We’re through to the next round!!!!!!!!
I don’t think I realised how important to us this was until we actually got the email to say so. We’ve spent so much time ensuring we had secure plans B, C and even D that we had almost let go of Plan A to make sure we would not be too disappointed if we got back.
This morning we set the alarm so we’d be up to say goodbye to Mum before she went to work. Dad borrowed our car to go and price a job as his van is at the garage having failed the MOT yesterday. We were all four on the sofa to say goodbye to Mum as she headed off to work, then the kids had breakfast, Ady and I had baths and we packed up sandwiches to take for the journey.
Dad came home and we said goodbye to him before heading off for my allergy testing. This time there was a huge delay, it turns out Tuesday is NHS day at the clinic and I was waiting for nearly an hour past my appointment time. I was taken off for the prick testing with a nurse who was very sweet and I ended up chatting to loads. I wished afterwards I had not just said I worked at the library and come clean about my actual adventurer status as when I talked about Home Ed she was very interested. The prick testing is fascinating – the nurse, Zoe, went through a basic questionnaire with me about what I might be allergic to and we discounted some things on the basis I don’t really consume / come into contact with them as my arms are not long enough to test for everything. I was tested for about 20 things including crops like wheat, grasses etc. Stuff like dairy and soya, things like yeast, allergens such as latex, dust and pollen, meat, fish, fruit and veg, also animals I regularly come into contact with including cats and dogs and due to Humphrey we also tested hamster. Along with a positive of histimine and a negative of saline. A piece of tape was stuck to the inside of both arms and written on with codes for each thing tested, then a drop of each thing was put on my arm and a prick made to insert it. Wait for 20 minutes and see which pricks reacted. The histimine reacted straight away, as did cat which was something of a surprise, having always had cats and never felt I really reacted to them in other people’s houses either. None of the other samples showed a reaction except for latex which I had semi expected as the last few times I’ve been to the dentist I have noticed a red and itchy reaction around my mouth and assumed it was due to the the gloves.
The nurse and I had a long chat and she told me that she is allergic to several cosmetic ingredients and described the way her face reacts which sounded very similar. She said she had had patch testing and intimated although she was careful to say she needed to defer to the doctor that I should have the same. When the consultant did come in she was very happy to simply conclude it was latex and cats and I should avoid both of them and all would be well so I asked if I couldn’t have patch testing too. She agreed on the basis that if it came about later that I needed it then it would be a whole new referal so it was better to simply get that done now too under this one so I am expecting an appointment for patch testing in the next few weeks. I am now suspecting the result will indicate allergic reaction to some sort of soap or shampoo or bubble bath ingredient which seems strange give the gap of nearly a year between first and second reaction but I’ll be more than happy to adhere to avoiding particularly given our intended lifestyle meaning steroids and emergency appointments will be hard to come by.
Having finally left there we set off for Glastonbury, delayed only by calling into Sainsburys to use the loo and where I bought Ady the tin of biscuits shaped like a radio he has been coveting (mostly the tin although he was quite pleased with the biscuits!) since he saw it way before Christmas reduced by 80% to just £2 🙂 He is inordinately pleased with a tin!
We drove past Stone Henge which was pretty cool, mostly because I was reading the list of things we all wanted to achieve in 2011 the other day and noted Davies had included seeing StoneHenge on his and we’d not managed to do it. I reckon 10 days into this year is close enough to last to tick that off :). We got to Jill’s at about 430pm having had an email from Rum offering us an interview just before we arrived. All of us had been commenting on our feelings of happiness and relief in driving away from Sussex but this was an unexpected injection of joy for us :). We’ve been offered a choice of interview dates and asked for a little more information although been told the directions were ‘quite impressed’ with our croft application so have some stuff to work on there too. We’ve replied to confirm a prefered date and also to ask if all four of us can attend the interview or if it should just be me as primary applicant. Ady says he’d rather wait behind with the kids than come without them if they can’t come. I am very hopeful all four of us can attend.
We had a fantastic welcome back to Middlewick – hugs and cheers and guided tours. I am not sure what we’ll be doing although there has been talk of setting up duck ponds and pig arks along with looking after Thomas and running him to school while J&J have some time away but it does feel like a home comming :). There is a little farm shop here now where we have been invited to help ourselves to food along with going to the supermarket. There are now chickens, ducks, goats, horses, pigs are arriving later this week and there is talk of sheep.
We popped to Morrisons for dinner for tonight, ate pizza and watched TV before Jill arrived to drink wine and catch up with us. Fab to see Maggie again (who is pregnant, being scanned tomorrow and expecting her litter just after we leave) and just be here. Tomorrow we have proper work to do again, outside involving physical exertion which will be fab 🙂
So, space of our own, stuff to do and the interview offer from Rum – a Good Day 🙂