Heidi, hilarity and hospitals

Before I say anything....Heidi, I have been trying to comment on your blog and it keeps saying they don't recognise my password, but then mysteriously, I appeared logged on when I went to post this, so I may have left a few messages, or not. But I love your tree and butterflies! Very appropriate.

Today started with a hilarious class. The textile class had a supply teacher. Get this, we were making Christmas cards using fabric, glue etc. The supply teacher was about 26, 6ft 3" of very attractive male, rugby player, in his tracksuit. Turns out he was a PE teacher, who had never seen a textile class (or kids quite like this challenging 14 year old bunch). I do believe he had never used scissors in his life either. Or dreamt of making a card from fabric. I grinned and said..... I think you may need some help. Oh boy. Did he ever. Then the only fabric I could find was black, dull pink or orange. Not good for Christmas cards. I unstuffed a model and showed them how to cut snowmen from wadding (batting in the US), and hacked away at some netting. He looked on in horror. He had no paper out or glue, or pencils. (These kids never bring anything they need to class.) Between retrieving kids who tried to go walkabout, dealing with strange kids who decided to randomly join the class, and discovering that if you start talking loudly in a foreign language, the kids stop their unappealing behavior, we made it through the class. At one stage, they asked for sequins. Well, I said, if someone had not thought fit to toss the entire class supply into the playground, we would have had plenty. The next minute, all the girls had vanished. I found them crawling about the quad outside picking up sequins. I told you it was an interesting job, didn't I. And at least 3 of the 20 cards were vaguely recognisable as Christmas cards. This is good. It could have been 2.

This evening, after fielding dozens of calls re Glynis, I went to see her at the hospital, and she looked much better, though she is still very weak. She is waiting for test results, and has more scheduled for the next few days. I think she will be there for the rest of the week, and thankfully Peter will be back on Sunday. Katherine (her daughter) read her my last post. She was amused.

I still find it very difficult to be in the hospital though. And the worst was when I had to take her to the section where I took Geoff when he was admitted. I had not been there since then, and as I wheeled her along, I really struggled. I saw the place we had to pause for him to catch his breath. The place where his consultant was standing chatting. The desk where I checked him in, and the cubicle where I effectively handed him into their care. It was very very difficult. Once she was settled, I had to go outside for a walk in the cold air. Her cubicle was opposite the one he had. Isn't it strange how things matter. I told her about what I had felt today when I saw her. I am just glad she was so out of it at the time that she could not have seen my face. But I am ok, I hasten to add. These moments will happen.