GRUHI continues

Worcester, January 2026

My sojourn at Maternal Manor continues, where I try to make myself useful as well as exploring the locality. I am becoming familiar with a couple of key bus routes - I didn't use the bus much when I lived here as a youth because I'd always be going into London by Tube, and school was close enough to walk (or cycle), and I'd get lifts to most other places. When I did use the bus as a child, I would generally make some mistake and be too shy to ask anyone (often ending up in some bus terminal far from home) or leave something on the bus (most notable was my clarinet). Navigating the buses is now transformed - another thing to thank the Internet for.

My car enjoyed an outing to deliver some stamps and envelopes to one of mum's friends who has connections with Diabetes UK. Would it be a surprise to know that there are still stamps and envelopes lurking in the building? I found some more this week, in an old briefcase in the garage. I do believe these are the last, but wouldn't bet on it. Mum and I unearthed another box from a wardrobe and opened it with trepidation, but it contained old rheumatology journals - I never thought I'd be pleased to see those. This week I also found a large lever arch binder that contained about a hundred photocopied sheets of the engravings on Trajan's columns, each within a plastic wallet. Mum separated the paper from the plastic and now has even more scrap paper and a pile of plastic wallets that her carer took away for her son.

I also took mum to Lidl, which she enjoys, and then on to the municipal recycling centre where we dumped one of the four sacks of rubble that was excavated from the kitchen floor. The dehumidifier continues to extract moisture from below the floor but the low temperatures and the fact that the kitchen isn't actually heated means that it will probably take a long time to dry out. I uncovered the trench so there is more opportunity for evaporation, moved the microwave, and reorganised the kitchen cupboards to minimise the need to go from one end to the other across the trench all of the time. This made me very happy because now the pots and pans are next to the cooker and the plates and bowls are next to the microwave and fridge instead of the other way round.

Along with watching films (on DVD, streaming, at a local cinema and at a cinema a bus ride away), and going to two different Buddhist Centres, one in Highbury and one in Chelmsford, I played badminton with a local club. It has been surprisingly difficult to find a local club. Whenever I have ventured to other parts of the world there are usually two or three that I could try out, but all I could find here were Academies for training young people up to National standard, or courts that you can book in a sports centre, neither of which is suitable for me. Eventually I discovered a club that has a really complicated arrangement for booking a spot on one of four club nights during the week. I went to one of the sessions last Friday and will go again this Friday, but in fact the Saturday and Sunday evenings would be a higher standard that is nearer to mine. I'll have to put off that experiment until next time I stay.

Another social event was a whisky tasting with Lola II and Mr M, where the other guest was a friend of Lola II's who I hadn't seen for 25 years but was still utterly delightful. Due to the nature of the evening I became more drunk than I have been for many years, and I was still feeling not quite sober next morning when I had two Buddhist Zoom calls lined up. Totally worth it, but maybe not to be repeated.

I paid another visit to Lola II and Mr M in order to support Lola II's efforts at tidying and decluttering, where my role is split between police officer (stopping her from getting distracted or running off to do something less unpleasant) and Paper Shredder Operator. [This activity used to rank as second most satisfying after my own GRUHI project, but has been relegated to third behind the behemoth that is Maternal Manor.] During the visit we also started the eBay listing for the disposal of dad's fifteen (count 'em, FIFTEEN) 35mm slide projector carousels, and initiated the insurance claim for the water leak in the kitchen. I anticipate that the latter will be a recurring item in these reports for some time.

The highlight of my stay was a trip to Morrisons. This isn't one of mum's usual shopping spots because her neighbours and friends don't shop there, but I prefer their fruit and veg. So mum came with me, and they offer people the loan of a mobility scooter with a big basket on the front, and mum had a great time going wherever she wanted and taking her time because she wasn't having to stand and walk. And I enjoyed it even more because she was having so much fun.