A great theatrical knight.

Sir Donald Wolfit.

One of the last actor-managers taking his touring company on the road to produce (mainly) Shakespeare plays all over the country.  He was a highly regarded actor in his time.

At the end of a play, when the applause had died down, the curtains would open and he stepped forward to make his customary speech thanking the audience for being so appreciative and announcing his production for the next day.

On one occasion, it is said, he announced that next day “Hamlet” would be produced, he himself to play the noble Dane and her ladyship – his wife (*) - to play Ophelia.  At this point someone in the stalls shouted out: “Your wife, but she’s an old rat-bag!”

Sir Donald rocked on his heels, recovered and commenced again with a booming: “Nevertheless!”

What an awful thing to say.  I do hope he gave her a lovely bunch of flowers to say sorry.

Often my wife and I will be talking quietly together, I will use the word “Nevertheless” with the right degree of gravitas and we will chuckle happily together remembering this story - but it is only used affectionately between ourselves.

If you want to learn more about Sir Donald, please go to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography where there is an extremely good, well-researched, authoritative article about him.  Use your County library card number to log in.

(*) I believe that this was Lady Rosalind, his third wife.

Don’t you just love anachronisms in films? … Well, no, I don’t!

We all know what an anachronism is.  Simply put, something that is said or done or appears in a film, play, radio play or book that cannot happen in the time the action is set because it did not happen until sometime later.

Imagine, if you will an audience taking place between the young Queen Victoria and her Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne.  She asks him what the time is.  He would not slip back the cuff of his left sleeve with his right forefinger, look at his wrist and tell her that it is just after noon.  This would not be possible, as wristwatches were not developed until the 20^th century to help pilots who needed accurate and easy to read timekeepers to help them to navigate aeroplanes to their destinations.  Lord Melbourne, therefore, no matter how up to date he was, could not own a wristwatch.

Many anachronisms appear on our screens, some we notice, some we do not – but there will always be somebody who picks up something.  If the film, say, is a real attempt to depict a particular historical event, then those producing it should try to get as much accuracy as possible.  However, some films do not make much of an attempt at historical accuracy in pursuit of telling a rip-snorting story that will appeal to a modern audience.

My general gripe is about archers in various Robin Hood type stories or many set during medieval battles.  Imagine, if you will, the company of archers ready for the word of command, the captain steps forward and shouts “Fire!” at the top of his voice.  In my mind’s eye, I can see the bowmen relaxing their strings, looking around concernedly and shouts of “Where is it?”, “Has anybody got any water?” and “Ooh heck, be careful, I am down to my last set of bowstrings!”

The command “Fire” did not come in until firearms were in general use on the battlefield (17^th century perhaps?) and until then the command would have been “Loose!” or “Shoot!” 

Our great scriptwriter: William Shakespeare concluded his play “Hamlet” with a speech by Fortinbras, prince of Norway, that ends:

“Take up the bodies, such a sight as this

Becomes the field but here shows much amiss

Go, bid the soldiers shoot.”

Finis

I expect to carry on wincing every time I see Robin Hood looking heroic and shouting out “Fire!” to his fellow outlaws.  Please feel free to shout out: “He wouldn’t say that!” to the screen when you hear it.

Finally, “The Lion in Winter”, the wonderful film starring Peter O’Toole as King Henry II and Katherine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine.  Three little quibbles here.

Their meeting was held at Christmas-time and Queen Eleanor brought Christmas presents with her, I do not think that they would have given Christmas presents to each other at that time.  Gifts, yes, but the concept of a Christmas present is something that came in much later, I think.

At one point, Henry says to Eleanor that she “would lower her democratic drawbridge to anyone.”  Democratic?  Henry regarded himself as an absolute ruler subject only to the constraints of his barons and the Church.  The idea that the people (peasants in his eyes) had a right to govern themselves would be laughable to him and it is doubtful that his tutors would have included this word (from Classical Greek) in his vocabulary when he was in education.

The word “democracy” only appears in the English language in 1574 (*) – I am sorry but I do not know where it was written down first.  It would definitely not have been in use in Henry II’s time.

