In April 2008, during my two week holiday from my teaching job, I flew out to The Gambia, West Africa, with four others. We went to see the school which we had been raising funds for and to meet the Headteacher and his pupils. During that fateful week I caught a virus which led to my contracting Vasculitis. In March 2009 I was rushed to The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. It was during my stay in hospital that I decided to write this book. The book was inspired initially by a letter I received in hospital from my neighbours, Tish and Graham Farrell, hence the title.
"The helipad was just outside the window of bay three, marked with a large yellow H. The air ambulance lands there at least twice a day but on bank holidays it is more frequent, presumably because there are more RTAs in the heavier motorway traffic. I could hear it well enough but I couldn’t see it land as I couldn’t get out of bed, although I did occasionally get a glimpse as it soared down or lifted off.
Robert had a DVD player and he did have headphones. I had the same arrangement plus the DAB radio which James bought for me when he flew home to see me. Alison, his partner stayed in Bangkok as her mom and dad, Jim and Kath had flown out to Bangkok to see their daughter and for a holiday. Josie and myself had been invited too but I can’t fly anymore. So although Robert did have headphones he never wore them so he would play his two DVDs, one about steam railways and the other about Foden and ERF trucks much to the annoyance of his fellow patients, including myself. We didn’t say anything as Robert could get quite aggressive and foul mouthed and I think he was just daring one of us to mention how hearing about the development of E. R. Foden commercial vehicles for the fifteenth time might be just a little annoying. To be fair to Robert, who had been in and out of hospital for a number of years, he was probably just looking for a good old fashioned argument.
In the bed opposite me was Gary, another old soldier who fought in the D-day landings. I don’t think he had Alzheimer’s but, especially at night, he would get disorientated and confused about where his locker was. As with Joe and Herman, Gary would sit contentedly in his chair alongside his bed all day until someone mentioned bed and then it would start, the edging around the bed and feeling for his pen and his bedside cabinet, accompanied by mutterings and strange glances as if to say this wasn’t here yesterday. This would greatly amuse his wife when she came visiting, and she would ask how his day had gone and he would relate the story of the missing bedside cabinet. I suppose she had to see the funny side of things. She was bent double almost".
"The helipad was just outside the window of bay three, marked with a large yellow H. The air ambulance lands there at least twice a day but on bank holidays it is more frequent, presumably because there are more RTAs in the heavier motorway traffic. I could hear it well enough but I couldn’t see it land as I couldn’t get out of bed, although I did occasionally get a glimpse as it soared down or lifted off.
Robert had a DVD player and he did have headphones. I had the same arrangement plus the DAB radio which James bought for me when he flew home to see me. Alison, his partner stayed in Bangkok as her mom and dad, Jim and Kath had flown out to Bangkok to see their daughter and for a holiday. Josie and myself had been invited too but I can’t fly anymore. So although Robert did have headphones he never wore them so he would play his two DVDs, one about steam railways and the other about Foden and ERF trucks much to the annoyance of his fellow patients, including myself. We didn’t say anything as Robert could get quite aggressive and foul mouthed and I think he was just daring one of us to mention how hearing about the development of E. R. Foden commercial vehicles for the fifteenth time might be just a little annoying. To be fair to Robert, who had been in and out of hospital for a number of years, he was probably just looking for a good old fashioned argument.
In the bed opposite me was Gary, another old soldier who fought in the D-day landings. I don’t think he had Alzheimer’s but, especially at night, he would get disorientated and confused about where his locker was. As with Joe and Herman, Gary would sit contentedly in his chair alongside his bed all day until someone mentioned bed and then it would start, the edging around the bed and feeling for his pen and his bedside cabinet, accompanied by mutterings and strange glances as if to say this wasn’t here yesterday. This would greatly amuse his wife when she came visiting, and she would ask how his day had gone and he would relate the story of the missing bedside cabinet. I suppose she had to see the funny side of things. She was bent double almost".
Used availability for Roger Weston's Dear Tish and Graham