A bit of an emergency

I looked back at my last blog and saw that it came from a different world, one where I was revving up for the Autumn term in relaxed mode. Much has happened.

As I write this, I’m on the train returning from Edinburgh Waverley to King’s Cross for the third time in a month.  The first time was a social visit to Pascoe.  The consequent trips have been due to his medical emergency.  Since May, Pascoe had been repeatedly visiting his GP with stabbing pains in his abdomen, and been sent away with indigestion medicine.  Eventually he paid for a private scan - he had a massive gall stone and inflamed gall bladder, endangering his liver.  It should have been operated on long before it got to this. The emergency operation which ensued required a huge incision (25 staples long), rather than keyhole, a couple of days afterwards when it looked like he might not make it and then a sudden and dramatic upturn on Sunday following prayer by not just our church at St Luke’s but also the church of one of the hospital doctors. 

Today I leave him in his flat, supported by Perran, well on the road to recovery, but still weak.  Yesterday, I was talking to Pascoe’s friend Kritika about the strength of love she felt when she gave birth to her baby daughter.  There is nothing like nearly losing your child to revive the strength of that bond. 

How to bring a festival home

 

This summer I was privileged to attend three very different festivals and I ask what I can take from them back into everyday life. 

Primadonna – a literature festival, with the emphasis on women.

Edinburgh Fringe – a massive festival comprised of over 3k shows in a huge variety of venues.

GreenbeltFestival - arts, faith, activism. In a world on fire, we’re somewhere to believe in.

There’s a glorious ‘festival’ way of being - which elements will enhance my everyday life?

Trying new things

Because a festival is time-limited, it helps make your mind up.  This kind of thinking found me trying out a women’s urinal for the first time, and (less bizarrely) a workshop on cyanotype printing.

Fresh air

Wouldn’t work life be less fraught if one had to potter across a grassy field to get to every meeting?  I need to incorporate more little strolls into my working life.

Chat

At each of the festivals, the best thing was people – the friends/family we went with and the strangers with whom we chatted while queueing for the loo/ bar/ show.  I definitely want to spend more time idly passing the time of day with friends, old and brand new.

What won’t I miss?

You’d expect me to say the toilets – but the ‘mobile thrones’ at Primadonna and the composting loos at Greenbelt were fab.

I guess I might say ‘burning the candle at both ends’ but in fact a level of tiredness softens me up and readies me for revelations both intellectual and emotional – festivals make me cry…and that’s not a bad thing.

Picture by Pascoe Harvey - me at Edinburgh with the wonderful Katy Berry