Good companions

In an effort to take James' advice to "lighten up", I arranged today to have lunch with a lovely colleague who was on the Paris trip with me last June. We were only out of school for half an hour but I must say I really enjoyed our chat and it felt good to have a break; we reminisced about how we laughed in Paris and talked about our children, who are the same ages and stages. I felt very energised in the afternoon. Then from five until seven I was at the annual Duke of Edinburgh update meeting where all the leaders go over procedures and hand in our paperwork. I have been going to these meetings for eight years now, and it was great to see all the old familiar faces, many of whom have become friends, even if they are friends that I don't see very often. Many of us have been on adventures together, either qualifying together or going on school expeditions. We all had to sit a test on the operating guidelines, which generated a lot of laughter. Both my lunch date and my Duke of Edinburgh meeting reminded me that over the years I have been fortunate to meet so many good people. I have of course, like everyone, also crossed paths with a few people who have not been so pleasant! But as my Dad used to quote my Grandpa Russell, unpleasant people are usually like because they have their own problems! My Grandpa and my Dad were great at seeing people very clearly and kindly; Dad once met someone that I found very abrasive and said "He is a very insecure person", which made me look at things very differently. That's fifteen years now since my Dad died, I miss him every day. Anyway this post has turned a bit serious, what I am trying to say is that I have been very fortunate in very many ways and James is quite right to tell me to lighten up! Jamie very kindly came all the way from Dundee last night so that he could take Grandma to her hospital appointment this morning at the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank. It was her first appointment about getting her cataracts sorted, and neither James nor I could get away from work in the morning. It was really brilliant of Jamie because she was very nervous about it. Also he could explain things to her because she can't hear very well. He stayed with her the whole time and thought the doctors were very thorough, although when Grandma mentioned that he was a medical student they started quizzing him about opthalmology! Her blood pressure was a bit too high so she will go to her GP about that before the operation. James went over to meet them at lunchtime and they all had lunch there before Jamie set off back to Dundee, then James brought Grandma home. I will try to arrange her next appointment so that I can take her; she once went over to the Southern General by taxi to collect my Mum from one of her appointments which was very kind of her.