8th November
I followed the procession along The Street to St Marys for the Remembrance Day Service. The weather held out for us and we took part in a moving service both inside the Church and outside around the War Memorial where a Chinook provided a fly past. A fitting tribute to our lads overseas.
9th November
I mention the fact that Spencer mopped the kitchen floor this evening, not just to let readers know that he is indeed a “new man” (whatever that is), but because of what happened next. Spencer has been confounded in the past by the cat walking over his newly mopped floor, and therefore has now taken to locking the cat flap for entry until the floor has fully dried. Later on, as we were turning off the bedroom light, I reminded Spencer that he hadn’t unlocked the cat flap and, so he went downstairs to do so. It was a dreadful wet night, so imagine my horror therefore next morning to find that Pablo the rescue cat had been out all night and hadn’t touched his food. I was outside at 6.30am walking the streets of Old Basing and Lychpit, convinced he had been unable to get in through the cat flap and had run away, or worse still was squashed on the road somewhere. Heartened to some extent that he wasn’t in evidence in 2D form on the roads in the village I returned to the Manor, soaked through and despondent, to have my bowl of porridge. Five minutes later the cat flap opened and Pablo strolled in. The amazing thing was that he was completely dry and warm. Where had he been all night? Certainly not outside that’s for sure.
12th November
Marcus returned home from school most unwell. He had suddenly started with a bad cough, a dreadful headache and the back of his throat looked infected. I sent him to bed where he remained, and with no possibility of him making it to school tomorrow, I vowed to let him sleep in to try and shake it off.
13th November (Friday)
By noon I thought I had better try and get Marcus up. He looked and felt dreadful and with a temperature of 38.8 I was a bit concerned. I quickly researched NHS Direct on the Internet, and decided to call the Swine Flu helpline, as his symptoms seemed to match. I answered all the questions put to me and was issued with a code number to take to the Chemist in Chineham, where I collected some Tamiflu tablets for him. I returned home to find him nursing a big lump on the side of his head where he had stood up, felt dizzy, had fallen over and banged his head on the sideboard. It just goes to show that any sort of ‘flu should be taken very seriously.