AN UNWANTED VISITOR

It's Saturday morning and I'm sitting in the Alexandra Theatre with my 2 grandchildren Ben and Nicky, with a bag of sweeties, waving an luminous wand, waiting to see the Tweenies. I think I am the only person in the theatre who has never seen them on CBeebies, but after singing along to every song, stamping my feet and clapping my hands, I am truly converted!! In fact I think I enjoyed it more than the grandchildren who looked at me in puzzled amusement. It reminded me of when I took my own sons to the pantomime where I would boo and hiss and shout "he's behind you". They were so embarrased by my enthusiasm to join in, that they wouldn't sit with me on the bus, they walked on the other side of the road and refused to go with me again. What a joy to have grandchildren so I can enjoy doing this all over again. Ben and Nicky might one day also be too embarrassed, but I can't wait to take them to the next show!!

I really needed this break, to take my mind off a very unwelcome visitor who arrived in our bedroom at 4am in the morning, thanks to our cat, Chloe. She proudly presented us
with a small rat and as it ran up the curtains, I could see it's long tail dangling down. From the safety of the bed, I shouted to John "Pull it down by it's tail". "It's too big" he retorted. This is the man who took on 2 masked raiders when they smashed into our house one night with 5ft sledge hammers!! After trying to chase the rat round the bedroom it disappeared from sight. Tired and weary, we left Chloe in the room to keep guard and retreated to try and get some sleep in the smaller 2nd bedroom, knowing Ratty was residing in the master bedroom!

This state of affairs went on for a week. We kept the door firmly shut, I gingerly crept in to get my clothes and to keep up the search. As I got bolder and more angry with our intruder, I stripped every drawer, took everything out of the wardrobes, moved the bed and the furniture and searched every shoe box expecting the rat to run out. Apart from signs that he had spent his first night in John's knicker drawer, there was not a sign of him and Chloe, who was in disgrace, showed no interest whatsover. Rentokil said that a small rat can get through a hole the size of the top of a pen and could have squeezed through the skirting and could now be heading to our loft - Great!! We tried to entice him into traps filled with juicy raisins and chocolate to no avail. A week later, we warily moved back into our immaculate bedroom. We have never seen Ratty again and we can only hope he went out of the open window back to where he belonged.

Jonathan, my son was coming over from Canada to a wedding and was staying at our house. "I'm not staying if that rat is still there," he said. I convinced him that it had gone, but even now a couple of weeks on, I still keep a wary lookout for him!

All too soon I was at Birmingham Airport waving a tearful farewell to Jonathan. What a joy it was to be able to be a Mom again and spoil him. John thoroughly enjoys him coming to stay, because the menus improve considerably as I rustle up all Jonathan's favourite meals.

My friend Sandra and I both have ovarian cancer and are an incredible support to each other. We try to help, support and give encouragement to other ladies who have only recently been diagnosed and are afraid of the chemo and the future. Sandra and I also like to socialise together. We can talk about anything because we understand each other's fears and this is so valuable.

After Jonathan left, we had a day at the Jewellery Quarter. We caught the train and had a lovely time gazing longingly through shop windows and lunching in this unique part of Birmingham. We went to the Jewellery Museum which was fascinating and we plan to return to visit St. Paul's Cathedral and the ancient cemetry. All this history on our doorstep and how often do we seek it out?

Sandra and I also book all the speakers for our Solihull Cancer Support Group and this week it was our own oncologist Professor Poole, who was coming to give a talk. At 8pm the room was full, but unfortunately there was no Professor Poole. When I finally tracked him down at 8.30pm, I was amazed that he was still at the hospital with a patient. He said he would still be able to come and give his talk, and at 9.45pm he arrived. Sadly some people had to go home, but those who stayed were not disappointed. After a long hard day, he gave a brilliant speech on how chemotherapy drugs have evolved and advanced during his career. When Professor Poole finally finished, well after 11pm, he must have been shattered, but we were so delighted that against all odds, he gave his valuable time to talk to us. It is so important to have faith in your oncologist and Sandra and I knew that we were in very safe hands.