My drive home was uneventful, other than the presence of some very thick fog. There was about a 20 mile stretch when visibility was down to 30 to 40 yards and I had to drive very slowly. I discovered how nice it was to have Google maps on the screen in the dashboard as it made it easy to see how the road was going to bend further up. The Subaru EyeSight system that scans the road and the lane markers stopped working during the worst of it.
I was home by 9:30, had a proper cup of coffee, unpacked, and had a visit with the cats. I went to the warehouse club, where I witnessed a woman in the vestibule with a dog in a buggy/carriage, one clearly designed for dogs. It's possible she was there because they refused entry to the dog.
Doctortwo, some people have veins that are very hard to locate. It is a skill and a gift to draw blood from those patients.
Silkie, I would seriously consider going private, as Math has suggested. They are telling you now that it's a six week wait after your imaging study comes back in two weeks. Two weeks from now it may be an 8-10 week wait for surgery. They won't actually book the surgery until they have the radiology report.
It's nice to be home. I really don't care for traveling for work.