Monday 29 February 2016

Only One Lovely Black Eye

I have been in the wars again. I have a great bruiser of a black eye and a horribly mangled nose and I do believe it could have happened to anyone, not just to a doddery  old woman like me.
I was happily walking down Lodge Hill at eight oclock in the morning and stopped to put the dog on his lead.     Just for a moment I leaned slightly against a perfectly normal looking wooden fence, which collapsed and I fell flat on my face.   I staggered home and phoned daughter J who was fortunately not at work that day and she came to Ditchling and sorted me out.   I was so lucky not to break any bones. However, now having had a good look at my nose, I realize there is a bit missing.     Perhaps it will grow back. As long as it doesn`t frighten horses and children I don`t care.
The blow on the head does not seem to have impaired my brain (like Old Father William in Alice in Wonderland) as I won at Scrabble yesterday and (almost) completed the Prize cryptic crossword in the Guardian ahead of my sister for a change.
However I still look like a pathetic victim on Crime Watch who has been beaten up.
I find it difficult to decide which way to vote on the EU question with Boris and Dave on opposite sides. What a pair. I did enjoy the play about Churchill last night on TV with the wonderful Michael Gambon playing Winston. In spite of being such a diehard Tory he hated nuclear weapons and did try hard to work for peace initiatives. I had to admire him.
We had a birthday lunch in Midhurst for son T on Saturday at the Spread Eagle Hotel   What a lovely place. Queen Elizabeth is reputed to have slept there. There were roaring log fires, nice food, damask table napkins and tablecloths and they WELCOMED DOGS.   We shall go there again.





















Tuesday 16 February 2016

Persona non grata yet again

Another trip to London to meet two old friends in the crypt at St Martins in the Fields. I`d been there before with B.Wiggins and also Jumble (daughter J`s dog) with no problems,but this time, there was a bossy woman running the gift shop who said NO DOGS.   I was exhausted after jumping on and off  buses and trains, and felt I could not walk another step, so I managed to smuggle him in under my coat,, but felt very uneasy that there would be a heavy hand on my shoulder and I would be turfed out on to the street just as I was tucking in to my lunch. In fact I don`t think I will ever go to London again, well not with a dog anyway. It is no place for old crocks like me.

I saw a sad film at the Village Hall that evening called Still Alice about a woman with early onset Altzheimers, beautifully acted -  you saw the world through the eyes of Alice as the awful disease progressed.   It showed how none of us really know how to cope when friends and family lose their memory and become lost and confused.

Grand daughter M is working in schools in Ghana for six months, doing environmental science, related to global warming and climate change.  She writes a splendid blog, but she is finding it very hard, partly because of the heat and dryness, but also because all her colleagues are men and she craves female company and misses her friends in London and also her family, so she is very homesick. Another thing she finds difficult is that everyone is always late, up to an hour and a half sometimes. The only time she has felt at ease and happy was when she went riding round the lake.. As soon as she gets on a horse she feels at peace with the world.

So lovely today to have a hard frost, so I could go up the hill without sinking into claggy mud. Dog walks have been no pleasure lately. But my dodgy hip and knees don`t help either. I am going to a recommended Physio this afternoon, so perhaps she can sort me out.   Also daughter J`s acupuncture treatment works a treat.      I find that most things get better in time but then I get something else, that`s what happens when you`re eighty five and a half.