Ear ear 4

Got a letter today inviting me to go back to the hospital to see the Great Man about the follow up to my ear surgery. (The story so far – part of ear trimmed off neatly by surgeon with sharp knife, put in plastic pot and sent off for analysis. Ear heals up well. I tell people I’ve had ear surgery, to which all reply “Oh really?” accompanied by moving their head from side to side as they look intently and comparatively at my two ears. Now read on …..)

What I want to know is, What was it? He reckoned it would be nothing Special or Serious. But I’m supposed to go and see him to find out. But we were going off for a boating week after Easter. What to do? I asked if they would tell me over the phone; No. Would they send results to my doctor? Nope. When is the next appointment? The end of May! I express some surprise. The Great Man sees everyone he operates on, she says. Very commendable, I say. But what to do? The receptionist says she’ll book me for May and the secretary will get back to me. I wait. The secretary does not get back to me.

Going to the Pictures

No-one calls it that any more, of course. Did I mention that Number 2 Son is a cinema manager? Well he is, and he lets us in on complimentary tickets. This is apparently no big deal, as cinemas make no money on the films they show, only on all the crap they sell you to stuff down your face while you are watching the film. That’s why you often find the ticket office closed, and you have to buy your tickets from the popcorn counter. He knows that even if we paid to see the film we wouldn’t spend anything on cokes and ice creams, so we might as well go in for free. Such a good boy.

Anyway, it’s been a bit of good season for films lately, so I thought you might like a brief guide to what we have seen and what we thought. We’ve seen “Atonement”, of course, completely failing to recognize any of the locations, which are, apparently, places I know well; we saw “Elizabeth the Golden Age” (OK); “Michael Clayton” (good); “Charlie Wilson’s War” (excellent; see earlier post); “Juno” (lovely; but Tigger developed some sort of eye infection, which meant she had to keep dabbing them with a handkerchief); and we saw “There will be Blood”. This last is the Daniel Day Lewis film for which he won an Oscar, yet there were only twenty or so in the theatre to watch it a few days later. Good film; just when you thought it couldn’t get any bleaker or more unremittingly sad and depressing, it did. My kind of film. Not wanting to spoil the end for you, but the best bit is where the evangelical preacher is bludgeoned to death.

The Escape Plan

I’ve mentioned this a couple of times. What does the Plan involve? Well, getting out of full time ministry for a start, probably in about two years time. In the meantime, putting together what we need to live reasonably freely, cheaply and independently, with some opportunities to earn a bit of money so that we don’t need to take out pensions for a couple of years. Here’s the current top five ideas:

Putting a generator and a couple of other gizmos onto the boat for long-term, long-distance cruising. Getting a good wireless internet connection

Copying our CD collection onto an iPod for ease of traveling

Downsizing furniture and belongings by disposal or storage of essentials (the Bus will help with this!)

Taking a course in proof-reading and copy-writing for me, and taking a course in teaching English as a second language for her, so that we can work wherever we happen to be

Putting my own work into a series of courses available for groups and one-to-one work, including Myers Briggs, spirituality and family history work. Registering a domain name for internet recruitment

You see? It’s all worked out ….

Too much, the Magic Bus

Far from it, the price is very good indeed and we decided to go ahead. 28,000 genuine miles, good chassis and engine, great fit-out. How could we leave it there? This is Tigger’s first retirement present (the first of several retirements, when she finishes college lecturing in July, not the first of many presents!). The guy is good and is sorting out a bit of minor work, but it should be ours by Easter, just right for a test drive. It’s passed its MOT. We’ve got a good driveaway awning. Tigger has lots of nest-building ideas and urges and we’ve been into long forgotten trunks and boxes around the house, to reacquaint ourselves with long lost curtains.