RosiePosted by Rachel Dwyer 04 Sep, 2010 03:29PMYesterday was a day of three halves. The first , a friend came for breakfast ,and I cooked up a delicious ( though I say it myself ) interpretation of Nigella's lemon and polenta cake - for breakfasts' sake we'll call it a loaf -as it was that shape and it sounds too piggy to have cake, even though we surrounded it with blueberries, for breakfast.
The second ,nearly killed me, both in my heart and head .It was cognitively and emotionally draining ,and I questioned myself as to if I should have gone.( sometimes I kid myself I'm stronger than I am ). Luckily an elderly couple took me under their wing and the lady,Sonia held my hand throughout. Their son ,Stephen had survived meningitis, 20 years ago , and that morning he had reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. He raised money for MRF.As a supporter of The Meningitis Research Foundation , I put my name down to go up to a site visit at the Medical school, Imperial College at St. Mary's Hospital . The research was funded by the MRF and presented by 4 medics, the main one being Professor Mike Levin. I won't go into detail, probably cos I didn't understand most of it . but if anyone is interested I have 3 handouts I can photocopy for you.The discussion went on til beyond 5 , and so the visit to the Paediatric ITU Unit and to CL3 labs was cancelled .I don't think I could have coped with them anyway.
The third took me from the sublime to the ridiculous. John and I went to see Chris Dugdale at The Riverside Studios. I guess you'd describe him as 'a poor mans Derren Brown''. He did tricks, illusions , hypnosis and all that stuff. I was his Debbie McGee for 1 trick- to simplify, I had to think of a card ,and after a few 'izzy whizzy lets get busy ' sort of stunts , he wrote the name of the card I had chosen on 3 separate dollar bills. He got it right. Him,John and a few glasses of Aspinalls Suffolk Cider , got me through the day.
RosiePosted by Rachel Dwyer 03 Sep, 2010 08:58AMJacob, drink plenty of water , slap on loads of factor 50 , and book a place for The G - she says she's never been to The Sahara.
RosiePosted by Rachel Dwyer 02 Sep, 2010 09:05PMGrandmama is still there, 87% of the staff have left or handed their notice in ( joke ). Grandma told me that the lovely Patricia's ( The activities organiser ) husband was building a barn in the courtyardy garden outside Grandma's window. I imagined something like the one in 'Witness' , until I spoke to Patricia and found out it's a BAR - and not the type ballet dancers hold onto to do their 'pas de ders' ( not much use for one of those in Uplands )- sounds good to me. Grandma is now sitting on her wonderful new fleecy ,sent from Sally in NZ, she'll have to make sure she doesn't spill one of her 6 daily mugs of cappuccino ( instant - and half price in Sains this week ) on it . Grandmama and I picnic' d in the Rookery, and I had a bit of a star spot - the girl who plays Karen, in Outnumbered, was with her mum , and walking their dog .I recognised her voice.I tried to explain the whole prog to grandma, but gave up and bought a her a 99 ( Grandma ,not Ramona whatsername ). Returned to Uplands through the wooded area - not quite a beauty spot , but Streathams well known dogging area - never seen so much activity in the trees.
Jacob is sweltering in 40 degrees heat in Marrakech
RosiePosted by Rachel Dwyer 01 Sep, 2010 10:35PMBack to work today- I'm pooped.
What has little William Hague been up to ? Does Ffion know ?
What do you think of the new voting rule in 'coach trip' ?
RosiePosted by Rachel Dwyer 31 Aug, 2010 07:55AMThank you for all your birthday wishes to CJ. Birthdays are hard. They are no longer the big celebrations they used to be 87 weeks ago. I know in my head , they are to be recognised and celebrated, but my heart is so damaged and my brain so overloaded with love and yearning for Rosie, that it is hard to remember that. All I do know is that ,I have to be with John, Jacob and Florence to feel, safe, secure and truly happy.
I will always remember how happy Rosie was on her 19th Birthday.
RosiePosted by Rachel Dwyer 30 Aug, 2010 09:08AMCalamity J is 54 years old today . We have just been getting all emotional over a coat- hanger. John has a lovely solid wooden coat hanger which he keeps in the right hand side of his wardrobe. It has the number 65 burnt onto the top of if. His dad,Patsy, did this for him when he went off to boarding school in 1965, as that was his school role number. I think that's lovely.
When Jacob and Flo wake up we'll do something nice.
RosiePosted by Rachel Dwyer 29 Aug, 2010 06:59PMOne year on and it's happened again ....my toenail has gone black and dropped off.
RosiePosted by Rachel Dwyer 28 Aug, 2010 05:08PMBert , I love the lime green...and the photos . the first one is taken with Mary in our back garden, the second overlooking the beach at Tenby ,and the third ( which I cannot bear to look at ) with Katie -not sure where.
The 4 intrepid explorers are back fro Walberswick- it was fab, beaut ,wet,sunny,windy,gastronomic. John cycled most of Suffolk, while Jacob, Florence and I walked, cream tea' d , crabbed , swam etc etc. In seven days we......Called for Shirley- Ann at 8 am, swam in the sea ( don't forget it's the North sea , so dam cold and not a wetsuit in sight ), had hot choc in the beach-hut , recovered, played boules,ate fishcakes, drank Adnams/ walked to Southwold,got ripped off by a Greek olive Seller , picnic' d on the beach , went hysterical courtesy of Tim Hunkin , on the pier ,night time BBQ on the beach, under a full moon , made a fire ( beach hut still intact )/ long walk Aldeburgh to Thorpeness ,through the RSPB area ( didn't spot any birds ,but Jacob found a big stick and terrorised us with it - he got so attached to it - a Sonic replacement ? - he's bought it home ). Bought fish & chips from, Diane Abbots favourite place to eat in the UK ,and ate them on the beach under the stars /huge walk in the pouring rain to Dunwich though the woods , cream tea and then back along the beach- absolutely stunning, dins at The Anchor/ got the ferry just to buy a crab sandwiches/beach,boules,cream tea,more boules, comedy fest. back to The Anchor at 11pm for a nightcap and a specially made white choc bread and butter pudding , that Sophie had taken off the menu , but made specially for us - it was nearly as good as Jacobs./A huge farewll breakfast today with Shirley Ann, Caroline and Matthew Plus of course too many games of 'contract' to mention.Plus plus got over the fact the cams had copied us with their choice of names ..Florence,Rose ,Pasty or Unemployment Blackspot ( or something else Cornish ).
