Here’s a transcript of the video:
Well, we owe you a bit of an apology, I think, because we haven’t been on here for a while. There are reasons for that, and I’ll explain some of them later, but we had a great time in France.
Zeke had a great time in France. We couldn’t take the Eurostar because they have this ridiculous rule about dogs not travelling on the Eurostar. So we took a ferry and had him with us every inch of the way, and he loved it. He loved the stimulation of it. We loved having him around. It was great.
It’s amazing when you have a dog and you can take them on adventures with you. It makes all the difference.
I know we caught up with you in that wonderful medieval village of Sarlat, maybe our favourite place on the whole trip. Then we went on to Nice and Marseille, but we filmed less and less at that point because it was just so friggin’ hot. It was pretty unbearable.
That’s really the reason we didn’t do more shooting, because it was just so f***ing hot. The last day we were in Paris, it was 102. I’ve never heard of such a thing in Paris, and it was unbearable.
Anybody who is a Republican who still believes that global warming is a fantasy should talk to us—or anybody who lives in Europe. England is having a heatwave like it’s never seen before.
So it was nice to be back, though. We stayed in the house. We kept the windows closed.
The other reason that we’ve taken so long to get anything done is that I had cataract surgery. I’d had it before I actually met Chris, 22 years ago. So it must have been 23 or 24 years ago that I had cataract surgery.
I was really impressed by what a minor operation it felt like and how well it improved my eyesight. It just gave me 20/20 vision suddenly. So I was expecting such a miracle this time.
It’s been pretty great, I have to say. This eye is incredible. I still need surgery done on this eye, but I went to the NHS and, as usual, had a wonderful experience.
They had to process a lot of people through there the day I was there, and a lot of them were having cataract surgery, I suppose. They were all sweet folks, and we kind of bonded in the waiting room.
Chris was a real champ about all of this because he’s been putting drops in my eyes—I don’t know, what is it, six or seven times a day?
Chris: Thirteen times a day.
Thirteen times a day. And that’s what must be done until you go back for the next appointment.
It has improved my eyesight considerably, even just operating with this eye. It’s amazing. Suddenly, I was seeing clarity that I hadn’t seen for a long time. So that’s a little miracle, and I’m happy for it.
And I’m happy we have the NHS. If I had this operation in the States, it would have cost me $13,000, something like that. And it’s free, of course, under the NHS. The attention they pay you is really very gratifying and thorough.
So things are looking up for me in that way. I can actually see things now. I’ve noticed details that I haven’t noticed in recent years because it kind of creeps up on you when you have a cataract. It becomes foggier in ways that you can’t really define, and it’s only when that’s lifted that you really feel the difference.
So I’m very grateful for that, and I’m so grateful for the NHS once again. I hope that I’m not grateful to them many times more, but they’re there to take care of you when you need it. And that’s made a difference in my life.
So anyway, it’s wonderful to be back. We really do enjoy making these videos. We get a lot of fun out of it.
And again, I apologise that it’s been so long, because we know that you’d like to keep up on a regular basis, and we’re going to try to do that for you.
Next time, we plan to do some stuff on my time in the Navy in Vietnam. We’ve had requests about that, oddly enough, so I’ve got a few stories to tell you about that, and I hope you enjoy them.
Anyway, thank you for coming along. Thank you for sticking with us. We’ll be back, and we’ll have plenty to say.
So, lots of love. Bye-bye.
correction: Armistead meant to say $3,000 for cataract surgery in the States (not $13,000).
