Uphill, in Uphill

Dear Travelling Lady,

1  On Saturday I travelled easily and comfortably to Weston-super-mare, there to have lunch with Pauline Simonis, there to travel with her to the residential home where the onetime navigator lives.  He was one of some 12 residents in the room.  Like them he spends his days sitting in a chair.  Yet when I came into his view he greeted me by name straightaway.  For a while, we three chatted amiably.

2  However, the visit differed markedly from previous ones.  At Pauline's behest, he was hoisted from his chair into a wheelchair.  My Lourdes skills were then called into play.  At the gate, we turned left up the steady incline.  I was pushing uphill in Uphill, a local district, towards a disused quarry, which is now the location of what turned out to be a warm and welcoming cafe.  So I pushed steadily with Pauline as auxiliary.  Up we went, in the warmth of a sunshine day to the cafe.

2.1  In the cafe, we settled ourselves eventually.  The pot of tea was delivered together with the cup of coffee (for the navigator).  Carrot cake followed.  Shabby sofas, stout tables and chairs, a general sense of 'Take your ease and your time'.  The conversation continued.  Hons seemed at ease, settled.  He enjoyed the cake, he took his coffee.  All was well.  By the time we left, we had spent a companionable time in the companionable place.  The ride back, of course, was easy.  I hung on to the hand-trips whilst Pauline continued to act as look-out.  

2.2  A simple excursion but a notable one.  Hons has been in the home for about two years.  During that time he has not been out of the home.  So it was a pleasure for wife without a doubt and, so far as one could judge, for husband as well.  According to Pauline most of the residents were not visited.  One was being visited at the time we left with Hons in the wheelchair.  The elderly woman's middle-aged daughter was showing her mother some photographs which were installed on her iPad.  One photograph was of the mother was a member of a cycling group.  There they all were, not a lycra garment to be seen.  No helmets.  No cycling shoes as we understand them.  A cycling group from long ago.

3  Ah, I have the clear sense that I have been repeating and was about to repeat myself.  So I will conclude with a mention of my fourth visit to the detainee.  We continue to to get on.  He has a job so he is now able to telephone his eight-year-young daughter.  We talked about G(od's) W(onderful) R(ailway) and about the merits of having a word with his solicitor.  

4  As I missed swimming earlier today, my thoughts turn to a swim later this evening.  In any case, I will call into Haulcon in order to watch the second programme about the lives of the people who live in Benefits Street, a street in B irmingham where the proportion  of those who live on benefits is high.

5  I hope you continued to enjoy Kerala.  A fine break from the weather in Delhi.  You'll notice the difference.

Even so, continue to enjoy.

Lots of love

The Ancient.