Matthew has an announcement

We are "enjoying" the current heat wave - days of unbroken sun and broken sleep. It is too hot for gardening, or lazing indoors. In childhood, my father used to drive us for picnics by some river or lake on days like this, where we could spend languid days in the cool of some trees or a grassy meadow, dipping in and out of the water as the mood took us. Ah! Idyllic memories - but I wonder sometimes what the truth of those blissful times was, behind the mask of hazy memory of golden hours. Never mind, dreams of our youth should be relaxing and somnolent. Byron has the best idea: every time we get the hosepipe out, he dashes back and forth through the stream, ending up soaked but happy and cooler.

I am not good at looking at my phone messages, and often forget to carry it with me. On Saturday, I discovered two missed calls and a recorded message from the hospital left the day before. Also on Saturday, I got a letter and an email telling me of a new appointment for Tuesday (today). Yesterday, I had another text message telling me to read my appointment list on the hospital website, and then the secretary rang again asking if I know about the appointment. They must be having a problem with missed appointments to be so determined to get me there! I shall have to skip one afternoon meeting to get there, but I guess this is an appointment I'd better keep or I might be black-balled.

Player 4 has entered the game

We had a joyous phone call from Matthew and Rosie yesterday to inform us that Rosie has been for a scan and is 11 weeks pregnant, so congratulations to them both. This is a second baby that will clearly be welcomed. Wasting no time, they have sent a photo of them all in matching T-shirts saying Players 1, 2 and 3 are ready. They have had a new tiny T-shirt printed saying "Player 4 has entered the game".  I am not a game player myself, but I do appreciate the metaphor for life. We are indeed all minor pieces in some strange galactic game. Most of us suppress the thought but this makes it explicit. May they all play the game well and enjoy the moves in store.

Coming out of the hospital, the hot weather has broken over East Anglia, where thunderstorms have greeted us. The weather is cooler now, without the need to water the garden, but Bronte hates the thunder, and tries to hide behind our legs, needing calming with attention and fuss.  Dr Pulimood, the respiratory consultant, was the most thorough and patient of all the specialists I have seen. He spent 40 minutes discussing my recent scan before sending me for yet more blood tests. There is some scarring and a small nodule on the lung that he wants to keep an eye on, and which may be leaving me a little breathless when I move too fast. I realised how slow I have become when, walking back to the car recently, an old lady with a stick and carrying a full shopping bag passed me and was in her car and away before I even reached the car park.

Our house is of an age where things are breaking and needing repair. Yesterday, we had to have a new water softener. The fitter was only a young man, but forgetful. He had forgotten his drill, so asked to borrow mine, then when he left he forgot to take his card machine, so I had to phone the office to contact him to come back. Now the side panels of my workshop are rotting, so tomorrow our fencing man will come to replace them. I have taken the opportunity to begin to clear the workroom. We have so much stuff left from our boating days, but much of it can go now so I have filled the bin with old pieces we can never use again and tins rusted and solid with time. I even have an old anchor and anchor chain, too heavy to drop in a bin and too awkward to carry to the tip. I have left them heaped in a corner for another day.