19 August 2009

I can't believe it's been more than 6 weeks since my last entry. Roy & I are much the same as reported then in general health terms. He is having cataract surgery on Monday, 24 August, something he's been waiting for for some time. He should be in good shape after that for our little break at the Blakeney Hotel in Norfolk the week of 7 September. David & Gillian Gadsby are going as well, so we'll have company in looking around. I don't think we'll keep company with many of the birdwatchers (especially twitchers) the area is so popular with, but it's a beautiful area crammed with lots of interesting things from stately homes & sandy beaches to gorgeous seafood, churches & a steam railway line. I note in 'Literary Norfolk' that Jack Higgins was a guest in our hotel, where he got the setting for the opening scene of 'The Eagle has Landed', so we won't be without literary associations. (I have just finished Hilary Mantel's 'Wolf Hall' & have been submerged in over 600 intense pages of the Tudor period & need some light relief.)

We had had no offers on the house since it went on the market a year ago, so last week we decided to remain at 77 High St until somebody makes us an offer we can't refuse. (I have spent a lot of time recently clearing out cupboards, closets, chests, even rooms of accumulations over the past 30 years & will keep going until we are pared down to a bare minimum.) Today we bought a stairlift & that will make a big difference for Roy's knee problems in general, but especially if I am unwell & he has to bring me food & drink in bed. Let's hope our health remains stable. We are both receiving excellent care of all sorts on the NHS. Any difficulties seem to be administrative ones, not medical. (I see my lung oncologist on 28 August for the first time in 3 months & my breast people on 3 October.)

Thanks to all of you who remembered my obsession with 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' & have let me know that Meryl Streep IS Julia Child in 'Julie & Julia'. (But is it a good movie?? It opens here on 11 September.) Kate had already bought the book & read it, as she remembered sitting beside her teddy bear & watching the TV show while we were living in Kips Bay. At a librarians' conference in Washington recently she skipped out of a meeting early to visit Julia's own kitchen in the Smithsonian, but alas no postcards. But Julia is still very much with us even in the UK. Just this morning on a BBC program that was nothing to do with the movie, a chef referred to that wonderful moment when she dropped a chicken to the floor while transferring it to a serving platter & without batting an eye looked straight at the camera & said 'Remember that you are in the kitchen on your own.'

So you needn't worry about changing all your data about us yet. And we are happy to entertain visitors at any time.