Happy 70th birthday NHS

This morning we returned my father to the care of the wonderful NHS staff at the hospital in Hexham. They ran some tests on him over the course of the morning. Meanwhile we took a wander around town. Three hours later the staff reported some improvement on the various measurements taken on Tuesday, so we were all pleased to learn that the treatment administered over the course of last week has started to work. They are now keeping him in for a few days, albeit at a different hospital (Haltwhistle) to which he was transferred later this afternoon.

Mr hazelh and I then travelled back north to Edinburgh. My main mission of the journey was to finish my novel. This I did just as we crossed the River Tweed at Berwick - in time for our discussion at this evening's book group meeting at ArcLight's house.

Most of our book group members couldn't make it this evening - there were just ArcLight, Ridgeback13 and me - so Mr hazelh and Mr A were co-opted to the meeting to make it quorate. Mr hazelh couldn't believe his luck when he learnt that there home-made Thai curries for supper. He also loved the gooseberry fool pudding too, as did everyone else around the table. It really was a wonderful meal.

The discussion of the book was limited due to the make-up of our party. However, there was universal approval amongst the three of us for Go went gone by Jenny Erpenbeck. It's a multi-layered German novel about African asylum seekers that raises a whole load of questions. I'm pretty sure that if we had all been there this evening, we would have discussed it for a long time. My only criticism of the book was that I felt that the translation was peculiar in places. I don't think that the translator is a native English speaker.

I took my blip this morning in the hospital café, keen to celebrate the achievements of the NHS and very thankful for all the hard work of the staff who are looking after my father at the moment, and those who cared for me earlier this year.

Exercise today: walking (12,967 steps).

Comments
Sign in or get an account to comment.