DVT DAY 283

Wednesday and the decorator arrives to continue the hall way. I cook a bacon bagel and settle down at my end of the sofa. I work on the banjo project removing the machine heads and discover that one of them is a bodged job. Someone before me has tried to mend a broken shim on one of the winding posts and made a hash of it. I desperately try to find a set of machine heads for a tunnelled 5 string banjo. No chance, no one makes them anymore, this banjo of mine is an old English traditional resonance 22 fret banjo with a split head and tunnelled fifth string. I decide to replace the machine head plates with individual machine heads and set about trying to find some. Eventually I get to order some and for good measure I order a set of finger picks. With luck they will arrive tomorrow and I can crack on with the renovation.

I write a letter using my re-found dipping pen, its slower but satisfying. I write till lunch tine and then go to my partners mothers house to collect her post and make sure the house is okay while she is in hospital. In all its about an hour and a half round trip. Back home we eat lunch and I return to my letter writing. At three o’clock I take a break to attend a webinar on Forgiveness in 2020 given by the Elders group. The speakers included the ex presidents of Ireland and Columbia and an ex United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights so the quality of experience was interesting and brought a new view of transitional justice and the process of achieving peace in nations coming out of conflict. At the end I finished my letter. I try to tidy some of the chaos that is around but end up framing a set of water colours that my eldest daughter brought back from Italy a summer ago. I had order the frame a few days ago and it turned up today. Now I have to think where it will go when we rehang our art after the decorators have finished. Post tea I clear the kitchen and help my partner select a radio for her mother and half watch football. During the day I have WhatsApp messages from friends, one in particular is under the weather and retreating to bed. It makes me “itchy” to be back to normal where I can comfort friends and be able to interact normally. Now its time to blog and get ready for tomorrows work meetings and open forum.