Driving back from MegaGroce that morning, I was hoping to mow the lawns or at least some of them. Then I noticed rain spotting on the car’s windscreen. So instead of mowing the lawns, I started clearing the wild area in the corner of the back garden, behind the garage. I didn’t seem to be making much impression on it, but by lunchtime I had half-filled the green bin with grass and nettles and brambles and miscellaneous weeds.
On the bus to Peakville Infirmary, I sat down next to an old lady. She constantly looked as though she were about to stand up and get off at the next stop, but in fact she was still seated when I got off. Intermittently, there was a strange and strong smell emanating from her, something like ointment but with a metallic tinge. Later that day, I noticed that the bathroom carpet in the Old Man’s house gives off a not dissimilar smell.
At the Old Man’s new ward, I handed in the completed application form for podiatric services. I was told that this form wasn’t one that they used in that ward. However, after some discussion with me, the staff agreed to pass the form on to the appropriate authorities.
Peakville Infirmary had lent the Old Man some clothes to replace the hospital pyjamas he had been wearing when I visited him on the Tuesday and the Thursday. That day, I brought some clothes in for him, and I took away the vest, underpants and shirt he had been wearing when admitted to hospital.
On the way back from Peakville Infirmary, I stopped off at Cheltenham Street and Gloucester Street, where I had last set foot in 1972.
Mrs CJ put a get-well card through the Old Man’s letterbox not long after I arrived back at the house.
[Original posting 30 July 2011]
BLEKE 4 