Oops!

What, you may well ask, is Jane doing hanging up washing on a warm Bank Holiday weekend? Good question. You'll notice it includes a duvet cover and a shirt. Picture the scene: Saturday morning, Jane's gone downstairs to let the dog (who hasn't barked for once) into the garden and make a morning drink. Meanwhile I have got on my vest and shirt, and struggled back into bed in a half recumbent position. Jane returns with drinks. Mine is halfway to my mouth, when the telephone rings. I can't help it. I jump, at least my hand does; the drink goes everywhere, over the duvet, down my shirt. At least it's not coffee.

This is just one of the annoying hazards of MND, an overreaction to sudden noises. Normally it doesn't matter, but sometimes.... There was the time when we were going to my nephew's wedding, staying overnight in Riverside Barn, a beautiful B & B. Everything was incredibly tasteful. I was in my suit etc for the wedding. We were having breakfast. I was lifting the coffee cup to my mouth - and the doorbell went, and so did the coffee, everywhere, including over the carpet, the tablecloth and my wedding shirt. Sue, the landlady, was sweetness itself; she even accepted another booking from us a year later. And we diverted on the way to the wedding to buy two new shirts (the first didn't match my tie!). And so, today, my apologies to Jane for a rather tedious chore on what's turning out a sunny holiday weekend.