Rudolph is early!

I went to the hospital today to attend Margret’s Plastic Surgery appointment with her.

The wound is doing well. It is large but is looking healthy.

My blip is of Viv. She works on Margret’s ward where she takes the orders for meals, brings drinks and does a myriad of other things. She is always cheerful and always has time for people.

Margret had been visited by Father Christmas earlier in the day. She had no idea who was in the costume and did not realise that it was a woman and one she sees regularly on the ward. (I have written this to give Margret a clue when she reads my blip.)

Tonight I was at Annette and Walt’s house in Prudhoe for a full Christmas dinner. Annette is a great cook and we all ate far too much! The three grown up children were there, two with partners, and the two little boys.

I gave the little ones a Paw Patrol vehicle each. I knew that these could fire missiles, but it said that the trajectory and speed meant that they would do no harm.

They loved them and at first all was well. Then they started to fire them at us from point blank range and aiming for heads. I felt like the person who gives a toy drum as a present!

I confiscated the missiles after they had repeated warnings at which point, Owen, aged 3, sat down and said “I’m not playing with you any more “!

So, it was a pretty typical family party.

The older ones had all bought presents for me, which was so kind. Annette bought me some lovely pyjamas. When the eldest children were younger, they used to come to see us on Christmas Eve, all dressed up in their new pyjamas.

Craig’s girlfriend* is a soprano to look out for. She is studying at the Royal School of Music and plans to go on to a Masters after her first degree. She is singing in the BBC film Choral which will be released in 2026. It’s an Alan Bennett story. They wanted a trained singer. She sang the part. A few weeks later they asked her to return and sing as if she had not been trained….

Hopefully she will be spotted as a new talent.

*Tia Radix-Callixte