In our series of Holiday at Home events we had a talk last Monday afternoon - 'The Surgeon as God' - it was given by an ENT surgeon, a member of St Andrews, and it was excellent, it was entirely unscripted, humorous and very well delivered. I have an aversion to talks and sermons that are read out from scripts; I think they might just as well be printed off and handed out, I get fidgety and tune out. The talk was followed as usual by tea and cakes, and was very well supported, the parish room was full, and every table occupied.
The event on Wednesday morning was a social get together/coffee morning, simply called Summer Café. I didn't go to it though, but I did go along to this morning's event which was an Art Workshop. I don't reckon on being artistic and just went along as I had something to drop off at the church, but I didn't stop long, it was very poorly attended, no more than half a dozen people round one table, and there weren't any pals there. Next Monday afternoon sounds more promising, 'Memoirs of a Royal Footman', I plan to go to that.
Yesterday Tim took me to have my memory tested at the Memory Clinic, which was interesting but I am not quite sure what the interviewer's conclusions were. In one of the tests I had to identify four wild animals - if I hadn't been able to do that I would have been SERIOUSLY worried. I managed to subtract 93 from 100, but when asked to subtract something from 86 I had to stop her there and then. It is not my ageing brain or memory, I have NEVER been able to do mental arithmetic, EVER. I didn't go to a very good school, and when I was I think about 13 or 14,, I broke my ankle and the school made me walk to the hospital, by which time a bone had splintered. I was away from school for the rest of that term and I never did catch up. Nowadays schools and parents would have ensured I kept up with my school work at home, but not then, or not for me.
Because of that I never felt that I was 'educated', so it was a very big deal for me when I got a theology degree from Chichester in my late middle age.
This post has been a bit more personal than usual so I hope it has not bored you.
The "Surgeon of God" programme sounds most interesting. I am reminded of a Roman priest in Tulsa who retired from hospital chaplaincy after many years. He was known as the "Singing Priest" because he entered each room with an appropriate ditty, e.g. "Please release me, let me go..." I asked him what had changed in his 40 or so years of chaplaincy. He said that when he began, physicians considered themselves the hands of God and in these modern times, mere technicians....I can relate to your concerns about the memory test but, believe me, maths and I have only a nodding acquaintance. I should have done no better.
ReplyDeleteI'm having the same things going on in my life, regarding memory, alzheimer's, etc. Luckily, I don't give a shit. Heh.
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