Happy days

The last few blogs seem to have been invaded by a rather sombre mood.  Things have been much better recently!  


Last weekend we had a grown-up sleepover with Paul and Veronique, old friends from my days at the City Council. That was preceded by a wonderful meal and good company on Saturday night.  Many thanks to you all!


This weekend, we have been hosts to Helen and Rob who came down from Leeds on Friday night, braving fog and horrendous traffic, and Anne and Colin visiting who drove up from Chichester at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning. We have been putting the world to rights until the wee small hours over a good meal and several bottles.  We also managed to fit in a bit of culture, visits to long forgotten corners of Oxford and a walk along to Thames this morning for lunch at  riverside pub. Such good company and so considerate and helpful - in fact, perfect guests! 


Next week, Steve’s court case moves forward again.  We have not one, but two, meetings in the pipeline..  One with the solicitor and the other with our expert witness, who wants to be shown around the site where we believe Steve was exposed to asbestos nearly 40 years ago.  This is not quite how we had envisaged spending our lunchtimes next week, but it’s necessary for our team to be thoroughly prepared for the pre-trial hearing at the end of the month.  


There have been some interesting reports in the medical press this last week about a number of drugs which seem to be getting better results for mesothelioma than the standard treatment currently on offer. Finding a cure is still a long way off, but at long last, things seem to be moving in the right direction!


Lastly, a picture speaks a thousand words and I haven’t been posting many recently.  Time for a gallery feature soon, I think!

No escape

If you are a film buff (or even if you’re not) the name Steve McQueen will probably conjure up memories of the actor making a bid for freedom by riding his motor bike over a barbed wire perimeter fence around a POW camp in the movie “The Great Escape.”


What you may not know is that today is the 30th anniversary of Steve McQueen’s death in 1980.  Of more significance for this blog, is the fact that he died as a result of mesothelioma after breathing in asbestos fibres when stripping out asbestos insulation from pipes in naval vessels as a mechanic in the US Marines, before his film career took off.  Mesothelioma is disease from which, even today, there is no escape in terms of a cure.


However, treatment has moved on a great deal in the last three decades.  I write today’s blog in the hope that my Steve, my very own hero, will be able to take advantage of the progress in treatments which may at least offer long term stability, if not complete remission from this horrible disease……And, of course, that goes for all the other meso warriors out there - and their families and friends - who are fighting for their own lives and the lives of their loved ones as I write, as well as for those who will receive the devastating news of mesothelioma diagnosis at some point in the future, the seeds having been sown already without their knowledge.


A rather sombre thought for today - perhaps it’s the effect of shorter days and darkness coming early……Anyway, we’re back at home now after a short break visiting family to cheer ourselves up after the marathon of going through the court case documents, and it’s still daylight!  Time to get on, unpack, and sort ourselves out ready for tomorrow, when “normal” life resumes with my return to work.