Turned out nice….

Well, thank you St Anthony! Remember I once lost my watch and rings and spend days, nay, weeks looking for them? St Anthony came to the rescue….. what was lost was now found. Ah…. and now St Anthony’s services were in demand today, too. Wait for it, all will be revealed…

Today started oddly for me as I my plan for the day was turned back to front, and I had to leave John to it this morning. I had leapt out of bed in response to an email that said, ‘Hi Anne, As you haven’t joined the workshop yet, just checking you’ve got the right link for today...’ What? The writing workshop is this afternoon isn’t it? No. I threw a cardigan over my nightshirt and logged on.

John tottered downstairs, made a cup of tea and, like Mrs Overall, wobbling the tea-tray precariously, he sidled into the computer room to place my tea on the desk. Not a drop spilled. Tea was a treat, thank you very much. Thought I was going to have to forego food and drink to stay involved in the writing course.

Just before 11 o’clock, we had a ten-minute break in our writing efforts, so I hot-footed it downstairs, to find ‘cat-something-nasty’ on the kitchen floor. I quickly cleared it up, made another drink and threw some blueberries into a yoghurt pot to eat ‘on the hoof’. Then I nipped into the lounge to let John know that it was all clear in the kitchen, but he was nowhere to be seen. Oh. Looked in the loo; the garage; the dining room; the bedroom and upstairs bathroom. He’d vanished. Where was he? I phoned him. “I’m just at the shops. Can’t talk any more… got too much on…” Right.

The ten-minute break elapsed and John wasn’t home. I phoned him again. “I’m just at the motorist’s shop,” he said. “Okay,” I replied. He sounded out of puff, “Do you want me to drive up and collect you?” I wondered. No, no thank you.

I went back upstairs. Just as I sat down, Paul phoned. They were thinking of coming over. “Can’t talk,” I whispered, “I’m on a course. Phone Dad, he’s around, and I’ll be finished by 12.” I heard John come in, I heard the Kenilworth Sleaths arrive. My course ended and I went downstairs to greet everyone where they were sitting in the garden. No Paul. “Paul not come with you?” I asked. “Yes, but he’s just gone up to the shops to look for Dad’s hearing aid.”

Ah-ha! It transpired that, despite nicely-sized ears, they are not quite big enough to accommodate hearing aids, spectacles and a mask, so John had taken the hearing aids out and popped them into his pockets – one either side.

On his walk back home, he’d stopped at every available lamppost – oh, sorry – every available seat, wall or lamppost, to catch his breath. In doing so, he’d taken each opportunity to take his hanky out of his pocket and blow his nose. Hearing aid, therefore, was deposited somewhere between our house and Tesco.

Paul had no luck finding the hearing aid. Asked in the shops but no joy. A bit later on, after we’d been running round the garden for a while, I suggested that Freddie and I walk up to shops to buy ice cream. “We can look for Grandpa’s hearing on the way,” I told Freddie. But, despite Freddie’s very eagle-eyes and keen interest in pleasing Grandpa, we came home empty-handed – although we did have ice creams.

After an absolutely brilliant afternoon with the Kenilworth Sleaths, enjoying the wonderful weather and playing all afternoon, we waved goodbye and then John said, “Let’s walk up to the shops. Retrace my steps.”

As we crossed the road in front of the motorist’s shop, I thought to myself that I perhaps ought to invoke St Anthony. I mean, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack, grey hearing aid on grey slabs, in amongst the litter and chewing gum stuck to the pavement.

We rounded the corner and John pointed to the wall he’d sat on for his second rest on his journey home. Perhaps we should look here….. and, well, would you believe it? There was the blighter, sitting on the corner of the wall. Good old St Anthony – prayers answered. As Dawn says, he’s never let me down yet!!

All in all, it was a great day. It was so lovely to sit out in the warm sunshine with the family and play ‘catch’ and Jenga and mooch about round pond watching the tadpoles, the frog, the newt and the fish. Turned out nice, didn’t it?

The news was full of Prince Philip’s funeral today; the surge in COVID cases worldwide, particularly India; and Brexit. But I didn’t focus on any of that, I was just delighted to have spent my day blessed with good and loving people.

• 2,206 people tested positive for the virus today
• 35 people died with the virus in the community in the last 24 hours
• 9 people died in hospitals with the virus on 15 & 16 April

• And it’s Day 20 since the lifting of Lockdown 3;
• Day 6 of our new, limited freedoms;
• Day 390 since Lockdown 1; 
• Day 396 since our self-imposed Lockdown 1

Stay safe everyone. God bless – and perhaps take a look at this blessing that we shared together in our writing course today. May we….. recognise, realise, learn, respect….

 
  For Solitude
  
 May you recognize in your life the presence,
 Power and light of your soul.
  
 May you realize that you are never alone,
 That your soul in its brightness and belonging
 Connects you intimately with the rhythm of the universe.
  
 May you have respect for your individuality and difference.
  
 May you realize that the shape of your soul is unique,
 That you have a special destiny here,
 That behind the façade of your life
 There is something beautiful and eternal happening.
  
 May you learn to see your self
 With the same delight,
 Pride and expectation
 With which God sees you in every moment.
  
 - John O’Donohue
  
  
  
 from John O’Donohue, Benedictus: A Book of Blessings (London: Bantam Press, 2007)