Monthly Archives: April 2008

30 April 2008

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Another picture taken at Salthouse last Friday. This is Dot and Fred, though not necessarily in that order. Fred actually introduced me to Dot after meeting her at a residential weekend for Sunday school teachers some time in the very early 60s. We all became part of a group that hung out together and had occasional parties in Norwich and North Walsham. One thing led to another, and eventually Dot went to teacher training college near Watford while I was living in north London. One weekend she came down to visit me, and we saw Dr Zhivago at Leicester Square – a late-night showing. I think we got back to my flat at Stoke Newington somewhere around dawn. She returned to Norwich to teach, there was a certain amount of to-ing and fro-ing, and then I proposed under a tree in a layby on the North Walsham Road: the evening of Boxing Day 1967. We married the following July. Fred married Sue and had four children.

I’m feeling a bit better now – rather more energy, though still an annoying cough. Yesterday I went up to the dentist to have the hygienist look at my teeth, and I quite enjoyed the walk home, though I was a little tired when I got back. Last night Dot and I went to the annual dinner at St Luke’s, which was very pleasant and quite good for me, I think. Lots of nice people.

On the minus side, I have prostate cancer. The results showed 17 of the tests negative, three positive. I now have to have a bone x-ray and an MRI scan to see if it has spread anywhere. If not, they can do something to get rid of it. If it has, we are down to drugs and all sorts of nasty things that I don’t really want to think about.

Very wet day today: not nice at all.

28 April 2008

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And this is the meal Dot had at Cookies – rather reminiscent of one we had at Langabaan in South Africa, though it lacked the exotic surroundings (no weaver bird nests or ostriches).

It’s been quiet: I’m taking a time to recover and still have a lot of cattarh and fuzziness. Tired, too. Nevertheless went to church yesterday and played guitar. I have an interesting lump on my lower right side which has been there for years, but is now much more prominent – sometimes. The Greens came round early evening with some white wine, and Dot cooked some excellent rock cakes. Had a really good conversation with them. The Greens, not the rock cakes.

The weather is not at all bad, and today Dot has gone to Metfield to see Barbara and maybe get a bit further with their Philosophy for Children project. I am still waiting for the hospital to ring about my biopsy, but I think I will go into the city later and pay in a cheque.

26 April 2008

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Still feeling pretty down: tubes clogged up and hardly any energy. However, yesterday we did manage to get out to West Runton to visit Fred and Sue in their caravan. Fred was our best man 40 years ago. We had a very pleasant time with them and drove to where the picture was taken – Cookies restaurant at Salthouse, where we had a large lunch: a “royal” salad consisting mainly of fish and other seafood. I skipped the crab because I have a slight allergy sometimes, but it was all very impressive. We took our own bottle of wine, so the whole thing cost us only about £25 for four. Afterwards we wandered around near the caravan, saw the cliff edge falling away (the steps down to the beach now end in mid air) and noted the kind of price you could pay for a log cabin on a caravan site – a mere £140,000.

We took the MX5, so Dot was driving, and we navigated home across the wilds of North Norfolk, through places like Sustead, Calthorpe, Ingham and Banningham. Almost a straight line, actually, but narrow roads in many places. Lovely scenery, though.

I cancelled the chess tournament I was supposed to be playing in this weekend, and donated my entry fee to the prize fund. Pity, but the right decision: I would probably have lost all my games and been even more depressed. Elsewhere my aunt in South Africa is not at all well, and a friend at church – Anne – is in hospital with a blood disorder. So things could be sunnier.

23 April 2008

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The theme continues. This is the all-conquering, or “quite good”, Surrey Chapel squad of which my son and brother were both members. Son David is in the front row, second from the right, and brother Phil is far right on the back row with the, ahem, beard. Again the time must have been around 1990. The team – indeed the entire church league – had its roots in a radical twice-yearly game I helped organise in the early 60s with my friend David Green. We played Park Church, whose team contained my uncle and two cousins. After I moved to London in 1966, the Easter Monday and Boxing Day games developed into a proper league with teams containing almost no relations at all, but all this came too late for me, and I never played as much football as I would have liked. And in case you were wondering how radical it was, this all stemmed from a time and place where sport was regarded as a not sufficiently spiritual activity. David Green is now a deacon, so it must have been all right.

Back to my medical condition: I’m still feeling rather divorced from reality and generally fuzzy, as if my head hasn’t been tuned in properly. I slept quite well last night, and the pain in my head has gone, but I still have a clogged-up feeling and a bit of a cough, as well as dryness in the mouth. Just not really connecting, somehow. A generally achy feeling.

I’m not looking for sympathy. Well, maybe a little. My grandson sent me a lovely card and Dot is being very solicitous and lovely. I’ve just walked up to the post office to post some letters and got the feeling people were looking at me rather nervously, as if I was ill or something. I realised it was the first time I’d been out of the house for a week.

