Getting On With It

I've had to endure two days of ultra-smelly dog following his ecstatic reaction to fresh fox poo on our walks. The second time I had just put him on the lead, thinking we must be near where it lay, only to look back and see him rolling his head and ears in it again. Despite my attentions with water and soap I am still getting a whiff of the horrible stuff. Apart from that he has been a model dog, adapting readily to my decreased exertions due to a so-far mild dose of flu. Today we settled ourselves on the small sofa in the kitchen, him stretched out between my legs, head on my chest and covered with a warm coat, me curled around him, and we slept for nearly two hours. He barely moved except to edge closer. Before I became temporarily frail we enjoyed vigorous walks around the school playing field where the river has been in full spate after very heavy rain. Normally there is little water in it, and you can see the debris of fallen trees and branches which I always long to clear. Give me a bulldozer and I'll happily dredge it for you. But with water swirling almost to the top in places it looked clean and wild. Lovely.

Framlingham Castle backdrop

Some dog or other

You only have to spend a short time at a large general hospital to see how wonderful the NHS actually is, at many if not all things. I was in the eye department escorting Penny, and a tremendous number of people moved through it being seen for presumably a wide variety of ailments. It's not perfect, but my goodness it keeps a hell of a lot of people going when in America, for example, they would founder. The other thing you can't fail to notice as you sit watching the world go by is the care people take of each other, the affection and kindness of those escorting their loved ones for treatment. Patients become a bit vulnerable in a hospital situation, fearful of what will be found wrong with them, or of the treatment they must endure maybe. Having a loved one by your side would appear to be a great comfort, especially among the elderly. I always find it moving.