Not such good news......

Caroline Lucas said on the radio just now that she was brokenhearted by the result this morning  and I must say I feel the same. It is so irrevocable. And then Cameron says he is to resign.   He is not my favourite person, but I think of Hillaire Belloc`s Cautionary Tales: `Always keep a hold on nurse, for fear of finding something worse`   And there are some fearsome characters waiting in the wings.

I have been really poorly for the last couple of weeks with cellulitis, which is why I have not written this blog for some time. I spent many hours in A and E after days of unwellness, (bringing back horrid memories of the needle incident some months ago) and eventually was admitted to an eight bedded ward  with several very confused, demented women, who were not good room mates, poor souls.    I came home after three days, but had to continue going in every day for IV antibiotics. It was not easy getting there on the day of the London to Brighton Bike race, with all the roads packed with hordes of cyclists but we made it in the end.  I am getting better but my leg is still a sorry sight: red, and swollen and so hot, I could be put on the national grid and it is so sore. Everyone has been very kind: family and friends and neighbours. but I am bored with lying on the sofa all day

On the plus side, I have read two good books:Walking Away by the poet Simon Armitage and The Making of Mr Bolsover by Conelius Medvei, and I am about to begin a weighty trilogy by Amitav Ghosh.  I have listened to Radio 4 and 4 extra, day and night and I have a lovely view from my sofa of meadows and trees with the hills in the distance.  I have played Scrabble and had good talks, but even so I am missing all the things I like doing like my Monday music group, the lovely choir, morning swims, the Infants (did I say that I`ve gone back?) the Nibblers and Scribblers writing group and the weekly improv.   All those things are very self indulgent and it is probably good for me to stop rushing around.  And as Winnie the Pooh said to Piglet `I`m all right, really`

In the meantime we have to put up with odious Boris and Farage pontificating smugly on the telly and await further worrying developements.  

getting better..

I am trying to concentrate on activities that I couldn`t take part in when I had dear B.Wiggins.  I always hated leaving him at home on his own as he was such a sociable creature.   
So I have joined a choir in Lewes:  a small unaccompanied group with a brilliant leader.    We sing without words or music written down, she just teaches us as we go along.   There is going to be a whole day at the beginning of July, otherwise we meet every Tuesday morning at 9.30 am which is an unusual time for a choir.    Also with my Nibblers and Scribblers writing group we are now able to meet in dog free zones, like Art Galleries. There are lots of exhibitions on as part of the Brighton Festival and we went to a sort of installation which showed the view from windows all over the world as the occupants woke up in the morning and opened their shutters or curtains.   It was fascinating.   
I went to a Musical called Soul Circus, written, danced and sung by women who were not in the first flush of youth and it was brilliant. It was performed to a packed audience in Hove on a Sunday afternoon, and it made me want to get up and dance with them.
I now go swimming in the mornings which I haven`t done for years, not since I left Winchester really. To my surprise I really enjoy it and I get a bit of exercise which I was sorely missing now that I don`t go for walks twice a day. Ditchling is full of no- go areas because of memories of B.Wiggins, but I am sure I will soon improve.
I am thinking of getting a cat and I am just waiting for one to drop into my lap. I am sure that the right one will arrive soon, but I must get a cat flap fitted first. No walkies of course but at least I will have a furry presence to greet me when I come home.

sad news

I can hardly bear to write this as I feel so sad and bereft. My beloved Bradley Wiggins is no more. He was out with daughter J in Brighton while I was at a concert on Sunday afternoon,and he ran off,  got disorientated, and was run over.    He was killed instantly so did not suffer, which was a mercy.   . The previous weekend, when I was away up in Cumbria, daughter J walked with B.W. for miles and miles along Hadrian`s Wall and he never left her side, so it was completely out of character for him to dash off. She is terribly upset as you can imagine.  We all loved him, and my home seems so empty without him. 

J. and I don`t know how to get through the days.   Yesterday I went to the pool in Burgess Hill and swam up and down for half an hour. I have hardly swum at all since I got the dog and I wondered if I could still keep afloat but it was a very calming experience and I will go regularly as I used to do in Winchester, in place of the early morning dog walks which B.W. and I enjoyed so much.
In the afternoon, J and I did a huge house clean, hoovering and polishing and mopping which was also very therapeutic. I will have to think of other ways to keep busy and not sit about moping.

Today I am going to plant out the tubs,, and as it is going to pour with rain all day tomorrow (according to the infuriatingly cheerful weather forecaster Carol, on the telly) so this is a good time to do it.   Grand daughter M, safely back from Ghana, thank goodness, is coming to stay with me for a week.   So I am gradually doing what they always say `coming to terms with it`, whatever that may mean.

Someone told me I wrote Crump instead of Trump in my last blog. Thought I should apologise in case anyone else noticed.