Sunday, 6 September 2026

A Book and a Beer.

What to say about the last fews weeks? It's been really tough and I've had to take a step back from many normal aspects of my life. Shut off from work I've been extremely isolated. This is compounded by my local pub having shut. So only sporadic contact with friends.

That said people have gone to great lengths to support me. Most recently Jayne came down from Cambridge yesterday and we spent a lovely afternoon together lunching at The Waggoners then quaffing chilled white Toscana back at my flat.

The flat is where I am now listening to Lucio Silla, cooking roast rolled breast of turkey and reading my book, The Land Where Lemons Grow. It's beautiful book. That I've made such progress with it is because I've taken myself off on the bus, book in hand, to some of the pubs in Welwyn a couple of times a week.

Wonderfully peaceful, a pint of ale and my book. This course of action has helped me get by on dark days.

This week is pretty empty. A work contact on Wednesday on the phone. Then my new care co-ordinator in the afternoon. A strong measure of how much I've been struggling is that I now have such a person for the first time since the later 1990s. Fear stalks the halls of the powerful. That they are worried is clear. I'm known by so many in my part of the world, a very high profile statistic.

For now I leave you. My friend Gary is coming for lunch. Tomorrow will be tomorrow.

I Heard a Voice.