11th June 2013
The mist hangs low over the hills behind Lyme Regis. We walk out along the Cobb - husband, sister, brother - the wind blowing sharp off the sea. We pass a whole class of small school children huddled on the beach eating fish and chips out of white paper parcels. We dip into a cafe for a pot of mint tea, follow the river back to the car and drive to Otterton Mill for a late lunch.
The sun comes out, our coats come off and we sit at a round table in the shade eating big plates of salads with side orders of saute potatoes and tease the young man who served us - when we asked what was vegan on the menu he suggested mackerel salad. He admits his girlfriend is vegan but he has no idea what it means. Slabs of butter come with our granary bread....
Later I sit in a small room at Boots the Chemist with my brother while he has a free hearing test. He wears red and blue headphones, presses a button when he hears a sound and the audiologist records it on a graph on the screen in front of him. The graph shows that he has a fifty percent loss on the lower registers and the nice man recommends hearing aids. He tries one on and it’s tiny and almost invisible.
We both remember the hearing aid sagas of our parents - the round baby batteries, the high pitched squealing, the wax blocked tubes, the losing them, the finding them, the not wearing them - the agony of shouting everything and the going silent..... It seems these aids are much more advanced and of course much more expensive.
And now it’s nearly midnight - family all gone, husband asleep. As we are going to Armenia on Friday for ten days to visit my husband’s cousin and his family, and I’m not remotely ready or organised and a bit aprehensive about it all, I’m not posting for a while and will blog again on our return.
Leaving you with roses against a wall in the beautiful gardens at Cadhay House outside Ottery St Mary where I walked with a dear friend on Friday. They do a very delish coffee and walnut cake too....
No comments:
Post a Comment