2007-03-01
Apologies again to those of you who call by to see if I’m still alive from time to time. It seems I’m here less and less. It is, as I’ve said virtually impossible to update at work these days - the Thought Police seem to have sealed things off, and I rarely get enough privacy here at home to be able to write freely. It really requires most of the family to be out.So - quick update..not that there’s much to report. That’s the other problem: my life has gone from spicy, exciting and fun, to mundane, if contented. You’ll want to know about Jo, I guess. Well, she’s still fighting illness. She’s on a cycle of three-weekly blood transfusions now but still very prone to infections. Last week after the blood session she returned to work clearly suffering from a virus or another bacterial infection. She went home Thursday lunchtime, I didn’t see her again until Wednesday lunchtime. It really isn’t good, continuous cough and nausea. Before sending her home I had to make sure she got some food into her and drank some sweet hot chocolate - didn’t want her fainting while driving home. She’s started to worry that little Alex might have inherited her immune deficiency - at his age I’m sure he’s prone to pick up all sorts of bugs, especially at his nursery but Jo thinks it’s more than just that. Or worries it is.
And how are we together? “Less”, I think is the best description. Friendly, quite close friendly and still able to have private allusions to when we had a sexual relationship. But more of the intimacy has slipped away since the turn of the New Year and there’s an element of distrust lurking below the surface. I don’t push the issue - what would be the point? I know we both liked being ‘us’ more than anything we’ve ever experienced. But ‘us’ is nebulous and is proving transient. It’s bee a long time - why it’s nearly four years since I started writing here.
I’m doing more stuff though. Really enjoying the bells although I suspect these people are trying to draw me in and would like me to get more involved than I think I really want to. It can be very time consuming and for some people it becomes their main raison d’etre. But it’s a new set of friends, decent people and it’s quite good to feel valued. One of the things I really like about the ringing fraternity is that it is a complete meritocracy. Our country is so tied up in class and status ‘earned’ by birth that it’s a pleasure to operate in a hierarchy based solely on ability. When I took up the ‘exercise’ we were led by a council gardener.
Number one son Simon moved to London a bit over a month ago. He still has no job. We worry about him. I met him down there on Monday morning - I had some free time between meetings (we were in that same Starbucks at Embankment Ms. Avalonte - remember?). He seemed very happy and certainly looked well. He certainly doesn’t seem too phased by not having any source of income at the moment, just seems to be enjoying being amongst his friends. A few theories about how he will get work; nothing definite, nothing concrete, not enough to stop his mother waking up in the night and weeping about his situation.
Catherine turned fifteen earlier in the week. Time goes by too quickly when you get to my age!
And the only other thing of note is that I got my cholesterol checked again and I’m way off the scale of acceptable again. “shouldn’t score more than 5”, the doctor said. I’m at 7.94. Ratio between high lipids and low lipids? “shouldn’t be more than 3” the doctor said. I’m at 6.1. There you go. When I was tested ten years ago my chances of dying of a heart attack by now were 1 in 6. Now apparently I’m rating at 1 in 7 for the next ten years. So that’s an improvement!! By the time I’m 100 there’ll be no chance of dying at all.
I’m cutting out cheese. That’s all.