Atresia...what?

Monday 5th October, 2020

I am not a recorder of the weather patterns of Scotland. However whether it rains or shines or does something in between is of significance. Today started grey, rained, had sunshine for twenty minutes, turned back to drizzle and then rain and now, as I write, it is undecided with sun on the distant trees, rain over the Tay and black clouds to the east.

The morning was spent with reading and writing three letters. One was in response to an article sent me by an old pupil. He is in a hospital for mental challenges and has been there for over ten years. He is a lovely, intelligent and sensitive man. The article was about the damage being down to society by the intellectual meritocracy. It argued that insufficient emphasis was put on emotional intelligence. This had been highlighted as vital during our pandemic and the obvious essential work of carers and the NHS staff.

It was well argued but I felt incapable of understanding.

After lunch of Scotch pie our SKY expert appeared for we had had malfunctioning wifi again. We are noting the lapses and the three green lights on the server had turned to two green and on flashing Amber for over an hour. This coincided with the television still working but not emails or the iPhone. Our expert telephoned SKY and I left to search for apples.

I found some wild apple trees but was disappointed by their small size. I picked some and am wondering how to use them. In my meandering I did notice that the damp and wet seems to have encouraged the world of the fungi. A stunning group of large red and white spotted toad stools. It so reminded me of my childhood when stories had illustrations of little people, animals  and personalised creatures sitting on such like. How I recalled a little elf smoking a Hubble bubble pipe lying on one such and stroking his beard. I wondered which were edible and which poisonous and wished I had attended a course on such at Walberswick in Suffolk many years ago.

I returned to discover that another SKY engineer will be coming tomorrow at some point during the afternoon. I had hoped to attend an auction to buy a cheap book case but that may be on hold.

Now with more rain hitting the window I shall return to a relaxing and reading a who dunnit. I need to stop thinking and immerse myself in good against bad story where good wins. Not make believe but a desire to foster hope.

I have learned a new word today 'atresia'. I suffer it! Time to put backbone in to myself. Time to appreciate how fortunate I am to have, at present, a fairly balanced mental approach to life, although SKY could change that. In fact the sky could fall in!!