Finally, near the end of the film, in a chilly room, late at night, Henry and Eleanor are talking together, when they hear a wolf or wolves howling outside.  One says, “It’s like a jungle out there.”  A jungle!  Twelfth Century Europe and the British Isles were, at the time, covered in forests inhabited by outlaws, wolves, deer, badgers and wild boar and barely a tiger in sight.  The word “jungle” does not enter the English language until 1776 (*).  The word comes from Hindu, Marathi and Sanskrit sources and originally meant waste land, dry ground, land overgrown with underwood, long grass or tangled vegetation.  Once again, a word that neither Henry nor Eleanor would ever have used.

But, in the Great Scheme of Things – it does not matter a jot!  I think that any film is an unreliable witness to the world we live in.  Consider this: “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story”.  The screenwriters, producers and directors of a film will never get it completely right, so, despite what I said earlier, please do not jump up and shout out that something is wrong, wrong, wrong.  Just sit back, relax (or try to) and enjoy the film with everybody else in the cinema.  Wince quietly, gnash and grind your teeth, then go home and write about it.

Happy viewing!

(*) The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary – Third Edition reprinted with corrections – 1964.

Motherhood - or Fatherhood

I heard a very good poem on the radio the other day.  This was “Walking Away” by Cecil Day-Lewis.

It was about a parent watching a young child on the sports field.  The poet did not specify a father or a mother, but I felt that it sounded like a mother to me.

The poem eavesdropped on a mother’s thoughts as she remembered watching her little boy playing football for the first time at school eighteen years earlier.

Her emotions churned inside her as she watched her son interacting - tentatively – with the other boys.

The poem finished:

                “Selfhood begins with walking away.

                Love is proved in the letting go.”

I found this incredibly poignant and moving; especially when you think of the words “proof” and “prove”.  Nowadays, they are used glibly to mean: “Oh , yeah, that’s all right then.”

But, really they refer to something or someone placed in the crucible and tested in the absolute heat of the fire or furnace.

In context then, we can feel the burning torment that the mother knows she will feel as, by degrees, her son walks away.

So sad.

Now, please, go and read the poem yourself and see how you feel about it.

So, you will be here tomorrow then … ?

First published on Linked In 4 October 2018

It has happened again, as it has happened so many times in the past to us.

Once again, a Service Engineer / Repair Operative has not turned up on the day expected; there is always a reason but it is still galling for us, and you, when you are on the receiving end.  And everything has to be re-booked.

The first time this happened was shortly after we were married.  We were living on the top floor of a three-storey block and had ordered a new washing machine.  I stayed in especially for the delivery.  The driver’s mate announced their arrival on the intercom and said they would be up shortly.  Lo and behold, only minutes later I was called with the message that the machine was broken when it was unpacked and they would have to take it back and order another.  Hmm, now was it really damaged or did they look at the stairs and decide they did not fancy carting our new pride and joy up three flights?  We shall never know, but I can guess – and the waiting time came out of my annual leave.

Numerous incidents happened (and are still happening) over the years; and I am now retired.

Earlier this year, our current washing machine broke down and I made arrangements for a Service Engineer to come and (hopefully) fix it.  The manufacturers (B****) set the date and said the engineer would be with us between 7 am and 5 pm and would ring us shortly before arrival so we could put the kettle on.  It took a couple of such visits to ascertain what exactly needed replacing – and this had to be ordered in, nothing being kept in stock these days.

So far, so good, the telephone call came a few days later and they suggested the next Friday; great, I then wrote “B**** 7 am to 5 pm Washer repair” against Friday’s date on the calendar.  On the Friday, I waited and, eventually, at a quarter to five, I rang them up to be told “No, it’s not today, your repair is scheduled for Saturday”.

There was nothing I could do, the repair was completed eventually and the washer is now fine but, like you, I know the difference between “Friday” and “Saturday”.  I might be retired but having two days kiboshed instead of one is very difficult.

The latest incident happened last weekend.  We need to have my wife’s room re-decorated, I got a quotation from a decorator who said that the room would need to be cleared for him to do the work.  I rang a handyman, because my wife’s bed is electrically adjustable (the head and feet ends can both be raised or lowered by an internal motor), he said that he cannot touch disabled items and we need to get a specialist in to move it.  I rang the mobility company from whom we bought our wheel-chair and who service it each year.  They said that they can move the bed, this should only be done by trained personnel and to let them know when the painting is to start.  Modified rapture indeed.  When we reached the top of the decorator’s diary, he rang us and set a date for Monday the following week, I then arranged with the mobility company to come on the preceding Friday in the afternoon.

