On the receiving end

What a wonderful fortnight we had!

It began with a MND Association meeting about ready-made meals delivered to your door - not that I need that, having a live-in cordon bleu cook, aka Jane, and has ended last Saturday with an MNDA walk in Blenheim Palace grounds in beautiful sunshine. As usual the fun of these times was being with others sharing similar experiences and those who know what it's like. As you can tell, the walk in Blenheim couldn't have been better - warm, clear and well supported.

In between I've been benefiting hugely from the NHS, and enjoying the company of friends. Oh yes, and we had a fun weekend of celebrations at my favourite local coffee shop, Cornerstone.

My lovely dentist spent over an hour extracting yet another tooth which had cracked irreparably. She was incredibly patient and the procedure was pain-free. Amazing. And then there was a visit from my physio to check up on my back. She discussed various options for us to consider, and showed Jane a couple of extra strenuous exercises she could make me do. And I must say my back is marvellously loosened. Now I have to work on my posture, to correct my pisa-like rightward tilt.

There are obviously some busy beavers in the Local Health Trust with nothing better to do than to send out questionnaires, as I've received one about each service over the past couple of weeks. No doubt it's a good thing to check quality, but personally I resent on their behalf the implied mistrust of these excellent health professionals. Of course they came out with the highest scores on my rating. I felt tempted to write at the end: "LEAVE OUR NHS SERVICES ALONE - AND GET OFF THEIR BACKS!" Experience shows that trust generally produces better results than fear.

Anita showing Jane the new machine

Then there was the Cornerstone celebration weekend - lovely weather again. It was a triple whammy: marking their achievement of 5 stars (top) status in the food prep and hygiene inspection regime, and the purchase of a new Swiss-made coffee machine, and the launch of a new menu. It just gets better and better. There were two days of celebrating - well, it was a good excuse for a party. And the general verdict has been that the coffee's rather good. So far, I've sampled cappuccinno, latté, mocha, americano, espresso (double) and hot chocolate. Not at all bad, I must say.

Geraniums and pansies still in flower