22 April 2008

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Still on the football theme, this is a five-a-side team made up of members of the Eastern Counties Newspapers trainee course in spring 1991. This would probably have been taken in May or June. I am on the left, of course, and continuing left to right we have Tim Miller, Darren Kemp, Robert Liddle, Mike Randall and Siobhan Hand. In the background at the right is my son David, then about 19, who played as a guest (against the regular reporters, I think). No idea what the score was, but I think we did reasonably well. In case anyone is wondering, I was teaching on the course: local and central government and techniques of journalism. David Paull ran the course and was law lecturer: Frances Burrows taught shorthand. We’re all now retired, of course. Except the trainees. And David.

Since my last entry here I have been feeling pretty awful, with a bad upper respiratory tract infection apparently stemming from the biopsy. I suspect this is the sort of thing doctors are not interested in because it isn’t life-threatening, but It makes you feel so wretched that having prostate cancer seems like a minor issue (at the time). A combination of high temperature, inflammation in your breathing tubes and coughing means you can’t get comfortable enough to sleep or even relax. It really is a nightmare, and what makes it worse is that you think it’s getting a bit better and then it gets worse again.

So I don’t know whether I’m actually over the worst or if I’m just well enough for now to write this. I feel very, very tired, but the pain in my head has eased off. I was given Ciprofloxacin (an antibiotic) in case I got an infection, but to say I was unimpressed by it is a major understatement. I only started to feel a bit better when I stopped taking it. Of course if I hadn’t taken it I might have died, but these things are relative.

We have cancelled our break in York, which was due to start tomorrow. I don’t think we’ll be charged for the hotel, and the theatre is very kindly refunding the tickets (though they have no need to), so when it is all sorted out, I think it will just cost us the £10 rail tickets cancellation fee. Very disappointing, though, especially as the weather is no nice at the moment. Makes you want to go out – and Dot has just walked to the shops – but I daren’t go far in case of the other side-effect of this whole mess: having to rush to the loo.

Seems ridiculous to have gone through all this when I was fine to start with. Now they want Dot to take cholesterol pills because she has a high count on a recent test. Both she and I are against it: she’s already taking blood pressure pills for no good reason (and is told she can’t come off them), so why add more pointless medication when she feels fine? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I wish I’d said that.

19 April 2008

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An old cutting of the Acton Gazette five-a-side team that I found while thinning out my filing cabinet a couple of days ago – in between feeling fine after the biopsy and the onset of the anticipated infection. Yesterday I felt pretty rotten, with a raised temperature and a really bad cough; went to bed early after just making it through Pirates of the Caribbean (excellent film) and had quite a good night. Still feel really tired and fragile, with a headache, but the temperature has gone down and the cough is not nearly so bad.

The picture dates from around 1970. As well as me (on the right), the team consists of reporter Andy Moreton; chief reporter Mike Crozier, who went on to help redesign The Independent; Dave Gemmell – then sports editor – and his non-playing first wife Val; and guest player Dave Searby.

While I was thinning out the filing cabinet, the electrician came and fixed the new light in the kitchen / dining room. Looks pretty good.

17 April 2008

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Another picture from our visit to Wroxham Barns: after feeding the animals, Oliver felt it was time to feed himself. Today would have been his great-grandfather’s – my father’s – 95th birthday, if he hadn’t died tragically early, 53 years ago. I am taking it easy, after my prostate biopsy under general anaesthetic yesterday. No problems in the immediate area of the biopsy, but I have a cough and a slight temperature. I’m on antibiotics, of course, so I hope they’ll sort it out soon. I had a bad night, getting less than four hours’ sleep, but not because of any pain or even discomfort. Nor was I worrying about anything. I just couldn’t sleep, which is very annoying. I did also have an episode of acid reflux, which I haven’t had for months. The nurse who rang this morning to check on me said it was probably the anaesthetic.

Yesterday at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital went very well, and I felt fine the whole time. We had just got a late Christmas present from the Cares – some vintage port and a book called The Naked Jape, which is about what makes people laugh and contains a large number of jokes. The timing of this was perfect, because I took it to the hospital and spent much of the waiting-around time reading it, with frequent laughter, which had to be good for me. Dot was with me as well, of course, but although she is also funny, she didn’t make me laugh quite as much. Smile, yes.

The staff were brilliant, from the time we arrived at 12.30pm to our rather late departure at around 7pm – late because [stop reading now if you have a sensitive disposition] I had to produce a relatively blood-free batch of urine, which took several attempts. The two nurses who looked after me – Michelle and Liz – were not only thorough but also friendly and easy to talk to. They clearly deal with people in a similar condition all the time, but they showed real concern. The surgeon and two anaesthetists were also friendly and sympathetic as well as being meticulous in telling you what was going to happen and what might happen. I also lost count of the times different people checked I was the right person having the right procedure, and that the signature on the consent form was mine.

