7th April - Kirsty got up early this morning to take her sister Kariss back to Lincoln University so she could catch her first lecture.Once back we gave Janice a lift to pick up the dog who has been in the kennels while we have been away over the weekend and was overjoyed to see us.I then went to Leeds to have lunch with my friend Simon, an old work colleague.We went to a fantastic place near the station and I had seafood risotto - yum!After a good old heart to heart Simon went back to work and I got the train back to Barnsley (which for some reason takes an hour) and then the bus back to my parents.Ralph drove up to Bishop Auckland today to see his mate Tally and had a good old chat about the horrendous surgery that's kept him off work for the past 7 weeks - which is probably a good thing since morale at work seems to have suffered since Ralph left!! It was really good for him to catch up with what's been happening at work as one of the hardest things Ralph has found about travelling is being out of the loop with what's happening in the UK.

8th - Things are not too good today.Kirsty seems to have come down with some sort of bug and didn't wake up until 6.15 p.m.!!Her temperature is through the roof and she is suffering from stomach cramps, headache, back ache, weakness etc.The day was virtually over by the time she managed to get out of bed!

9th - Kirsty is still suffering badly and so today was another day of mostly sleeping.Her long list of ailments seems to get longer as the bug really takes hold.We were meant to be visiting Kirsty's friend Fran and her children Patrick and Thomas in Warrington, but that has had to be cancelled until she is better.

10th - Kirsty is now suffering from chest pains on top of her other ailments.We have all tried to convince her to go to the hospital to have it checked out but she is reluctant and after much messing about on the telephone (because we are not registered at a doctors surgery in Barnsley and so we have to be taken on as temporary residents, which we only managed to convince Kirsty's childhood doctor to do) she has an appointment at the doctors tomorrow.We were meant to be going to Newcastle today so that Kirsty could see her friend Denise and I could visit my work colleagues in the office, but this is another visit which is going to have to be rescheduled when Kirsty is better.

11th - Kirsty went to the doctors, which seems to have been a trial in itself.First of all it was a temporary doctor as the normal doctor was unable to make it (the doctors in Kirsty's parents village is only open for one hour a day).He therefore had the attitude of just wanting to get through the appointments as quickly as possible in order that he could leave.He also turned up 20 minutes late, which is not great when the surgery is only open for an hour per day.When Kirsty finally got to see him he just prescribed some antibiotics and got rather angry when she couldn't open her mouth to show him the bad gum infection she has, which means she can hardly eat and can only open her mouth a small way.We went to the chemist to get the prescription, with Kirsty is real agony now from the fact that her gum has swelled over one of her teeth.The chemist explained that they had ran out of the prescribed antibiotics and we should return in the afternoon once they got the delivery.I went back later and was told the delivery had been cancelled until tomorrow!Ridiculous!A farce then occurred as the chemist gave me some painkillers for Kirsty to take.I brought them back and Kirsty pointed out they were 11 months out of date!I therefore went back and took the tablets back and chose some soluble tablets for her instead.I brought them back and Kirsty informed me she cannot stand the taste of soluble tablets and would not be able to take them.I therefore returned to the chemist for a third time and came back triumphant with an acceptable pack of tablets.Only problem is that Kirsty is in so much pain that the tablets are not having any effect at all!We were meant to be going to Northampton today to have tea with our friends Michelle and Andrew, but again, this had to be cancelled.

12th - Went and got Kirsty's prescription today and so she can finally start her course of antibiotics.She was meant to be spending the weekend in London with her friend Craig and having a big night out on the town, but again, that is going to have to be rearranged.Her parents went out for the day to Filey to the place which won the award for the county's best fish and chips and brought me some back, which was lovely.Kirsty can't open her mouth enough to eat things like that so she just had to look on in envy!

13th - Kirsty's mouth is still no better, although the other symptoms seem to have gone.She has not slept much at all recently due to the pain on her mouth, and only got 1.5 hours sleep last night.Her mum did a lovely Sunday dinner and it took Kirsty around an hour to eat a tiny bit of mashed potato, Yorkshire pudding and chicken.She has vowed that tomorrow she is buying baby food as she can no longer cope with the solids!