Swettenham Meadows

It’s an early start for my 9.00am appointment at the Royal Liverpool. Today it’s Respiratory, so another new consultant. She’s lovely, talks me through the results of my scans and breathing tests, and confirms her view than a bronchoscopy is necessary to complete the diagnostic process. I’m due to start my treatment in a week’s time, and the process should be done before this - so either they find a slot for me this week, or my treatment is delayed. She talks me through the procedure. I’ve already looked it up of course, and frankly I dread it. Yes, I will be sedated, but still aware, and I just hate the idea of this tube going down my throat into my lungs. I’m sure I’ll panic. 

We leave Liverpool, and wanting a distraction we head off south for today’s mini-adventure at Swettenham Meadows, a Wildlife Trust site which appeared in The Sunday Times ‘UK’s 20 Best Meadows’ feature last weekend. In reality, it’s really too hot - and too far - but there’s a welcome breeze and a conveniently situated charming country pub to bookend the start and finish of our walk. 

I don’t think we see the best of the meadows, and wander round disorientated for a while, but we manage a slow walk through some very wild wildflower areas along nettle-overgrown paths rich with colour and pollinators. Ideally we need to explore further - there’s lots more to see - but I’ve already exhausted today’s energy reserves. 

We’re enjoying lunch - a delicious burrata salad for me and, bizarrely, s distinctly non-summary steak and ale pie for G - when my mobile rings. It’s The Royal - can I go back for my bronchoscopy tomorrow afternoon? I’m impressed by the speed and efficiency of this appointment, but inevitably feel a jolt of dread. 

So, we make out way home and I spend the evening with half my mind on journals, the other half filled with apprehension about what lies ahead. Still, it will soon be over-this too will pass…..

Thank you for your kind comments, stars and hearts for yesterdays little robin! 

My favourite shots today are the dream-like shallow  DOF ones taken with my 70-200mm lens, meadow buttercups and ragged-robin sometimes ghostly behind blades of sunlit grass, and as I so seldom see those delightfully dishevelled pink flowers, I’ve gone for these as a main, the more common golden ones as an extra.