I don’t remember anything after the needle was put in my hand until I came to in the ward. Dot had popped out for something to eat – apparently I asked her what she’d had several times – and arrived back just as I came round. There was no pain or even discomfort, and no obvious reaction to the anaesthetic. I felt as if I could have driven home, though clearly I couldn’t.

On the Tuesday evening our usual group came round, and they ended the evening by praying for me, which was encouraging. I know various other people were praying too. David rang to check I was OK. In the evening yesterday (what was left of it after egg and chips), Dot and I watched a two-parter of Waking the Dead, which was not only appropriate but also very good – probably the best story I’ve seen on the series. Even Trevor Eve’s extreme emotions seemed almost credible, and the acting generally was superb.

15 April 2008

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Snow in Surrey the other weekend – one of a few pictures I’ve posted on Flickr. I’ve also started a photo page on my own website, and the NCMC one has gone live. Amazingly, I think it makes sense of a kind, and I put three of my poems on it to give it a bit of class. Just kidding: I was merely filling a gap in the Resources section.

Had a really nice time with Stella, who has now departed for Yorkshire. She very kindly gave us a signed hardback copy of Legend – which will replace our own paperback, now much fingered and the worse for wear. We’ve been trying to track down the rest of Dave’s books. I’m sure we once had all of them, but there are gaps now. Obviously we recommend them to everyone and must have lent them a little recklessly.

Still very cold, though sunny. I’ve spent a large part of the afternoon sorting out the travel, health, card assist and document-registering services that come with our Alliance & Leicester current account. I’ve been reeling out numbers over the phone, then going through a health screening (Dot too) to see what exactly our travel insurance will cover. Aargh!

Still, tomorrow in hospital should be restful, especially the bit when I’m unconscious, though I don’t like the way they warn you to bring pain-killers with you. I shall be glad when it’s over. Of course.

14 April 2008

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Oliver feeding the animals at Wroxham Barns during his recent visit. The weather then and now is changeable and quite chilly. Yesterday, when I went to Paston to drop in on a workshop run by Annette and Lisa, I drove home through a massive cloudburst, with some thunder and lightning as a an added extra. Stopped by the side of the road and wrote a bit of a poem. Also found a path from the village of Paston over to the cliffs, which I will tread in more clement weather. Took a couple of pictures of Bromholm Priory before the rain set in.

Earlier, Holy Communion at St Augustine’s – and a good congregation. Apart from me, that is. I’m just average. Suzanne preached for the first time: I now know lots about lambs. This morning Dot has been out shopping and is now cleaning the house in preparation for the arrival of Stella, who is staying overnight. The NCMC website is finished and will go live in the next day or two.

12 April 2008

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Grandson Oliver shows skill with a frisbee on Walcott beach on Wednesday, as the few drops of rain faded away to give us a pleasant hour there – even a little sunshine. We had just taken Jessie back to North Walsham after a “pub meal” (Oliver’s request) at the Town House in Thorpe. Very nice, but slow service. Jessie had been to see Frank at his new home – Overbury House in Wroxham – arriving by bus from North Walsham. I picked her up to transport her back to Norwich. All a little more complicated than it might have been, because the electrician was fitting our new sidelights and study light, and Dot needed to supervise the operation! But it all worked out very well. Oliver also did a lot of construction work on the beach involving sand and flint, and thoroughly enjoyed himself.

The same day Dot had a blood test for cholesterol, which meant she had to be at the doctor’s by 8.30am. No need for an alarm clock – nor on Thursday, when Oliver woke before 6am. We went to see Aunt Ethel in the morning (Oliver declining the offer of a bus ride), and headed back to Caddington at about 3pm. We stopped for a drink just over halfway, and I managed to block the PIN on my Goldfish card at the petrol station. (Unlocked today at a machine at Reepham). Lots of traffic on the approach to Caddington, but not as much as earlier, when David had rung to say he had been stuck in traffic twice on the way to pick up Amy from nursery. Apparently the M1 had been shut for a couple of hours, and everything was spilling off it. Shutting motorways should be illegal.

Returned home after evening meal and bath (grandchildren, not us), arriving back in Norwich about 11pm. Never felt more like going straight to bed. Oliver was a lot of fun to have around, though. He has developed a lot of skill at chess, and his drawing and computer handling are both exceptionally good. He can also read really well for a five-year-old.

Yesterday spent serious time sorting our the NCMC website, as well as catching up in other areas. Watched quite a bit of television in the evening. This morning we went to Reepham to get our hair cut and had lunch as usual at Kerri’s. The chain and flex for the light in the kitchen has been lengthened, and Dot is even now knocking on the ceiling to see where we can insert the screw. Don’t ask.