Come Friday – nothing.  A call to the engineer who said it should not have been booked in today and after a bit of toing and froing said he would come on Saturday between mid-day and 2 pm.  At a quarter to two on the Saturday, I rang his mobile number, now on answerphone, and left a message asking when he anticipated arriving.  Nothing happened - nobody came.

I must admit I was feeling a bit shaky by then and so a cup of tea settled the nerves somewhat.

Suitably refreshed I examined the bed properly, took the mattress off, had a good look at the frame and the base unit, came to the conclusion that you did not have to be especially trained or qualified to move the bed and went to see my brilliant neighbour, Martin, who said he would help me move the bed on Sunday afternoon.

There were three separate units to move:

The mattress – easy, lift and carry into the next room;

The drive unit and adjustable support slats – also easy as this was mounted on a rectangular wooden frame which we lifted out (like a stretcher) and carried into the next room.

The base unit and headboard – too big to move through the door, so we had to remove the headboard.

This should have been easy but, unbeknownst to us, the installer who had assembled the bed had botched the job.  The first three of the four bolts securing the headboard panel came out smooth as silk but the final one’s threads had been mangled in the securing nut which was embedded in the chipboard and could not be moved.  After a considerable amount of effort we realised that the only way to remove the bolt was to saw its head off.  Once that was done, it was a matter of minutes before we got all the parts into the next room, re-assembled the bed, tested it and checked that it was working properly again.

It took round about ninety minutes, it should have taken thirty minutes and I am incredibly grateful to Martin without whom I would have been completely and utterly lost.

Come Monday morning, the telephone rings at a quarter to eight – it is the decorator, he has a terrible cold, cannot manage today and will be in on Wednesday …

Who Cares? I care. We care. We all care!

I have mentioned my wife a couple of times in my Posts on Linked In and the fact that she is disabled.  This, therefore, seems to me a good time to fill you in about our situation.

My wife has a number of health issues which, collectively have hit her very hard and I am now her full-time carer.

There are thousands upon thousands of carers across the country.  The permutations and combinations of situations are very wide: there are husbands looking after wives and vice versa; there are mother or fathers looking after sons or daughters who are afflicted by a significant health issue; there are adult men and women looking after either their father or their mother whose health has declined.  The list is very wide, some have a family support network who can step in and help at critical moments, whilst some do not, but they all put in an enormous effort to look after their loved one.

My wife said she does not want to appear as if she is in a poppy show, but this is not the case as I am writing specifically about our situation and her problems.

For Mrs A. the significant issues (to the medical profession) are Rheumatoid Arthritis, Raynaud’s Syndrome and Lupus, the main visible indicators are pronounced curvature of the spine, also the fingers and thumbs of both hands are twisted and distorted by the Arthritis.  She also has Osteoporosis and has an injection every six months and a scan every two years to monitor the situation.  A stairlift has been installed in our house which makes getting up and down stairs much easier.

But, the major problems, really, are the chronic leg ulcer all around her right ankle and the ensuing damage to her right foot coupled with a number of falls in the last few months.

The ulcer flared up just about twelve years ago now and grew quickly in size destroying quite an area of skin.  It has reduced in area in recent years but recovery is very slow.  Treatments that have been tried include:

Compression bandaging (the standard treatment that helps most leg ulcers to clear up, but not all);

Varicose vein removal (did not make any difference – not recommended);

Skin graft (sadly this caused more problems including to the donor site on the left thigh which took many years to heal over and still remains very sensitive);

Manuka Honey (regarded by many as a miracle cure-all, however, for many patients the wound will start stinging soon after application.  We had to get the dressings off and the wound washed clean very quickly on the single occasion we tried Manuka honey);

Potassium Permanganate Tablets (dissolved in water and used to soak the wound area to help clean off surplus matter);

Granuflex Hydrocolloid Dressings (help to provide a moist wound environment);

Granugel Hydrocolloid Gel (helps to create a moist healing environment);

Maggot treatment (otherwise known as the ‘wrigglies’ which are great for removing slough and detritus from the wound to encourage healing);

