Tuesday 22 March 2011

The moment I wake up...

... before I put on my make up...




I said in the comments of my last post that the next one will be more uplifting, and - in a strange sort of way - I believe it will be.

Tonight I went into my local pub (nothing new there) to meet the man who lent me the entire box-set of the 'Deadwood' series that I have been banging on about for a while now. My intention was to lend him some DVDs in return, and this I did.

His mother (who is 75 - no great age) is in big trouble at our local hospital, with a blood disease that is so rare, that all the young doctors come to take a peek at her, just in case they never have the opportunity to do so again in their careers. It sounds as though she will not make it for much longer, and is about to be moved to a hospice where many of my good friends have died - though I did point out to my friend, you are not obliged to die, just because you are admitted to a charitable hospice. Most do though.

The two girls in the photo are my most favourite barmaids ever, and - were it not that I am older than both their fathers (though not as a combined sum) - I would be most happy to give them a good seeing-to if they could see their way to turning a blind eye.

Happily, my previously voiced concerns over losing inhibitions have not - as yet - become reality, so I sort of treat them as if they are surrogate children, and try to play up to the wicked but benign uncle they never seemed to have. In any event, the one on the right is now with child, and I have been trying to persuade her to name the baby after me (Cecil) if it should turn out to be a boy.

However, 'the one on the right's' mother is in the same ward as my aforementioned friend, because she too has a rare disease which will (if all else fails) lead to a bone-marrow transplant with material she had the fore-sight to cryogenically store before the onset of the full symptoms.

I talked to her lovely dad tonight, and he is struggling along without her, trying to balance a job with the visits he pays to his beloved wife. She is battling on, with the added motive of surviving, if only to hold her first grand-child. Nobody is heart-broken yet.

I had a text message from the dear girl on the right tonight, saying that she views me as 'family', and that meant so much to me, that I quite forgot the little ailments that I regaled you all with this morning. Doesn't this stuff put it all into perspective?

I may pull down this post sometime tomorrow (though none of them follow me here), so if you really do want to say a little prayer, then please say it for these folk, who knock my minor inconveniences into the cocked hat of proverb.

21 comments:

  1. Hey Tom, you sound so much better than when I read your previous post about a couple of hours ago. Must be the barmaids and yes they do look gorgeous, both of them. On a more serious note, I am not ashamed to be who I am and I will pray for your friend's mother and for your barmaid's mother and their families too. So if this post goes down tomorrow, the prayers for them wont I promise!

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  2. I lost track of your meaning during the last two lines, Molly. I'm now going back to see what you mean by 'not ashamed' and 'won't I promise'. I'll get back shortly.

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  3. Nope - I still cannot make any sense of it. Carry on, and thanks again.

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  4. Dear Lord, Please let Tom (the dirty old man that he is) not act on his thoughts with the sweet, young, cheerful barmaids. Especially the one with the sick mother. Hopefully, you will help the doctors do their job without fail.

    Oh,...I want a Mercedes

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  5. OH LORD, WONTCHA BUY ME A MERCEDES BENZ...

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  6. It is all about perspective. Will pray for them of course.

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  7. Yes of course - perspective. I'll settle for a slightly newer Volvo than I already am blessed with owning.

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  8. Best song evah! Re comment one, insert comma after "won't" and Bob's yer uncle.

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  9. The version from MY BEST FRIENDS WEDDING is priceless,,,,,,,,,,,,, made better by the lobster claw waving waiters ( you have to see it)
    glad you dragged yourself back from the brink!

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  10. Ah - thanks for the punctuation, Judith. As for you, Animal Hoarder, I'll need to have seen it.

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  11. I don't do prayers (as you know), but I'll have a go at what prayers amount to.

    Why do we all fancy our barmaids? Some by-product of alcohol perhaps?

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  12. If you saw these ones, Cro, you would find yourself thinking inappropriately, with or without alcohol, but I know what you mean. There are two sure fire ways to get me lusting after a plain woman, and one is to lock me in a plane with her dressed up as an air-hostess (I think you are supposed to call them 'cabin crew' these days, but that doesn't do it for me). I won't tell you what the other one is, as it got me into a lot of trouble with Raz the last time I did.

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  13. P.S. I've decided to leave this post up, just because I like the Aretha Franklin song so much, and will probably keep going back to it for the next few days.

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  14. Maybe that's how the mile-high club originated?

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  15. Tom, I made a bit of a hash of that one! On the last line I should have inserted a comma between wont and I. I am one of those God botherers you don't like. It's a long story and that's about it really!

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  16. Don't worry Moll - someone pointed out the missing comma, then it all made sense. As for God-bothering, that's fine by me. It keeps you lot out of my hair. Only God knows where I am on sunday. The thing I find most irritating about 'Christians' is the unbelievable arrogance they have when refusing to acknowledge other people's spirituality, when it comes to just being GRATEFUL THAT ONE WAS EVER BORN LUCKY IN THE FIRST PLACE.

    What makes Anglicans, Methodists or Catholics think they have the bloody monopoly on God?

    I know all about CHRIST ON THE CROSS, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, and believe it or not, I have come to some conclusions about the whole business which does not preclude me from the pearly gates - or the other place.

    Sorry for shouting, but at least I did not swear - this time.

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  17. Thank you Tom. You're not shouting and I know what you're saying and what you're saying is true! When you get to the pearly gates which I know you will - keep me a place if you get there before me!

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  18. You will sit on God's right hand, Moll.

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