A Brief Visit to Babbacombe

After my final chemo yesterday, I wasn’t feeling at all bad today, and well up to a short outing this afternoon. We had arranged to take our neighbour out for a little run as she needs a lot of cheering up at the moment, so we went back to Babbacombe sea front and had a wander up and down looking at the sea, and then we went for a coffee. Again, I used my new small buggy and it was a doddle trundling about, and it is small enough to go in the cafe too. All very satisfactory – so lovely to be able to get it in the car, so we can go further afield and we have a real sense of freedom.

I love the sea in all its moods. Whenever we visit, it never looks the same. Today, being a slightly cloudy day, the sea was an azure grey. I hope I have managed to capture the subtle colours – I had to do a bit of editing in my photo editing software (Serif PhotoPlus) to get back a little of the blueness and I think I got it as I remember it. I am getting a bit more confident using the camera on my phone now, and had little difficulty in transferring the photos to the laptop this evening – after all the hassle I had yesterday!!

In the first picture, you can see that there has been further landslip from the cliff that collapsed so disastrously a couple of years ago in the winter storms, taking a house with it. There is some fresh red sandstone colouring the slide which my hubby pointed out to us.

The azure sea!

Looking back to the buildings on the sea front, I saw the moon through a gap in the clouds. Despite my best efforts, I cannot get back the outline of the moon – only the brightness through the clouds! It’s quite impressive, though!

A more regular view of the little statue of Countess Mount Temple than the previous picture I took, in silhouette from the slope which goes down to the left of the statue. She was a local Victorian philanthropist. Every day someone puts a fresh flower in her hand.

After our stroll along the sea front, we went for a drink in the Cliff Railway Cafe. You can see the sea view through the window. We didn’t go down the funicular railway this time as it wasn’t very bright weather and we needed to rest a bit. (Of course, as we got back to the car park, the sun came out! Typical…)

I had to take a photo of our three beverages because they looked so pretty and the china was such fun! Our neighbour had tea (not yet poured); my hubby had a latte with a very pretty design on the top, and I had a cappuccino.

It was only a short outing today. On the way back, my hubby took our neighbour into Sainsbury’s to help her do her shopping, and I sat in the car and did a bit in my puzzle book and then dozed off for 10 or 15 minutes. Compared with how I would usually be on the first day after a treatment on the full dose, when I would be pole-axed on the recliner incapable of anything, I did remarkably well today and haven’t had to have a long sleep! The peripheral neuropathy has been a bit troublesome so I’ve had the gloves back on, but apart from that I’m remarkably well. Last time, on the reduced dose, I did pretty well in week 1 of the cycle, but crashed in week 2 – if this happens again I shan’t mind because I know it’s only temporary, and this time there is no further treatment to follow, so I shall simply continue to get better as the effects of the chemo gradually diminish from my system. Roll on the day! I count my blessings every day and am so thankful that I am doing so well – my recovery is now well in sight, and everyone at the hospital is very pleased with me, and are sure that the cancer is all gone.