Mad Darby Diaries

In April, we were slapping on sun cream and in May we were huddled up in winter coats but for the last two days it is has been lovely, warm and sunny.  For how long I don't know but it arrived just as the cafes and restaurants were opening up.  There is nothing quite like sitting in a French café watching the world go by. I made a comment in my last blog about my bruises looking like modern art and I received a comment saying that modern art fetches high prices these days.  This is true, the only difference being that I can't be hung on the wall and I am past my sell by date. France has stopped Brits from travelling here because of the variant in the UK but numbers, though rising in some places, are still less than here, people vaccinated are far more and deaths are lower.  So come on France, my family have booked their travel for July and I am desperate to see them.  French friends are convinced it is political but the truth is that our lives are going to be di...

 I did the rounds of estate agents this week.  I had an appointment in one for 10am.  I went in to the man's office and began  to explain what I was looking for but only managed 2 sentences when his mobile rang.  He picked it up and answered it and in response to the caller he then  turned to his computer and started to bring up information for whoever was on the phone.  I waited a couple of minutes and then got up and walked out.  The man in the next office ran after me and asked if I had a problem.  I said that I didn't have a problem but his agency did when the mobile phone takes priority over a client who is sitting right in front of them.  He begged me to stay but it was too late.  I left him berating the other man about answering his phone. Is Trump finally going to jail?  I doubt it despite numerous cases being built against him.  He has sloping shoulders and everything seems to run off them no  matter how seri...

For the first time in 16 months I had someone come to stay.  My son came from the UK to look after me following my operation and sadly, all too soon, he has gone again.  How wonderful it was though to have someone to talk to in  the flesh rather than via WhatsApp and skype.  This weekend we went to a café in Saumur and passed a pleasant hour chatting with friends who we hadn't seen for well over a year.  Even this unusual cold and wet weather that we are having failed to dampen the spirits of the many people simply enjoying each others' company.   A friend asked me why I am moving - again.  I have itchy feet, I do not like living in the same place for too long and I enjoy moving, doing something different.  The thing I can't get my head round is being asked if I am moving because I am getting old.  Am I looking for a type of sheltered housing?  Really?  Give me a break.  Ok I am a bit incapacitated at the moment, covered i...

Yesterday I was burning rubber again between my house and the hospital for pre-op procedures.  The first appointment was at 9am in the Nuclear building.  The doctor looked me straight in the eye and said 'This procedure won't hurt,' then she thrust 3 very long needles into me.  She lied.  Of course it hurt. The second appointment was at 11.45am so I had over 2 hours to kill.  With shops and cafes still closed I decided to go for a walk along the river.  May has not been a typical month this year, cold with lots of rain, so the path was muddy.  Undeterred I trudged on and managed to waste an hour of the waiting time.  On my return to the hospital I wound myself round several corridors and ended up in a waiting room all by myself.  After about half an hour a voice in the corridor called to a colleague, 'Who's left all this mud everywhere?'  I looked down at my boots and there on my trousers, my boots and the surrounding area was mud. ...

 I was travelling by train from Charles de Gaulle to Angers a few years ago.  The train guard announced that there was a piece of luggage without a name on it and he asked for the owner to well 'own up'.  No-one responded so at the next station, the train made an unscheduled stop and threw the case on to the platform.  This morning in Lidl's a man was shopping with his mask  down below his chin.  The staff told him to wear the mask properly but he refused,  saying that the regulations say that he must wear a mask,  which he was doing, they didn't say it had to cover his nose and mouth.  The wife stood quietly, fully masked, shuffling her feet.  At that point the staff, 3 of them,  confiscated his trolley and told him to get out.  He protested but faced with determined staff and outraged shoppers he stood no chance.  He didn't go quietly but he did go.  I have seen  shoppers gang up before, especially female ones,...

 I can't believe it is May already, especially as the temperatures plummeted and the rain came in.  Even the cuckoo has been quiet the last few days.    Tennis is cancelled - again, which is even more frustrating when we have three indoor courts but no-one is allowed to use them due to the pandemic.  I thought I ought to look for somewhere to live as the house sale is going through but estate agents are still closed to clients and their websites are pitiful, so much so that I am surprised they sell anything at all. The surgeon who is going to wield her knife on me soon said I have to go to the hospital the day before to have a '?'.  It didn't matter how often she repeated the word I couldn't understand and it is so difficult when everyone is wearing a mask.  Finally she googled it and declared with triumph that it meant 'metal wire'.  Nonplussed I asked what was going to happen with this metal wire?  She said someone would insert it in to me ...

My life is like  the buses, I sit around for a year during the pandemic doing nothing and then just as someone finally buys my house, cancer raises its ugly head again.  At this point cancer news is more manageable than being homeless.  The hospital  tells you what to do, where to be and when and basically all I have to do is turn up.  July will be a testing time as that is when I have to get out of the house, start follow up treatment and live..?  The first time I had cancer, I was made redundant, was job hunting and started a new job a week after the operation.  The new job was  working in prisons and during radiotherapy I had to go to Dartmoor prison where I was organising and leading a big conference.  I  went for the radiotherapy at 7am and drove straight to Dartmoor.  The Governor introduced me,  and congratulated me on getting there despite having been microwaved that morning.  The audience, of course, didn't know w...