Turns out the probable reason why I was feeling so tired last week was that I was coming down with something. How often have we observed children looking tired and irritable and said ‘oh he/she must be coming down with something’? And yet we rarely apply it to ourselves. Anyway, it hit me hard on Sunday and by Monday morning I could barely lift my head from the pillow. It feels rather like flu although I don’t like to use that severe term so I’ll just say ‘flu like symptoms’. Suffice to say that I’ve been off school and won’t be back for the rest of the week 
I cannot bear being off as I miss so much of the children’s learning but I do appreciate that I need to get well before I return.
Anyway, I’ve had time to finish reading A Thousand Splendid Suns and have been left totally and utterly bereft. A finer book I’ve never read and I say that with total conviction, if a little trepidation, as I do have a tendency to be overwhelmed occasionally by a book or a film and start making grand statements!! But this book has touched my heart and has given me a completely different view of what’s been going on in Afghanistan. At it’s centre is the story of a deeply moving friendship between two women who are thrown together under the cruellest of situations. It’s written by a man who is astonishing in his ability to write from a woman’s perspective. His prose reads like poetry, so much of it quotable, but I’ve chosen this paragraph. Laila, a young Afghan girl, is lying in bed with her mother who is grieving the loss of her two sons at war:
Laila lay there and listened, wishing Mammy would notice that she, Laila, hadn’t become shaheed (a martyr), that she was alive, here, in bed with her, that she had hopes and a future. But Laila knew that her future was no match for her brothers’ past. They had overshadowed her in life. They would obliterate her in death. Mammy was now the curator of their lives’ museum and she, Laila, a mere visitor. A receptacle for their myths. The parchment on which Mammy meant to ink their legends.
Hard to tackle another book with that one still resonating through my mind so I will probably stick to the latest editions of my favourite magazines for a while. I’m so happy though that after many years in the wilderness I have come back to enjoying a good read! Time was when Tom was small, and for many years after that, I never read a book, only newspapers and magazines. But then about 5 years ago, my mum urged me to read the first Harry Potter book, and I’ve been hooked ever since. I still have periods of comparative inactivity when a book will take me weeks to read (usually during term time) but come the holidays I can easily become absorbed.
Dave heard today that his surgeon can replace his tube on Friday. He’s hoping to be in and out the same day although I’m not so sure. He doesn’t recover very quickly from having a general anaesthetic so I wouldn’t be surprised if they keep him in for the night. I’m really impressed at how speedily they’ve managed to find a slot for him to have the op as he only rang the Prof’s secretary yesterday! Fingers crossed it goes well.
Sorry your poorly, you take good care of yourself.. you have had a lot on since Christmas with Dave been in hospital.. these things creep up on us..
I have done the same felt thing,sure I had left a comment somewhere and then found I hadn’t .. I put it down to the fibro fog
.. and I would love to borrow your copy ( assuming that is what you meant lol).. I haven’t managed to get my hands on one and its suddenly very popular with the library .. I always have to have a book on the go.. life aint right without one.. not all are good it has to be said.. those that are, are treasures and this one sounds just that way.
Thank you on Saturday, really glad I went and that Ranco is wound ready to be knitted.. just got a couple of pairs to finish.
Good luck to Dave for Friday and will have everything crossed for him.
Hugs and get well vibes heading your way
Pixie
I hope you are feeling better. Good for you for taking time off, Bill likes to be some kind of hero, and goes in even when he really should be resting.I always say to him,never mind being so ‘brilliant’ at battling through the day, what about everyone else? No one else wants the germs. So it’s absolutely right that you should stay away from all the small fry, their parents would thank you, of that I am sure!
Oh I love Anna Wintour! I love that she has the same hair style that she’s had since the year dot! She knows what suits her, and sticks with it. Have you read ‘Front Row: Anna Wintour by Jerry Oppenheimer’? It’s very interesting to read (a bit too American for my liking, considering that AW is British, but he’s an American writer, so I have to allow for that!) If you have not read it, get it. You’d love it! I know she’s a total dragon, and that ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ was based on working for her (though should have been called the devil wears Chanel, to be totally correct!), but even so,I am full of admiration for her. I won’t hear a word against her. You don’t get to be E-I-C of American Vogue without being tough. Especially if you aren’t even American in the first place!
I am sorry I’ve not replied to your emails yet, but I have been busy sewing today. Have got four almost completed now. Told Bill of my plan
I will write in my diary tomorrow. Have lots to say (still) but will take care with my wording. I have purged the house of a few items and am feeling better about things now 
I will be thinking of Dave on Friday. Crikey, that bloke has gone through so much in the time that I have known you. I really do hope things go well for him,and he gets a bit of a break with his health.
oh, and must just tell you. though most of my reading is my fab gossipy mags each week, I do try to make sure I read properly too. I want little girly magoo to know that both mummy and daddy read a lot, so it will be second nature for her to do. So far,so good. She loves to ‘read’. Yesterday I had to laugh, she was sat on her chair, face full of seriousness as she babbled away reading my latest ‘Country Living’!
bless her!
ok, got to go. speak to you soon. tons of love to you lady!
xxxxx
I will be thinking about Dave tomorrow. I hope everything will go smoothly. Indeed he’s been through so much the last months. I hope it won’t be too painful & that he’ll recover from it quickly.
Thinking about you, sweetie. OXOXOX Big hugs