9 July - Margery and a concert

On Friday evening one of our wonderful neighbours, Margery, a lady of 87 who looks 30 years younger, has survived about 3 life threatening illnesses and is still full of optimism and life, invited Olga and myself for supper. It was a big help for Olga who is very tired.

Whilst we were there Margery mentioned that she and a friend were going to a piano recital at the Rosehill Theatre near Whitehaven the following night. I wondered whether there would still be tickets and a few minutes later two tickets had been reserved and arrangements made for Olga and I to go with Margery and her friend to the concert.

I was tired after the supper so we decided to take it easy on Saturday and conserve my energy for the concert. Although it is not very far away we had never been to the Rosehill Theatre before. It is a charming, very small theatre set up on a hill behind Whitehaven and was apparently established in the 1950s to provide some cultural life for the top scientists and intellectuals who were employed at Windscale, Britain's first atomic plant, who would otherwise have been difficult to persuade to come to such an isolated spot. We met one of them, now 87 and walking on sticks, who told us that he "came for 5 years and ended up staying for 50." We had a short conversation - he asked Olga about Chernobyl and wished me luck with my treatment.

We enjoyed the concert very much, and it was a real treat and a morale booster to get out of the house and engage in normal life for a bit.