Transport services

Today was our day off but we decided that we needed to visit two of our members who are in hospital in Cambridge.

First we had lunch at the Church Social Centre as I knew that I would need all my energy to get through the afternoon and a warm dinner would do the trick.
Unfortunately it was Roast Beef today and here I can mention another difference that we have noticed.

Beef in the UK does not taste the same as SA Beef. They always serve it with Yorkshire pudding and Horseradish sauce but although it is well prepared and very tender it just does not taste the same. This does not mean that I did not enjoy the meal, it was just different. I usually manage to get them to give me some chicken instead but as they have been closed for the Christmas New Year period, they had nothing in their freezer. The baked pudding however was very yummy and made up for my disappointment.

Downham Train Station

On the train

We took the train from Downham to Cambridge and were amazed to see all the flooded fields on the side of the line.

In Cambridge we caught the Park and Ride bus at the train station. This bus goes past Addenbrookes Hospital and uses the special bus lane to do so. Douglas was thrilled to have this experience.

What a blessing it is to have free buss passes and discount rail passes.

I was impressed that we managed to find the two wards quite easily as Douglas had downloaded a map of the hospital and we had phoned to find out which wards we needed to visit. (That was another experience because of patient confidentiality. It was as if the patients were in jail and not allowed visitors. Fortunately we had the necessary information on our membership lists so were given the ward numbers).

The river at Ely with the cathedral in the distance.

Douglas loves his iPad

After the visit, having found them both in good spirits, we made our way back to the bus stop and train station. A Cappuccino and Hot Chocolate went down well as we waited for our train. We had left Downham at 13h09 and were back by 16h06 so felt it was an afternoon well spent. (It was not dark yet so the days must be getting longer.)