There'll be bluebirds...

Our last day and we went to Dover as my Father was born in that neck of the woods. We stopped at St. Margaret's Bay and walked along the white cliffs to Dover. It was another beautiful day although it was a bit misty so we couldn't see France. It's an amazing part of the world and going there as a child I had never appreciated the history of the place. Walking along the cliffs and through the fields you can't help but wonder what it must have been like for those who lived there during the war. (Ok - if you have lived with my father - and the majority of people reading this site won't have done - you would have had a pretty good idea of what it was like, including being an evacuee with your shoes tied together with string unlike those Scots - like my Mum- who had to live on Salmon… etc etc).

En route we saw a lovely lighthouse owned by the national Trust - but decided we were too tight to pay the entrance fee since Stephen had forgotten his National Trust membership card. We also walked across some land where there was a big notice explaining that a herd Exmoor ponies had been introduced as part of the measure to protect the natural habitat. We searched high and low but only found three. They looked rather embarrassed - no doubt realising that the build up was out of proportion. Since it was a hot day they probably didn't feel like running around to make it look like there were more of them.

We had our lunch sitting on the cliff watching the ferries come in and out of Dover Port. We decided that next time we are there we will take our passports and pop over to France on the ferry. When I was a child we had school trips to France every year so it'll be fun going back on the RORO ferries. We walked back to St Margaret's bay where we had a few drinks in the pub by the sea - it was so warm it was like being abroad. After my third glass of wine I was starting to get a bit red so we headed back home to spend our last evening with my folks, watching the Big Brother Final and then having an early night before setting off to Yorkshire in the morning. As we planned an early start we said goodnight, goodbye and thank you to my parents and went to bed.

Just before midnight my father knocked on the door and asked if I could just come and look at something for him - which I thought was a bit odd but obeyed. It was actually my mother unable to breathe. I called the ambulance which arrived within 15 mins. To cut a long story short we were then at Medway Hospital for 6 hours whilst they got my Mum stabilized and admitted to a ward - she's out of hospital now and under the care of the respiratory support unit. I am sure that we didn't just get lucky with the fantastic ambulance crew and nurses at the A&E department. So I would like to say thank you to everyone who works for the NHS particularly those who deal with the patients and relatives in an emergency. They helped make the night a lot less traumatic than it might have been. I was also quite disgusted with the patients who were brought in by ambulance who were then put in the waiting room to wait their turn - these were not emergencies and I hope no one died because an ambulance crew was tied up with them. Once my Mum had been admitted to a ward, Dad, Stephen and I went back home for a couple of hours sleep. As my Sister was on her way down from Milton Keynes Stephen and I headed back North. I hope the next time we visit Kent it will be less eventful.