Hi Mike, Good to hear from you! Just recently, for the first time, I find myself wanting to prefix what I'm going to say with "when you get to our age..." (wygtoa). It feels strange, and is really a bit unwelcome. I hope I didn't sound like I was nagging but (wygtoa) several of my friends and acquaintances have been suffering from ailments both serious and minor and sometimes I become just a little anxious that someone is in a poor state and I don't know about it. With that said, the last thing any of us needs is someone else going "are we there yet?", or similar, particularly if you are feeling out of sorts.
Sorry to hear you've been poorly. The flu/Covid you describe sounds nasty. I understand what you say about "unable to concentrate". I've experienced that myself, though fortunately not recently. Another symptom I have experienced is a feeling of "not really being there/present". I think that fancy name for that is "dissociation". That wasn't actually unpleasant, but it isn't something I want to repeat either. On the other hand, on a couple of occasions I think I've experienced minor hallucinations - that was just weird, "dissociation PLUS strange sensations". People pay a lot of money for experiences like that! As far as I'm concerned they're welcome to them.
I particularly understand the "not being able to read" bit. There was a brief time in his later years when my Dad had a spell like that. At the time, I felt really sorry for him because it took away a genuine simple pleasure. Fortunately the effect was due to diabetes and got fixed, so it was all ok in the end. I think he was re-reading one of the Brother Caedfael (spolling?) stories the week before he died.
I'm still waiting to pick up Rivers of London again. I simply haven't been in a bookshop recently and my library haven't come up with the goods yet. I've been wondering (in general) about graphic novels. I may give one a go (maybe even a RoL one). I think they are a legitimate art-form (like comics, plays, TV etc) but maybe suited to a particular audience, so I note your comments and accept that graphic novels may not be for me. One of the things I like about RoL is the discriptive work and the backgrounds and, of course, that will likely be lost in a graphic novel. I think I'm someone who falls into the category of "I prefer listening to plays on the radio to watching movies - the pictures are better!" Talking of plays on the radio, I was speaking to Chris Freemantle over the internet yesterday and he said that he had been "...listening to a Radio Four play...". I don't think I was fully paying attention to him, or perhaps it was my dodgy hearing, because just for a fraction of a second, I thought I had heard him say "...listening to radio foreplay...". I'll leave your imagination to fill in the gaps, because that momentary misunderstanding certainly had my mind boggling.
Well done for venturing out "on foot"! It's something I don't do enough of. If I was over there, I would be tempted to offer to join you. My exercise is mostly my cycle down to town most days to pick up a newspaper and minor groceries. That, and the same trip to the Men's Shed and then the pub two nights a week. Purchasing the bicycle was one of the better things I have done since coming full time to Ireland, and it was a complete whim.
Tomorrow, at the Shed, my task of the evening is to connect two pins inside a push-button on/off switch on a lathe. It isn't "latching" as it needs to and I think the problem was that I had misunderstood the details of the wiring (part of the problem is retrofitting cheap Chinese components to ancient British equipment, with little or no documentation for either. The lathe is a small Myford). Internet diagram to the rescue. At tea one evening I was pleased to announce: "Three bits of good news: the lathe motor runs in both directions, there hasn't been a big bang, and I'm still alive!" If the "latch" works, then all I have to do is re-route some of the wiring and thoroughly clean the lathe (it's in a terrible state). I'm sure there will be other things to do as well.
My other exercise is walking down to the river behind my house. You couldn't really call that a proper walk, but I enjoy it, and it's so convenient. I remember telling you about it. Making the gateway was another whim. The original reasoning was simple enough, the gate gives me access to cut the back of the hedge, but the effect has been much greater. I now go down to the river several times a week (weather and inclination permitting). Regarding ground conditions: one of the effects of making the same walk regularly is that one becomes aware of changes. Topsoil where I am is clay and the underlying ground is some sort of limestone or maybe shale (my geology is a bit dodgy). It has been a wet winter, even my local standards. The ground was very squidgy, even waterlogged but is now beginning to dry out. The river itself is changing. It was surging and opaque, like milky coffee, but yesterday the surface was flat enough, and the water clear enough, for me to see the rocky bottom in places. And I saw one or two bees (good) and today I saw a pair of swallows outside my house (that's even better). I have still to go down to the river today.
I'm going to break off there. I have to pick up the newspaper and I have a couple of small purchases to make in town. Keep in touch, even if it's only to say "I feel a bit crap, but I'm still here". It saves me worrying and prevents me from being a nag. Tell me about any future walks.
Regards,
Tom
(17th April 2023)
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