I went over to Oak Cottage on 21st December for a pre-Christmas visit, the first time I’ve managed to go there for about nine years. I really couldn’t face travelling via London, partly because the Worcester-Paddington Hitachi trains are desperately uncomfortable on my back, and partly because I didn’t feel capable of doing the Underground in the pre-Christmas weekend rush. Apparently, it’s not uncommon for such autistic things to become more intense, or more allowed, in the period following diagnosis. Anyway, I went via Birmingham and Cambridge, being collected by Sim from Ispwich station.
It was a very pleasant stay. I’d been a bit worried that Charlie – the most recent puppy, who is very nervous and defensive – would be a problem, but he seemed to remember me from Green Mount and settled down OK after the first ten minutes or so. Anne was, as I’d gathered, beginning to lose the plot a little, but we had several good long chats of reminiscences and it all went fine. A couple of good long chats to Sim – about Green Mount and suchlike. Phoebe drove me back to Ipswich on Mon 23rd, and we pent nearly all the journey talking about autism stuff, in a very useful, enlightening, and productive way.
The journey back, by the same route, was fairly vile, and not improved by a rail replacement double-decker bus from Coleshill to New Street. I got home about 9pm.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were largely quiet recovery days. A brace of partridge for Christmas dinner, as I’d been unable to get a pheasant – probably the first time I’ve had partridge for over 50 years. Soup from the carcasses subsequently, of course, and I’ve frozen some as well.
Despite my best intentions, I did end up making a start on printing Green Party newsletters on Boxing Day. On 28th I sent a list of “state of play” to Alex Mace, for him to chase up the outstanding artwork, all of which (except Warndon) duly arrived by New Year’s Eve. I did manage to finish all outstanding newsletters by lunchtime, so some 26,000 in the last fortnight, each one through the duplicator twice and the folding machine once.
I noticed that the winter-flowering clematis has started to open – nearly the latest I’ve ever known it (last year was 4th November – it’s an extremely variable plant!). Weather this morning was vile, so I didn’t manage to get out to cut my traditional New Year forsythia until it cleared up around lunchtime. I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather for a couple of days, needing a lot of sleep, and aching not only in the usual wrists and ankles, but in my upper arms and thighs. It’s an odd feeling, almost as if there are large bruises, but there’s no sign of any discolouration. I’ll take things fairly easy for a bit.
