Visit to Lathe Barn

Photobucket Album

On Sunday, Sean and I took Wendy to Lathe Barn. It had been two weeks since our last visit and he was astonished at the change in her in just two weeks. It is really rather remarkable. If you have looked at the whole Photobucket album, you will have seen just how much he enjoyed playing Grandpa for the afternoon. We all had a great time.

After we dropped her off at home, we went back to my flat to watch a documentary on Florence Nightingale. I don’t know what to say about it. It seemed too short and left us feeling dissatisfied. What was on screen was good and perhaps that is why we felt it ought to have been longer. My mother has the same opinion. Sean and I went to the Gurkha Palace after the documentary. It is our favourite restaurant. Sean did not eat curry because his experience of it had been stew with lots of chilli powder. He has enjoyed the harmony of subtle spices in genuine curry and he needs no persuading to go there. The people are great and the restaurant has a wonderful calm atmosphere.

As an aside, there is a statue of one of the Hindi gods in the restaurant. The eyes are closed and there is a blissful expression on the face. I was reminded of an observation I once read that the Eastern mystics are represented with their vision turned inward but in Western Christian art, the saints are depicted with wide eyes staring out at the world. Of course that is not always true – the Martyrdom of St Stephen always shows his gaze focused upwards – but there is a good measure of truth in it.

My mother picked Wendy up in Hawkinge this morning, and brought her to my flat for a while before taking her to a Mother and Toddler group in Millfield. When they got back here at lunchtime it was raining and they were both tired. My mother slept; Wendy needless to say, didn’t. We look after her again on Wednesday. Michelle and Richard hope to come and lend a hand. I’m glad about that because they have more energy than I do.

It is my sister Mag’s birthday today.

My brother Stephen and his wife Margaret have just got back home from a holiday in Fiji.

My sister Mel is not afflicted with excessive patience at the best of times but she has ‘flu at the moment, in a houseful of blokes who can’t or won’t think for themselves! Poor Mel!

Sean goes to London tomorrow to have his stitches out.

Nigel’s exam was cancelled today because they have not yet written the model answer for the Markers to use. They write on Wednesday instead.

Kate spilled boiling water from a steamer over her legs this morning. It was a facial steamer and she was being assessed doing a facial on a client. Needless to say she failed the assessment. Better luck next time, Kate.

Michelle and Richard have a friend Steve who had surgery today. They had to call an ambulance for him as he became very ill at home. Richard went in the ambulance with him and they are at home again now. Steve waited so long to see a Dr that he gave up in despair and has decided to go private as he fortunately is on BUPA.

I’m having a worry about phones at the moment. Kate calls me a lot but her O2 phone doesn’t get a signal in Hawkinge. She is using a Vodafone sim card there, but Vodafone is so expensive that I would not consider making it my main phone. I have got a Vodafone sim now in a cheap handset that is annoying to use, and I have it so that she can talk to me without it blowing the budget. Carrying two phones is annoying as well. Kate doesn't like it either, but having a Vodafone is better than having no phone at all. Ideally, the family should all be on one network.

I don’t want to leave O2. On my Pay as you Talk, I pay £15 per month and that includes 500 minutes of calls from Folkestone to landlines or other O2 numbers PLUS 1000 minutes/texts to my top 10 O2 numbers PLUS unlimited mobile internet PLUS half price overseas texts and calls. I have so many minutes left over each month that I’m always offering to let people use my phone. That is 25 hours worth of talk time. I only use my mobile because it is so cheap and being on a pay-as-you-go basis, you can’t possibly run up huge debts.

I wonder if there is any way of boosting the O2 signal at their house.