Well today the radiotherapy commenced. Tom will probably be more informative when he returns, but the gist appears to be that the mask that was fitted on Monday was very tight and Tom had a choice of going with the treatment on his head, or delaying it a day. He decided to go with it and the mask will be adjusted for tomorrow, so it won't be quite so uncomfortable.

The treatment lasted about 45 minutes and he is feeling fine. He has been told to expect the side effects in about 2 weeks time.

After he treatment he went over to Liverpool again with Chris and did a bit of shopping in LiverpoolOne. Apparently I am the owner of a Garmin GPS system. He bought one today in Currys. That will be handy. The last time I drove across, Tom took his talking GPS and it was a nightmare. We got off the boat in Heysham at 11.00 p.m and we had a hotel booked in Lancaster. At 12.45 a.m after driving around the one way system dozens of times, I stopped by a taxi rank and gave a taxi driver the money to let me follow his cab to the hotel. I was tired and pretty grouchy and I'd driven past the street the hotel was in, every time I circumnavigated Lancaster. The problem being that Toms Sat Nav didn't have a visual display and it would say "you are 400 yards to blah, blah, you are 200 yards etc", then the next thing would be "you are off route". It never told me how to get back on route, just that I was basically lost again.

Tom loves his GPS, even if I wouldn't use it again for directions. As we drive along it tells him where we are, any points of interest etc and it makes a boring ride for someone who can't see, very interesting. He also uses it on his boat. He is very knowledgable about the sea, the tides, the danger points, wind direction etc and will leave many a sighted person standing.He has all the way points entered for Castletown Bay and surrounding areas. I can't say any more on how it helps him at sea as I'm a landlubber myself. I would only be interested in going on the boat if it was a calm day and I would get a trip to the Sugarloaf Rock or to see the seals. I just love the birds at Sugarloaf. Its like finding yourself right in the middle of a David Attenborough documentary.

Anyway, I'm waffling now. Toms other buy of the day apparently was a Yellow Duck. No, not the sort that goes in the bath. Its a model of the boat he went on yesterday. I'm not sure how it will look amongst his scratch built Steampacket models and the Star of India.

He also managed a night without Fish and Chips, but I don't think King Prawn Curry and fried rice have really set him on the path to a healthy diet.

Thats it for now from Barbara on the extremly wet and windy banks of the Silverburn, counting the days.