Bad news eased by a lovely evening

Cambridge urban fox

Friday was a difficult day. I had been sleeping badly for the last few nights, so lay down after lunch for a catch-up snooze. I had just reached that state of pre-sleep drowsiness when the phone rang and Ann came in, apologetic for waking me. It was the nursing team from Royal Papworth Hospital. The team had held a conference about my scan results and decided I would be best served with a biopsy to determine just what the shadow is. I have to go into Papworth early next Friday, having starved overnight, and to take an overnight bag in case I have to stay in. 

Because of Covid, I must go alone and be collected when I'm finished. Also because of Covid, I must have a full Covid test at West Suffolk Hospital on Tuesday, then go into isolation until the biopsy. Luke is coming to stay with us on Sunday, and we had planned to take him to Cambridge on Monday and to King's Lynn on Tuesday to see Matthew and Rosie. Matthew is working on Monday, so Edwin has kindly agreed to take Luke overnight and show him Cambridge on Wednesday. 

Ann and I were naturally upset by the news that I now need another biopsy, but Edwin came to our rescue. He was going out to dinner with Andre and two Brazilian friends, but invited us to join them. They had tickets for the theatre afterwards, but again Edwin phoned and bought to extra tickets so we could stay with them and take our minds off things. It was a brilliant play, "A splinter of ice", set in Kim Philby's Moscow  apartment in 1987 shortly before his death, when he was visited by Graham Greene, an old friend and fellow MI6 agent. The play cleverly brought in the history of the Cambridge five spy ring, and the motivation behind Philby's betrayal. 

Walking back to the car, we caught a pair of foxes walking fearlessly round the lawns outside the flats. They even came up to us hoping for food, so Ann was able to catch a good photo of them despite the darkness of the evening.