My Big Blog Break

A few people have commented on my severe lack of posts recently. The blog has definitely suffered from neglect of late but I have had good reason and feel I should explain.

Early in the year, according to Red magazine, my current favourite, the boyfriend and I took a relationship sabbatical which apparently, in a recession, is a popular choice for warring couples. Without going into too much detail and being undeservedly brief, I wasn't happy, he wasn't putting the effort in and I decided one of us had to go. We needed a few weeks to realise what we had and see that it was worth working towards. But where to go?! My dad calls it a 'modern relationship'; one seriously lacking in spare rooms and with no parent round the corner to take you in. The boyfriend briefly moved in with a friend but it wasn't practical so to make things easier, and because I knew we'd have fun, I moved in with a friend while her marine boyfriend was away in Norway. After a few dates and lots of talking we realised we needed our heads banging together. In early February I moved back and so far its working. Happily ever after...who knows. But for now, we're happy.

3 days after moving back it was the eve of Valentine’s Day and I was cooking a meal for the boyfriend and I, we’d got a bottle of wine and a DVD, best laid plans and all, when I received a phone call from my best friend’s boyfriend to say she was in hospital on a life support machine and I should come. In total shock and panic the boyfriend and I got the next train to Leeds, where I met my other best friend and her boyfriend. The four of us and her boyfriend spent a very long night camping out in Costa Coffee in Leeds Hospital waiting for news and willing her to get better. Turned out she had Group A streptococci which can cause anything from mild sore throats to life-threatening illnesses. In her case it led to Pneumonia and Septicaemia. It was unimaginable. For days, and what became weeks, we talked of nothing else but her condition. How was her night, what are her oxygen levels, is she responding to treatment, when can we visit, can she hear us? Gradually she did start to improve and slowly she began her recovery. 38 days later I received a text that made me cry, this time with happiness: ‘I’m coming home!’.

Please understand I’ve written these events chronologically, not by level of importance!!