Ireland day 0903. Tuesday 19 March 2024- London Day 3 *

Ireland day 0903. Tuesday 19 March 2024- London Day 3

Today’s summary	Got a new battery for my iphone mini in the morning then took the train down to Southampton. Walked from the station to the Spire hospital for first annual check on my left hip resurfacing. Xrays look good and the surgeon was pleased, though I have to wait a few days to get the blood test results. Val travelled over from Dublin and joined me in London in the evening.
Today’s weather	Heavily overcast and drizzly all day. Light westerly wind. Appx 12c

Today’s overview location (The green mark shows the location of my route)		Close-up location (The orange line shows where I walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): To and from hospital for hip check

Commentary

(Summary blog only. Last full blog was Day 0368).

Today was actually the main reason that I came to London this week. It was time for the first annual check on my newly resurfaced hip.

But before I started the trek to the hospital in Southampton, I needed to get the battery in my iphone mini replaced. I went to the Apple Store in Covent Garden and although it’s always a nice place to visit, today’s experience was somewhat stressful.

The main reason being that I thought it would be a 15 minute job but it ended up taking an hour and a half. Which was particularly inconvenient as I had to catch a train at 1230 and I didn’t get into the shop until going up to 11. As everything is electronic these days, my train tickets were on the phone and I had no paper backup. Anyway, it was fixed in the nick of time and I caught the train, and my battery is up to 100% again too.

My surgeon is based at the Spire hospital in Southampton so I had to dash across to Waterloo to catch the train. It was a straightforward journey and the train left and arrived on time. Once in Southampton I had a little time to spare so I decided to walk to the hospital rather than taking the bus.

Southampton isn’t really my favourite town, I have to admit, and the route through dreary suburbs was distinctly uninspiring. But there was a good collection of spring flowers coming up along the way, including the first bluebells I’ve seen this year.

The consultation was speedy and efficient (as it should be, considering how much I am paying). I had a set of X-rays taken and the surgeon reassured me that they looked fine. So all seems to be well though I have to wait a couple of days to get the results of a specialist blood test, which checks chromium and cobalt levels (elevated levels can be a sign of unusual wear of the hip prosthesis).

As it is staying light a bit later now, I decided to walk back to the station after the consultation. So the hip also got a decent real world work out today too. More unalloyed Southampton loveliness to enjoy as I walked.

Val came over from Dublin this morning so will be joining me in London this evening. A successful day and I’m very much looking forward to catching up with her again!

(PS in case you were wondering – I didn’t really enjoy “Dune” last night. I thought the acting was a rather wooden and the plot a bit weak I guess I’ll have to go and see “Dune 2” now but I’m not in a rush).

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Today’s transport	Southampton’s gorgeous hinterlands

*Spectacular Ribes* in someone’s front garden**	Ditto Magnolia

On the Lordsdale Greenway by the Holly Brook	The Spire Hospital, Southampton

First bluebells I’ve seen this year