Holiday blog episode 5

9th July

Rain in Wales

It doesn’t always rain in Wales. We’ve had sunshine nearly every day since being here (some at least), but today it’s rained non-stop. However I’m not complaining because it’s not only here and also it’s let me get on with the very good book I’m reading, God on Mute by Pete Greig (www.24-7prayer.com). It came out last year. It comes out of the experience of his young wife, Samie, having a brain tumour ‘the size of an orange’ and then developing severe epilepsy. Of course for him as a Christian it raises all the hardest questions of belief. The book’s subtitle is ‘Engaging the silence of unanswered prayer’. Is prayer just words disappearing into the ether? Does God really exist? In a way his book is written from the other perspective than mine - that of carer rather than patient - which in my view is the harder side, the carer’s, I mean. It’s really well written. Recommended, as long as you don’t mind crying.

Talking of caring, on Radio 4’s ‘Saturday Live’ with Fi Glover last week, the Heritage Tracks feature in which a listener chooses music and explains why was presented by Sue Chalmers, a mother with MND, who used a text-to-speech program (‘Audrey’) to speak for her. She talked about the amazing way her children cared about her. I identified with that.