Peter's laser eye surgery went well yesterday. His eyes are a bit more bloodshot than mine were but he says they feel fine and at his check up today his vision was nearly perfect and he is really pleased with the results already. We were also pleasantly surprised when the surgeon recommended a much less expensive version of the treatment as he said it would be better for Petr's eyes so he ended up having the same treatment as I did. It must be good working in that clinic because the procedure is not painful, has only the smallest amount of discomfort (usually), and the results are almost immediate. I had my 6 month check yesterday and my left eye which does have a tendency to feel dry or slightly gritty, is very slightly down in vision, (1/4 only). It will be checked again in 6 months and should there be any more deterioration they will correct it with more surgery (free lifetime after care). I drove us out of Bristol and had a reminder of city driving, lots of clutch control as you creep along in slow traffic keeping an eye open for pedestrians darting out between parked cars, watching out for road signs on an unfamiliar route and plenty of indicating from me to say 'sorry, I'm in the wrong lane and I need to be over .... there.' Then it was onto the motorway in the dark- not good, and lots of rain - also not good, and in fairly heavy traffic - so so. At least Peter has learnt to stop bugging me about not driving fast enough. I felt that sticking to the speed limit of 70 mph was quite fast enough in those condition and I prefer to slow down a bit rather than attempt to overtake when I don't have a really clear view. It only took an hour and a half to drive to Tewkesbury to Sam & Kate's. We had a very sociable evening, a nice meal followed by the film 'Outlander' accompanied by lots of silly comments. Great fun. This morning we stopped on Tewkesbury High Street so that I could take some pictures of the lovely Tudor half timbered houses that make this such a pretty town.
In the background is the Cathedral which dates back to the 11thC. Apart from the High Street most of the buildings in the old town are not quite as old brick built houses and of course there are vast areas of modern housing around the town. Even in just the last few years the field across the road from Sam & Kate's has changed from a riverside meadow - prone to flooding, to a new housing estate - flooding not mentioned by the developers. Peter was pronounced fit to drive at the clinic today and an hour and a half after leaving Bristol we were doing a bit of shopping in Barnstaple. Saw almost no signs of snow in all our driving, just a little on the hills and a few small drifts at home. I saw my first new lambs, in a field off the Link road.