizza. We had it delivered, I managed one piece. We had to extend our stay at the and ended up stopping a week as we were too ill to go anywhere although we did nip to A&E boxing day just to check I wasn't dying. I don't think I've ever felt so horrendous.
It became a priority to get home to Scotland, how we managed it I don't know. Thankfully Rich managed to do all the driving, I managed to sit in the passenger seat. We caught the postboat in, got back to ours, lit the fire and collapsed in bed. There we stayed for the next few weeks. We are just getting back to some sort of normality. Thankfully the days are just getting a bit longer, when we first arrived back it seemed so very dark. We've had lots of rain so that hasn't helped. But the last few days have been colder with a sprinkling of snow, the mountains are white over again.

We managed to get out last Friday to do a shop, Tesco are now doing a click and collect about 3 miles away so I did an order as we were low on fruit and veg. It was bitterly cold and we still felt ill but managed to drag the boat into the water with help from a neighbour. It then refused to start, it took Rich about 10 attempts to start the engine. We went across very slowly as whenever he tried to go faster we lost power. We left the boat in the water, tied to the jetty as it was coming up to high tide and we weren't going to be long. We then got in the car, it was frozen inside and out so took a bit of time to clear. As we set off up the hill the car seemed to be sliding and making a strange noise. We assumed the road was icy and Rich put the traction control on and his foot down and we finally got to the top. The car still seemed odd so we got out to check and realised we'd a flat tyre which we'd crushed by driving on it. The road wasn't icy at all! So I then stood by trying to help Rich change the tyre on the very boggy verge we'd managed to pull over on. Sometime later we finally picked our shopping up and sailed back across the loch very slowly with it. I then misjudged the jetty on the other side and instead of stepping off the boat ended up crawling off and nearly falling back into the water. I then stood up and slipped over, but we'd done it, we could now go back, light the fire and get back into bed.

Now, a week later we are managing to stay up all day. We collected some of our logs today and brought them up in the trailer. Hopefully if it's windy tonight Rich will be able to charge his battery for the chainsaw and tomorrow cut them so I can split them with my axe. We're having to replenish our wood supply as we've had the fire on most of the time we've been ill so we've got through most of what I'd put away.  I've started cooking on the fire again. It seems a waste using the gas when the fire is lit. I've been making lots of soups, it's lovely to be eating again. Life is slowly improving and we're starting to feel more positive. Thank goodness! It is hard to be ill here with only an outside toilet and having to light the fire to keep warm. Not as difficult though as being in a Travelodge, I'd much rather be home.