9 July 2011
A fairly busy day. The good Dr is still here and seems to have plenty of reports to write or. correct so I did not see much of him until lunchtime. I had booked a table at the Cricketers, next door, take Mick out to lunch. We decided it was fine enough to sit outside-which meant I also able to smoke-a small cigar and although there were intermittent clouds in the sky, every now and then the odd grey one would turn up and looked rather threatening. However, we managed to get through our delicious lunch – home-made chicken and ham pie with the most delicious crispy pie across ; back to the house in the electric wheelchair and enjoyed our coffee at the picnic table before a few spots of rain drove us in. I still have a few sachets of the coffee that I had appropriated (!) from the Anantara in Thailand, last time we were together there, so. For old time sake, we made a couple of pots and even the taste of it brought back happy memories I was a little cross with Mick, having sent him into the bar to pay for lunch with my credit card he ended up paying for it himself, this this by me telling him endlessly, that his money is no good when he’s staying with us. I shall have to have a word with the proprietor, Trevor Oliver (Jamie Oliver’s dad) and ensure that the staff at the Cricketers do not allow him to use his own credit card in the future.
As we returned to the house with me driving my electric wheelchair along the pavement, we spotted our new neighbour, Luke – on whom we have called more than once, in the past, to assist getting me off the deck when I have fallen over – he’s such a nice man and is building a bungalow, on the other side of the road, opposite our front gate. He is a builder by trade and has his own business – mainly building small extension – so therefore is doing this work in his spare time and thus the progress is going in fits and starts. He told us that he got married last week and that he and his new bride will eventually move in opposite. If his wife is anything like as nice as Luke we could and not wish for better neighbours
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Having been driven in by the spots of rain, like two naughty schoolboys we decided that Mick would hoist me into my study chair. Now, bear in mind that Harriet had given Alice strict instructions that she should not use the hoist on her own, we felt very guilty and nervous that Alice would return from shopping and catch us at it. We quickly and skilfully carried out by manoeuvre and then rushed the hoist ack to its original position and removed all evidence of our naughtiness. In the event, Alice was not at all cross. Her reason being that Mick was a doctor and should know about such things, whereas in reality, he had never used a hoist before. If only I could persuade ‘my lovely’ that it was quite safe for her to use it on her own I would get much more use out of my electric wheelchair. As it is I have to wait until lunchtime to be put into it and stay in it until the six o’clock evening call. Maybe I can have a quiet word with Harriet who I know Alice would listen to. Of course, officially, under Health and Safety Regulations the hoist has to have two persons using it but what you do in your own home is your own business!
No sooner had we settled down than, our recent the elected county councillor, Edward Oliver popped in to pick up my Tax Return papers.Edward, is an old friend who happens to have been a qualified accountant, now retired, and now I am unable to write, very kindly annually fills in my income tax form for me, from the profit and loss account that Doreen and I have prepared in the interim,
I then had another visit who will remain anonymous for the time being, as indeed will be purpose of his visit. I say that because I conceived, what I believe to be a genuine business opportunity, or as they say in business language,’ a hole in the market’, and I pitched this, to the, as yet, undisclosed person, who loved the idea as much as I do and has gone away to draw up a business plan. I will, of course, disclose the nature of this idea in due course provided, that is, I’m still alive to see it through!
For those of my readers who are cricket lovers, I have to report briefly on the deciding One Day International against Sri Lanka, England set the visiting side a reasonably modest target of 270 to win. In the event England bowled them all out 17 runs or so short of the target with a couple of overs to spare. Even Mick enjoyed the excitement of the endgame although he is not merely a cricket aficionado, more of a Tour de France, cycle race fan, so we watched that later, when we had our champagne. At the same time we raise our glasses to his daughter, Kate and Sim, who without any warning to any of the family, decided to get married this very day jail if all pragmatic reason -they have lived together for heaven knows how many years – something to do with needing to be married in order to get British passports for their two children.
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