Wink and I didn’t want to part company.  We’ve had a lovely two weeks together and really enjoyed each other’s company.  I’m hoping to go back to see her again soon – not that I’ve said this to Russell yet.  I had a very warm welcome, rapturous greetings from Ben who is finally, two and a half hours later, lying quietly on the sofa having climbed all over me and cuddled me wonderfully.  Russell didn’t do that, but he had roses and lilies for me, and a bottle of unexpectedly good champagne – Taitinger, no less.  He didn’t get that from the local supermarket (we do have a very good wine shop in Yagnub too).

On the way home, I dropped in on Mig and we went to the pub for lunch.  It was so lovely to see her again and we caught up with all her news.  Apologies from her for her blogging break, she’s really busy and just doesn’t have the time and space she needs at present, but hopes to be back before long.  And she has a new camera and, if the weather remains springlike, will be out and about using it.

I’m having a lovely time reading about the exploits of Winnie Ille Pu, Porcellus, Ior, Christophorus Robinus et al.  My two older children went to a school where they were taught Latin and this was a book that was used as a learning aid.  I loved it thirty years ago and never thought to purloin a copy from the school then, but have bought it from Amazon (I know, sorry) at last.  I did steal another Latin primer from my own school, but my justification was and is that the school was going to close down a year later and it would have been thrown away.  It had a picture of a Roman helmet on the front which had been doctored to show the face of a long-nosed man with the caption Tor Mentor.  Ah, nostalgia…

The highlight of the day was going to see Zig and her daughters, Firstborn and Baby Doc.  They are all so lovely and I wish I lived closer and could call in more often.  It was the first time I’d met Indi, the black and white spaniel, and she took to me in a very flattering way.  In fact, she showed off most delightfully – she tossed her ball into the air and caught it again (I suspect to her own surprise) and was so pleased that she trotted from one of us to the other, clearly asking if we’d seen it and did we appreciate the dexterity that was required to pull of such a tricky feat with such aplomb?  Evidently, spaniels and I have a rapport – she leant against me later, wriggling to try to get even closer and we put our faces close together so that she could learn all about me.

A secondary purpose in going to see Zig was to pick up her tortoise vivarium, which I shall take home tomorrow.  I’m calling in on Mig on the way and we’ll have lunch together.  I have to say, I’m leaving very reluctantly.  Now that Wink is out and about again, we’re having a lovely time and we’re really going to miss each other.  She will be able to manage most things for herself and the few that she can’t, neighbours will help with.  I’ll run the hoover over in the morning and we’ll sort out what pots and pans and so on I must put within easy reach.  I’ve done her laundry – it’s not filling the washing machine so much as emptying it that is the problem because she mustn’t bend far enough over to get everything out of the drum.  Mostly, she’ll be fine.  There are shops in the village that she can walk to and I’ve stocked up on heavier items for her.  I won’t be leaving until about 10.30 tomorrow so can get anything else we haven’t thought of yet.

I brought a whole lot of work with me.  I’ve done some of it.  When I get home, I’m really going to wish I’d done it all.

We went to see Dodo, Wink’s 101-year-old godmother, today.  She still lives alone, though carers go in to help her and she’s recently had a stairlift installed.  She is fairly deaf and admitted today that her sight is starting to fail, but is amazingly strong and well and her mind is as good as ever.

We had invited Wink’s neighbour and daughter in for a drink before dinner.  So I bought olives and cheesy biscuits, and spread smoked trout terrine and pieces of anchovy on little oatcakes.  Both daughters arrived – we hadn’t realised they were both here for the weekend, but that was fine, of course – so, as they descended on the nibbles with cries of glee, I went out to make more.  I’d allowed 4 per person, plus olives and biscuits, because I didn’t want leftovers.

I spent much of the next hour preparing more food.  “They’re gannets,” explained their mother cheerily.  “We’re gannets,” the tall and slender 20-somethings agreed.  “You’re gannets,” said I, cracking open the Boursin too.

Wink has lived opposite Yapp Brothers for years but I have only just ventured into their shop today.  Mr Y (I suppose) is delightful and very helpful and I shall be back.  Notwithstanding the amount we’ve packed away tonight, it is my belief that it’s really better to drink less good wine than lots of plonk.  Like the best chocolate, it’s more satisfying.  Or so I say.  I might just spend a lot more on better wine.  Not this time, though, it isn’t for me.

Ro’s company is looking for new staff.  This is what they want, according to the company blog –

I have to admit, I don’t even understand the requirements.

I drove Wink in to her office today and we spent an hour or so there – and I can quite see why she loves her job.  She was headhunted, you know – the office where she used to work closed and she was made redundant, but offered part time and casual work by the same firm, for holiday cover and so on.  Then she was asked to apply for a job as office manager for another firm and she has absolutely fitted in there.  As we were leaving, her boss thanked me several times for coming to look after her – to the point of embarrassment, really – after all, she’s my sister before she’s his employee, but he thinks so much of her.  Just in that sociable hour, she did a fair bit of work, simply by giving advice and saying where things were to be found, and googling a bit.  I was, in a completely loving way, quite envious of the esteem in which she’s held, which I know she deserves.

Then we came back to the doctors’ surgery, where her dressing was removed and she was given a clean bill of health.  Later, the local vicar called round, having phoned first to check it was convenient, and we gave her tea and cake, the latter having helpfully been given by a friend yesterday.  It was jolly good and homemade.

