Visitors and Lying

We took James out for coffee this morning and as we took him home he insisted on giving us a bakewell tart that he didn’t want. (I can’t stand the stuff but Himself likes it so we accepted gratefully.)

James stood in his room, waving his arms (it seems to help him think). ‘I just want you to know,’ he said, ‘that I am very – very grateful – about you.’ He stopped and smiled. ‘Have I got that right?’

‘Yes,’ I said with a grin. Well, you could see what he was getting at.

‘And it’s like a – you know – er- thingy – to go out with you two.’

‘Good.’ What thingy, I wondered?

‘A lifeline!’ he shouted triumphantly.

I have to say I’d been feeling very tired this morning and hadn’t really felt like more people. But that made it all worthwhile.


Last night some friends, who’d been staying in Porthleven, arrived to stay for the night. To my relief, I found that at least a few brain cells were starting to work yesterday (ie I managed to write a bit for the first time in days) but made the great mistake of looking in the mirror shortly before John and Annie arrived. Not a pretty sight.

I went into the kitchen where Himself was preparing enough food for 40 people instead of 4 and said, ‘I’ve gone all grey.’

He didn’t look up from peeling the spuds. ‘I’m grey all over,’ he said. ‘Don’t worry about it.’

‘Not my hair!’ I cried. ‘My face.’

He looked at me and his face softened. He gave me a hug. Then he said those three fatal words.

‘Never mind, darling.’

I must give him more lessons in Lying When Necessary.