My friend asked me if she’d broken me, but I’d been doing a lot of walking in the preceding weeks and I don’t think exercise gives you a brain tumour!!
One thing has haunted me a bit since then……my phone pedometer showed that day as my highest number of steps. It’s been my record for over 5 years. I’ve never made a conscious attempt to try and beat it, but I’ve often hoped and believed that I’d do it one day. Every time I’ve felt like I’ve covered a lot of miles in a day, I’d check it to see if I’ve done it, or even got close …… the days I feel like I’ve been tramping for miles, the days I joke my pedometer will think my phone’s been stolen……. None of them hit the steps record I hit on Day 1 of my brain tumour journey.
Some day, it had to happen……..
Hubby and I are currently on a short break in Edinburgh. It had all started off a bit wrong…… we almost missed our flight after I muddled up what day we were leaving, and then due to delays at airport security! Thankfully other passengers generously let us queue jump to get us on the flight on time.
We’d booked a hotel that’s part of a chain that generally offer well priced, well situated hotels. Nothing flash but very comfortable beds and a guarantee of a refund if you don’t get a good night’s sleep. We’ve stayed in their hotels many times, in many locations, without issue.
Unfortunately the one we chose in Edinburgh had a horribly uncomfortable bed. Very far from their usual standard. It was clearly a temporary or replacement bed because it was smaller than the gap allocated for it between the bedside lockers, and it was hard as a brick. The pillows were also of very poor quality.
After hubby woke with neck pain and me with back pain, we decided to move to another hotel in order to ensure we could enjoy our trip.
We tried to complain to the manager and explain why we were cancelling our booking and expected a full refund. She told us she couldn’t authorise any refunds, offered us a free breakfast (which we declined) and gave us two phone numbers and an email address for Customer Relations…… the first number was a number for staff to report complaints made, the second number was wrong, the email address is no longer in use!
After some online research, I found a phone number and rang it…..to get an automated response about phone lines being very busy and asking me to leave a message. I did so twice during the day but heard nothing back.
I then found an online ‘feedback’ form that I completed. Eventually I received a response via email. It told me they would look into my complaint but please not to contact them by other means as it could slow their response….. it then said a response could take up to 35 days!!
We checked out and moved into a different hotel. A nice one. Not too much more expensive but I’ll be fighting for our refund from the first one!
Determined not to let this ruin our trip, we took ourselves out for a late breakfast and a walk. We walked around the city.
The next morning we woke in a comfy bed. It was a lovely Spring day and we enjoyed a walk to Leith. In fairness we had thought Leith was the seaside……it’s actually a working dock and there is no beach anymore. Regardless, it’s a nice place to sit outside and enjoy a cuppa and a wee bun!
Anyway, the point of this post wasn’t to complain about our rubbish hotel choice, rather it was to celebrate. After our walk to Leith I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d finally beat my highest steps……. I checked my phone but discovered it fell slightly short………
BUT, on the previous day I’d done it!! Our day exploring Edinburgh had slayed a dragon…… I finally beat my highest number of steps!! I took 86 steps more than that fateful day 5 years ago and a couple of days later I still feel good!
It’s achievements like this that we need to celebrate. A small thing, perhaps, but undoubtedly proof of huge physical improvement, not to mention the crushing of a psychological barrier!
Today brings a day of meeting friends and attending a gig.
Living with…. Xx
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