I have yet to report on our recent trips to Horsham, Maidstone and Canterbury - I will catch up on that soon. However, I wanted to mention something that happened this weekend. I've been spending a bit of time thinking "I wonder what was happening this time last year" - and thank god for my blog which is there to remind me exactly what was going on. I'd never recall it all. So, Dad has been on my mind a lot lately.
Yesterday the postman brought a marketing leaflet from the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall - I'm on their mailing list now. I like to look through as it's all about "What's On" and they have some pretty good stuff on there. This leaflet was for April - September 08.
Last time my Dad was able to go out (socially) before he became ill and subsequently bed bound, was in late January when I took him to a concert at the Phil. It was the Wally Fields Jazz Orchestra playing Rhapsody in Blue and a selection of jazz classics from people like Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw - Dad loved jazz. Although it was a struggle for him, he made a huge effort and came with me. I'd bought the ticket for his birthday, which is in September and we'd had a long wait for the actual concert in January. I guess I should have known something pretty serious was wrong with Dad because he let me drive him there and back and he NEVER let anybody else drive him around! He couldn't walk far and so I dropped him at the door and then ran out to get the car when it finished and picked him up at the entrance, too. I also remember, and this may be on my blog, seeing Dad from a distance when I came back from the loo during the interval, and just thinking that something was wrong with him - he had that "look" about him, round the mouth.
Anyway, we had a good night. I drove home afterwards as I was up earlyish the next day to go to London to meet some friends.
So, back to yesterday. I opened the leaflet and noticed that the Wally Fields Jazz Orchestra was back on at the Phil. With exactly the same programme as last January. The date? 28th September. Dad's birthday.
http://www.liverpoolphil.com/eventdetail.aspx?Event_ID=1629
