And back.

I thought we’d never manage to pack all the contents of Clive’s room in the Lymphedema Clinic but somehow we did, and we set off for Italy at about half past eight on the morning of Tuesday 15th.

It was a long and painful journey for Clive, but cheered, towards the end, by the beautiful landscape of Le Marche and then Umbria.

Beautiful landscape

Clive isn’t one to be effusive, but I found him leaning out of a window that opens onto rose and lavender bushes, breathing deeply, and I could tell how glad he was to be home.

We’d arrived at six-thirty in the evening: time to do a bit of shopping and pick up the dogs. Taylor and Kepler were both very happy, but Joules went wild with joy when he saw Clive, and couldn’t stop jumping at him and butting him.

To Germany!

Clive is at last due to leave the Lymphedema Clinic in Germany where he’s been for 11 weeks.

I travelled there on Monday 14th with the Italian Croce Bianca (White Cross), leaving just before 10.00 am and arriving at about 7.00 pm.

We went the fastest route, which is notorious for a very long stretch of badly pot-holed road.

There was snow on the peaks in Switzerland, and smooth green meadows and dreamy blue lakes lower down.

Dreamy blue lake in Switzerland

I tried to phone Clive just before our arrival but I couldn’t get a proper signal so he had quite a surprise!

White Cross crossed out

First thing this morning I had an urgent text message from Clive in the Lymphedema Clinic asking me to go online and get in touch, which I did.

Things had come to a head with regard to the treatment he is having and the refusal of the therapists to either acknowledge or take into account the level of the pain in his back.

His attempt to cancel today’s sessions to allow himself time to recover was totally ignored, and he had had a row with one of the members of staff who had advised him to leave .

In short, he needed to come home ASAP.

Not the colours they use, but a White Cross nonetheless

So we made arrangements. I phoned the White Cross (Croce Bianca) and asked for the services of the minibus over the weekend, and also arranged for the dogs to go into kennels. Clive phoned the hotel where the White Cross drivers had stayed last time and reserved a twin room for them.

We had no sooner done this, than the top director (grandson of the founder of the clinic) walked into Clive’s room. The conversation took place in English and I was able to listen.

From a cynical point of view, the guy had come to ask Clive to stay in the interests of saving the face and  reputation of his clinic. But no-one could deny that he is a man of action. I’d been nagging literally for weeks, even direct to one of the doctors over the phone, about Clive being given a second mattress so that he could sleep more comfortably. This man had achieved the delivery of a mattress within a matter of a few hours.

It remains to be seen if the therapists can alter their approach, but we cancelled all the going-home arrangements and Clive is going to stick it out a bit longer.

The drive

The top of the drive

The photo is of the top of our drive before it dips down to run past the piece of woodland (on the left) belonging to the Church. The house is behind us, a little way back.

The woodland was dark and mysterious until very recently when it was ‘harvested’. Some of the stacks of wood jut out where you have to drive, which is quite annoying as you need to do a slalem round them.

In the foreground on the right is one of the apple trees which was already there when we bought the house. Just beyond it is a little clump of grape vines that re-sprouted after the drive was widened.

On the left are the oleanders which we planted between the lamp posts we’d installed.

It was essential to widen the drive. Only now, 4 years later, are we beginning to outgrow the prejudice which had accumulated about the house. Couriers refused to come; the Council rubbish lorry complained; deliverers of building materials, garden items or pellets for the stove were wary; the GPL company tried to insist on using a smaller lorry which didn’t go out much so you had to wait ten times as long for your delivery, etc, etc.

When these various people did come, they were always very complimentary about how easy it was to access us. The problem was getting them to believe us!

Return to Italy

After breakfast in the hotel, I went with the White Cross to the Lymphedema Clinic and accompanied Clive to see another doctor.

Shortly after 10:00 am we we on the road again, back to Italy. We went a shorter route this time, through just Switzerland rather than Austria as well. Clive had been puzzled about the choice of route the first time; I think the White Cross drivers were trying to avoid some windy roads that they thought might be difficult for him.

It’s not easy taking photos out of the window of a moving minibus, but this one typifies what one sees going through the Alps: mountain, crash barrier, pylon and church, all in one shot.

Natural, old, new and ugly - a scene in the Alps

I fetched the dogs – always the best part of such a homecoming. This is what they looked like before I let them jump out of the car by the house.

My companions for the weeks ahead