This evening, I’ve mostly been drinking a little more than usual.  I slept soundly until 3 am and then read until 7, when I dozed again for a bit.  Pah.  I expect I’ll sleep tonight though.  Every other night will do, at a push.

Tomorrow, we’re going to Weymouth to visit our 101 year old friend, on Sunday I’m seeing Zig and on Monday I’m coming home, visiting Mig on the way.  I’m planning a future visit before too long and will be absolutely sure of fitting in a blog meet with Pat this summer.

Ro and Dora are in Marrakech tonight (I always thought that was spelt with an S rather than a C but Mr Google tells me otherwise) for a week’s holiday.  Russell went to see Weeza and Gus today and we’ll see Al and co on Tuesday.  So all’s ok with the family, one way and another.

By the way, I’m decidedly pissed off with Google.  I’ve always used gmail notifier – when an email comes in, it told me so on my top bar.  I could refresh, go to the inbox, compose an email or whatever.  But they’ve done away with it and one can, apparently, sign up for desktop notifications, whether one uses Chrome, Firefox or Safari.  But they lie.  Go to the link and it tells you you can only do it if you “upgrade” to Chrome.  Chrome is not an upgrade, it’s another option.  And so I did, I downloaded Chrome – but you have to have bloody gmail right in front of you for them to tell you you’ve an email, which you can see because you’ve got bloody gmail in front of you, and I’m not changing my default browser anyway.  Please darlings, if you use a free email service (because, if I change providers, I’ll lose my email and that ain’t going to happen) that has a toolbar notification and is straightforward to use and doesn’t make you follow rules you don’t want to follow, do tell me.  I don’t like hotmail because it has messed me around too much.  It’ll be a damn nuisance to change email again, but google has pushed me all over the place and if they don’t mend their ways pdq, I’m leaving it.  As it is, I’ve had to leave Blogger and Google as a search engine, since they ‘integrated’ all their so-called services.  I use Bing, WordPress, Safari and Google, each for a different purpose – I tried Yahoo but it was not very good.

I went to a concert last night in Poole with two friends of Wink’s.  We had supper first and it was a lovely evening.  They’re good company – very chatty (I know, darlings, chattier than I am, who’d have expected that?) so I didn’t have to say much, but just be entertained.

It was Mahler’s Symphony no. 2, the Resurrection, which I don’t remember ever having heard before and I certainly have never been to a performance.  It’s a huge and impressive work and very demanding on the performers, who were excellent.  A large orchestra and chorus – there must have been quite 200 people on the stage, though the chorus sat for nearly an hour and three-quarters before making a sound.  Behind and above the orchestra so in full view (and unable to read or catch up on their knitting, for instance), I couldn’t help worrying for their eardrums, as it’s very loud indeed in places.  When I arrived back and was quietly lying in the bath, a couple of hours after the performance ended, I realised that my ears were still ringing.

It didn’t keep me awake though and I slept better than I have for at least a fortnight.  We’ve had a quiet and leisurely day and are going to call round to see elderly friends soon.  It will be the furthest Wink has walked yet.

I’m in the process of arranging to call on blog friends on the way home – that is, I hope to see Linda on Sunday and Mig on Monday because Linda lives not too far away from here.  Then back home again, ready for the piano tuner on Tuesday.  It’s having to be tuned several times after all the work that’s been done on it.

Wink went out for the first time today, except for a visit to the doctors’ surgery on Friday to have her dressing changed.  We went out for lunch, which was a nice break.  Although she’s had plenty of visitors, you get a bit bored with the same four walls all the time.  I’m not running to pick things up for her and help all the time, so that she is used to managing by the time I leave.  Zig has kindly offered her redundant vivarium for Edweena, so I’ll call in on her on my way.

I told Wink that after a week I was in less pain than before the operation, but she’s not found that to be the case yet.  It’s just the wound that hurts, not the joint, and I’ve rethunk, yet again, how much it had hurt before I had my new hip.  I remember lying in bed the first night, my painkillers having run out of juice and it really hurt, and I thought I wouldn’t ring for the nurse but just tough it out as, after all, it didn’t hurt more than arthritis did in the middle of the night.   If a 6 inch incision through flesh all the way to the bone hurt no more than arthritis – goodness, I must have been blanking out even more than I thought I had.  It’s a bit discouraging to think I’m on the way to the same thing again in my other hip, but it can’t be helped.  Anyway, the main thing is that the operation was completely successful for me and it looks like it has been for Wink too.

I’m keeping away from the computer as much as possible.  I thought I’d get on with work, and there are a couple of things I really have to do, but I’m in great need of a break.  I’m sleeping poorly and, last night, we sat quietly reading and I was aware of a great band of tension that I couldn’t shake off.  I spent the wakeful hours working out the causes, most of which are school-related and dating back three weeks or so, which shows how things have been getting to me.  Before I left, I passed on everything to someone else and have let it go – but my mind evidently hasn’t.  My resilience hasn’t failed me like this for a while, I shall take great care of myself until I’m back to normal.  One has only oneself to rely on in the long run, after all.

A card Wink received today made us chuckle.  Two hamsters were sitting at the hospital bedside of a third, who lay looking dazed, with a bandage around his head.  One said to her friend “He fell asleep at the wheel…”