Isn’t it wonderful to be back!

Forget the number of shopping days to Christmas, my focus was on the time to the October holiday. The countdown started after the premature end to my March break.

I was really looking forward to renewing old friendships built up over recent years, especially as we missed the May get-together because of the lockdown.

I was told that guests were having difficulty in arranging a Coronavirus test. I contacted my GP practice in mid-September. The manager said that it wouldn't be a problem, asked me the date of my holiday and said she would contact me nearer the time. My carer put the fear of God into me by describing how the swab at the back of throat made her gag, this is another word used in Scotland that I have learnt! When the nurses turned up and took the swab it was less unpleasant than going to the hygienist. I sent a text to Jackie, a friend who was going to be on the same holiday, saying not to worry about the test despite the horror stories going around. It isn’t that bad and I think it must be down to some of the nurses who possibly delight in stuffing the swab right round to the back of the tonsils! The test was quick but the paperwork took three times as long! Two days later I was given a negative result which meant I was good to go.

I was determined this nasty little virus was not going to interfere with my enjoyment of the holiday. I fully understood that the experience would be different from the usual at Leuchie and I was prepared for that. Leuchie have done a great job minimising the impact on the guests. All my worries were dispelled as soon as I arrived. Jim (Senior Care Assistant) took the cases out of the car and took them inside. I thanked Douglas my driver and he was on his way without the risk of passing anything on. My temperature was taken and I was accompanied up to my room to ensure social distancing was maintained during a busy arrival day.

With the new rules breakfast is served in my room, yet I have still managed to get down to the Quiet Room by 10 most days where they relocated a MOTOmed. I had built up a routine on previous holidays of going down to physio as soon as Moni and her team were ready. Now Moni has sadly retired I still manage to get on the MOTOmed to help with my circulation. Luckily I have a machine at home so I was able to guide a care assistant in setting me up. I miss the Vibrogym which was previously the highlight of my trip downstairs but that is a small price to pay and I am looking forward to when everything is back to normal both here and in the rest of the World!

Leuchie is great. There are so many talented people. Today I had an upgrade pop up on my Iphone which is essential to maintain the operating system. This I assumed would make improvements, however it made a mess of the Siri functionality which is my voice control that is essential for me to use my phone. I asked a care assistant who said they didn’t know how to sort the problem but she knew somebody who could. Lynsey, the IT Support Manager/Receptionist Googled the issue with IOS 14 and low and behold a lot of people faced the same problem and somebody had come up with a workaround. Lynsey followed the instructions and wow we were back in business!

If you remember back to Blog 4, I had a great soak in the jacuzzi bath but it was a logistical nightmare to get me in and out. Mark CEO has managed to knock down a few walls and relocated the bath into a superb new wet room with tracking hoist and a stunning view. I didn’t manage to get another shot as I have some dressings on but a lot of other guests after having a chance to use it said it would be on their wish list for all their future holidays.

I had another great session with Elizabeth McDowell, Digital Skills Support, and she signed me up for a superb free Council Library app which gives you access to a huge number of audio books for free. It’s called Borrow Box. I asked my friend Ian to call into the Library to check whether my application had been received and what I needed to do. He phoned back to say that he had immediately signed himself up and was already reading a book!

Getting to Leuchie was well worth the wait and I am just hoping that things will be alright in 2021 and I’ll get to meet up with all my friends in May and October.

Bob