The bluebells and crocuses are making a tentative appearance and so are the remaining daffodils which escaped the Siberian snowfall. The cherry blossoms are starting to brighten up the sleepy roads and one by one the trees are waking up. Strangely some oak trees are still hanging on to all their dead leaves giving the appearance of a mixture of autumn and spring in my neighbouring street. If the weather is confused, this weekend it is going to get more disorientated. The cold spell is making a comeback and snow is predicted. Will the crocuses, bluebells and cherry blossoms survive? What about the insects, the birds and the frogs?
I see a tree with a flattened top, it’s leafless branches curving out like tentacles of a giant spider. The feelers reaching out like thoughts from my head. I try to rein them in, sometimes I win, sometimes they escape me.
At work I bump into Rosie, as I call Rosalyn, one of the oldest malayalee nurses in theatres. I haven’t seen her for a while. In a big department it is easy to miss people, especially as I only work in this theatre complex once a week. She has lost a lot of weight. I ask if it is intentional. She tells me that she hasn’t been well for over a year and that she’s been going through a very rough patch. A devastating illness left her partially blind. Investigations revealed that there was no cure. Unable to carry out her theatre duties she was reassigned to a desktop job. Things got worse and she was about to be redeployed.
She couldn’t find a way out. She put her faith in God’s hands. An intense prayer and fasting session. She believed her God will show her a way. The day of redeployment came. She took the eye shield off. She realised she could see. She begged the ophthalmologist to run a test. They didn’t have space, but she was desperate. Her job was at stake. They obliged. A scar in the back of the eye looked as if she had been operated on. Her vision had been restored. No one knows how. Her health has slowly improved. There is still some weakness left but she can work. She puts it all down to her faith and belief.
The mind is indeed a powerful tool. Something we forget. Was this how Prof Hawking survived the odds when he was diagnosed with ALS and told that he would only live another two years, half a century ago.
