12^th February 2017

Dear All,

It has been a busy week, especially for Kate as she has fitted a daily radiotherapy session in with normal activities. She has had a mixed week with the NHS. Her appointments are very precise: 3.18 pm, 5.48 pm etc. and sometimes this works but on two occasions she has had long waits. On Tuesday she did not get home until 8.30 pm from a notional 5.46 pm appointment due to a problem with a machine and on Wednesday arrived for a 4.00 pm appointment and was told that the computer had her down for 5.15 pm and she would have to wait. Nearly two hours later it turned out that the receptionist had forgotten to book her in and the radiographers did not know she was waiting!

She prefers to travel on the guided bus at present as it goes right to the door at Addenbrooke’s but I have taken her in a couple of times and can park at a walking friends nearby, but as he is having a sort of breakdown it is never a quick stop! On Friday I was allowed to go into the session with Kate to observe the process. The actual linear accelerator machine is fantastic and hopefully very accurate. (the picture is from Google!). She is coping very well at present but gradually becoming a little sore. She is characteristically stubborn about not stopping to do anything but expects to feel more tired as the treatment goes on. (7 sessions down, 8 to go).

“U3A Just Vegetating” this week covered “Salads – Fruit” meaning Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Peppers and Aubergines not fruit salad! because as Alan Coren once explained “Knowledge is knowing that a Tomato is a fruit, Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad!”

“U3A 60s Music” was more difficult this week as the topic was “Psychedelic Music”: Jefferson Airplane, Traffic, Pink Floyd, King Crimson etc. I am afraid I was not on the same wavelength but Kate was more appreciative. In the afternoon I was invited back to NIAB for a seminar on “NIAB in the Digital Age”. One of the speakers was “Head of Crop Bioinformatics” which left me feeling that I had not retired too soon!

We were leading the walk on Thursday which started at Eversden and circled round the Wimpole Estate. Although the weather was overcast it was not too bad underfoot and it did not rain so was easier than the week before.

Wimpole Farm

Manor Farm, Gt Eversden

Lt Eversden

Badger Sett, Eversden Wood

In “Biographies” on Friday we were introduced to “Galileo” and all the struggles he had with the Catholic church in supporting the theory that the earth rotated round the sun and not vice versa.

We were on Street Pastors Friday evening and Kate typically insisted on coming. The weather being damp with the odd snow flurry meant that there were not too many people about and no serious incidents. It also affected the rough sleepers and although there were still a dozen or so out there were far fewer than recent weeks. One chap said “I was in Jimmy’s (the local night shelter) last night but I can’t stick it for more than one night at a time!” The police were late for our briefing as they had been arresting three people for drug offences on their way to the meeting.

I didn’t watch football yesterday for the first time in several weeks partly due to the weather but also because my normal spectating mate Dave had gone to watch Arsenal. He is a solid member of the “Wenger must go” party so all his usual complaints will have been topped up by another indifferent performance by the Gunners yesterday!.

Love

Mike & Kate