Cat

The railway cat is walking along the other platform, out of the
shadows and towards the morning sunshine.
I'm taking some advantage of the new timetable, which gives me a few
extra minutes in bed on Monday morning, though I didn't take full
advantage of them today. No doubt I'll snooze on my way to London.
Thank you to all those who have sent good wishes and or prayers either
by LJ or private email. I can't reply to you all personally yet, but
Viv and I appreciate it all. It was hard to leave Christopher last
night but if I don't work, I don't get paid.
Obviously I will take time off when I need to do so, but that is not
yet. As you will know, I worked away from home in 1998/9 and that was
harder as the boys were younger, the journey was longer and the online
communication was much less well developed. Now, I can't pretend it's
as good as being there, but I can talk to Viv or anyone cheaply and
extensively.
Train in sight. More later.

Syndicated 2008-05-19 05:35:36 from C'est dur de mourir au printemps tu sais

Good afternoon from Alder Hey

Up early again. After breakfast, it was off to church, where Viv and I
needed to tell our news to many. Philip told everyone in the notices
section. We got to hear the next instalment of the David and Goliath
story. After that, +Colin preached on the theme of contentment.
After the service, it was time to go to Arrowe Park. An hour later, we
were all in a taxi to Alder Hey, where we are still. More later.

Syndicated 2008-05-18 14:50:07 from C'est dur de mourir au printemps tu sais

Saturday at Arrowe Park

Neither Viv nor I slept very well, and we were up just after 7. Breakfast, coffee, bath, but also lots of phone calls before we got a lift to Arrowe Park.
Chris was in good heart, though he looked rather resigned to what was going on. Over the course of the day, he's had four units of blood and his blood pressure is now closer to what it should be too. At the same time, he's been given antibiotics through a drip in his other arm.
He fidgets as much as he ever did, so from time to time it set off the warning alarm and staff sorted it out. David and Matthew came with us, but they didn't stay so long. We came home at about 2 and I half watched the game on television. It didn't have the sparkle of the usual cup final, I'm afraid.
Half past six, and Julienne took us back to Arrowe Park. Chris was dozing when we arrived, but soon brightened up. We played cards, teaching Julienne the game Cheat. He also seems to be eating large amounts of hot buttered toast.
He was amused by the noticeboard outside with the title "Alcohol and Drugs - the facts" part of the campaign which we have previously called "Alcohol and Drugs - the propaganda" but the funny part was the illustration supporting it, of Winnie-the-Pooh looking into a honey jar.
I've just noticed how late it is, so I think we need to go to bed.

Syndicated 2008-05-18 00:04:14 from C'est dur de mourir au printemps tu sais

Christopher

My son Christopher is in hospital. On Thursday, his school nurse thought he looked pale, and arranged for him to see a doctor, and he was taken to hospital for tests for anaemia.
His blood count is 3 somethings. Apparently normal is around 12. The people at the hospital are amazed that he is still walking around and doing things.
No, he isn't feeling faint or sick anything: he's doing everything normally. At Easter, he was at the youth camp at Bala and participating in all the activities just the same as anyone, and yesterday was very disappointed that he wouldn't be able to go and play rounders with the rest of his youth group.
So the news from the hospital that it is most likely to be leukaemia was not quite what was expected. Viv and Debbi met me, late last night, from Chester Station and Viv told me. I don't know what to make of the news yet.
So now, everything starts. Telling people will be hard. But now you know. We need to carry on with our lives: it seems that whatever happens, it will be a slow process.

Syndicated 2008-05-17 07:23:46 from C'est dur de mourir au printemps tu sais

The end of a week...er...fortnight

What a long fortnight this has been. I did start to post something on my Blackberry on Monday, but something went wrong. Since then, it's been non-stop go. So here's a quick round up on the two weeks of events, so far as I can remember.

Last week

Monday was the bank holiday, and we spent the first part of the day watching "Horton Hears A Who", previously mentiond, as was the reasonably uneventful trip to London.

Tuesday was another day at work, one that went on for a while, as thet often do. I seem to remember going back to Wembley pretty early, but that might not be right.

Wednesday night saw my first trip to Brick Lane. Brick Lane is to London what Rusholme's Curry Mile is to Manchester. Mike and I tried the delights of Letaj, and I would say it was pretty good.

Thursday evening, a bank social event. I note that most of these are on Friday, so I don't often join in. This one was a Thursday, so I went up to the Bierodrome in Islington. It wasn't bad, but eventually the hubbub of the place got to me and I left. On the way to the train, I passed one of the most famous places I had never been: the world-famous Hope & Anchor. I stopped to see who would be playing there in the near future, but I didn't recognise even one of the band names.

And Friday? I caught the 17:21, but as a result of more signal issues, the incoming crew were delayed and so I was about an hour later home than I would have hoped.

Saturday. Not very much, again, until I went to Liverpool to meet Betty and vivh at the end of what was, for them, a very long day indeed: Lucerne/Basel/Paris/London/Liverpool/Brombrough if I'm not in error. But it was nevertheless very good to see them again, especially Viv!

This week

Sunday was well filled with services, with not too much between them. Philip spoke in the morning; Stoff spoke in the evening, if I remember correctly. After the service, Viv, Julienne, David and I all went off for a curry. Very good it was too. Fine company, fine food...you k now the sort of thing.

Monday - another work day - Mike emailed me and asked if I wanted to meet up in the evning with him and an ex-colleague: we started at the Light ( http://www.savethelight.co.uk ) and then ended up at some really dodgy place. I caught the tube home from Old Street, so I'd say it was pretty dodgy.

Tuesday - my first time leading a Toastmasters meeting for about three years. And it showed. I feel that I could have done so much better, but didn't.

Wednesday - another bank social event. This one was a quiz night. My team didn't do as well as I might have hoped either. Never mind.

Thursday - in theory, it should have been my free evening for the week. In practice, not quite so free: a voice message inviting me and the rest of the team to return to the office. We left again around half past nine, with a pizza from Pizza Express before heading back to Wembley.

That brings me to tonight, another late night at the office, but I just managed to catch the 20:46 to Crewe with onward connections to Chester and Bromborough, all being well.

Syndicated 2008-05-16 20:41:48 from C'est dur de mourir au printemps tu sais