21 October 2010
I had a better night last night. Mick had cleverly worked a system of cushions and pillows which held me in a semi-upright position, partly on my back or side so as to facilitate my breathing. It worked, except being unable to move and still coughing, from time to time, I  had to satisfy myself that I was at least resting, if not sleeping. I know that I watched the hours go by and was delighted when it reached 2.00 AM, knowing that I had survived half the night without disturbing Mick and asking him to sit me up. It’s certainly possible that I cat-napped, here and there for 10 minutes or so, but I do know I kept an eye on the clock all night until 6.10,AM when I felt not unreasonable to ask Mick to sit me up.  Besides he is a natural early riser.
.We enjoyed our breakfast,  the first real food for two days for both of us. In my case it will certainly do no harm for me to miss the odd meal to reduce the size of my waistband. As usual we messed about in our room during the morning, with me doing my blog and Mick correcting medico legal reports. . Then, he wheeled me out in my wheelchair for an hour or so in the sunshine where I sat blissfully listening to the exquisite Russian singing of the St Petersburg  Choir. Then back to the room for lunch and the box of fruit, collected at breakfast, that I routinely have when I am here.
Then it was time to ring ‘my lovely‘ who returned yesterday from Cornwall. Rather perturbed in that she did not answer the telephone at 07.30AM which is the usual time I ring  so she always knows who the call is from. I could not believe that she was still sleeping or was outside attending to the donkey. I tried again an hour later, again, with no response. This was getting a little alarming with visions of her having had an accident on the way home. In the event all was fine. It seems that, Mike, being unfamiliar with my fairly basic Nokia, may well have been ringing the wrong number! (Editors note-this is true!)
The rest of the day followed our usual pattern. Again we dropped off at the tailor on the way into town. The tailor had been unable to find the striped blue cotton material I wanted for one of the pairs of trousers I had ordered. We ate at the restaurant next to the Onn Onn, Corner Restaurant, Â the Smile Moon. I had a perfectly satisfactory meal of steaming seafood and delicious fried rice. Michael enjoyed a large bowl of spicy prawn coconut soup.
Then, following our usual routine we were back for our evening movie.. A very sad story set in the year 2929 called “The Roadâ€. In effect the world is dying, and from what cause we never precisely found out but suspect it was because of global warming. The film focuses on a man and his nine-year-old son tramping the roads searching everywhere for food, clothing  and shoes. There seemed little to live for as much of humanity was dead except for a few mauradering tribes, armed to the teeth, and prepared to kill anyone they came across for what little they might find. No happy ending either. The boy’s father dies and the lad meets up with another small friendly family. Heaven knows where they were going and how they were going to survive.
In the meantime Michael’s ingenuity had been at work and a totally new structure of pillows and cushions were set up on my bed to ensure that I could sit up as high as possible during the night. The only difficulty was how to get me into the little nest he had prepared.