Hyperbaric medicine (this involves the patients sitting in a pressure chamber – equivalent to being fourteen metres below sea level – breathing pure, high pressure oxygen.  The service is delivered by the Royal Navy / Qinetiq and the NHS in partnership and it is the same equipment used to treat divers who have got the ‘bends’).  This helped many people recover quite quickly from various injuries and treatments but, sadly, did nothing for the two ladies with leg ulcers who were treated at the same time;

Granulox (a haemoglobin spray which delivers an oxygen-rich film to the wound surface to aid recovery);

Granulated sugar (interesting treatment which is supposed to aid wound recovery, but is very effective indeed in removing slough and much less messy than the wrigglies);

Zinc Oxide (the wound is dressed in bandages which are impregnated with a Zinc paste,  The dressings did seem to encourage skin growth at the margins, but my wife found the bandaging too painful so they had to be discontinued).

These are some of the various treatments that have been used in conjunction with a range of specialised dressings to protect the wound and encourage the healing process.  A while ago, I was changing the dressings three times a day because of the level of exudate leaking through, then that improved to twice a day.  Now, I am changing the dressing once a day in the morning and checking each evening before bedtime to make sure it has not leaked through (sometimes it does and needs a bit of extra padding to keep everything ship-shape overnight). 

We see the Practice Nurse once a week to keep the situation carefully monitored.  The skin surrounding the wound is quite valid and, as far as I can see, there is nothing to stop the wound recovering.

Coupled with these problems, Mrs A has had a lot of difficulty with her hearing for a year now; we are consulting the Ear, Nose and Throat Department and have had a number of appointments.  Treatment is still continuing as infections and a polyp have been found in her ear channel and until these have been cleared we cannot get anything further done.

Mucus is being produced in industrial quantities through the nose and the throat and mouth!  Antibiotics and sprays have been prescribed on a number of occasions for this but nothing seems to abate the flow.  Also, to make matters worse, she has frequent nose bleeds for no apparent reason; and, no, she does not blow her nose too heavily – the bleeds just happen.  This is very debilitating.

Since having her cataracts operated on a couple of years ago her eyes have experienced numerous problems.  Following consultations with the Ophthalmology Department at the Hospital, we are managing the Blepharitis and Dry Eye conditions carefully at home.

She has a fistula (hole) in the roof of the palate in her mouth and an obturator is used to block the gap.  This device does not always fit securely so there are times when the hole is not protected and food or liquids can get into the sinus cavity.  Also, she is having difficulties with her lower teeth.  We are consulting a Prosthodontist recommended by our dentist to see if he can help alleviate these problems.

Our day to day situation is determined by the level of pain she experiences and how difficult it is to move about.  Mornings are particularly uncomfortable and we have to avoid booking medical appointments in the morning wherever possible.  The act of getting to and from various surgeries and or consulting rooms is also something that has to be very delicately arranged.  Up to about one hundred yards or so, my wife can manage to use her stick with me supporting her to walk to our destination (from the car), but, over that distance we have to use the wheelchair.  Fortunately, our wheelchair is of the lightweight and small-wheeled variety which means that it is very nimble to manoeuvre in tight spaces – but is not comfortable on steep hills or bumpy pavements!

The range of issues that Mrs A suffers from is quite wide, as you can see.  Collectively, these hit her hard and this, coupled with the painkillers used much of the time, frequently make her very sleepy.  The mere act of going out to see a film or the theatre or anything can often be difficult.  On many occasions we have had to cancel an appointment or a trip out, but always very reluctantly and after serious consideration.  And, even so, the waiting times for clinic consultations nowadays can be very long which adds to the level of discomfort.

I am using my wife’s condition to try to get her to enjoy drinking tea (like me).  But she still insists on coffee some of the time.  She frequently describes herself as a bad-tempered old so-and-so and, as far as the odd cup of tea is concerned, she may be!

Go to our web-site and ...

First published on Linked In on the 28th September 2018.

I do not know about you, but I find people giving me instructions to “Go to our website and follow the Lynx…” a bit confusing.  Here is a Lynx, where is it going next?  Into the forest I expect to hunt for his or her lunch.

 

(Image from The Telegraph, thank you.)