Time out with Tonsillitis!

Being sick with tonsillitis has not been much fun - but it has given me an insight as to how my mind works when I'm not functioning on all cylinders. Large ammounts of time in bed do not equate with the reading of great literature (though Garrison Keillor's new Lake Wobegon book is a delight, and I have read a little of Clodovis Boff's difficult text 'Theology and Praxis') - mostly I have chosen to watch the complete series 9 of the X-files. What a disappointment - and I have been saving it up for 6 years to see the conclusion!

I also managed to watch 'Manhattan' and 'Small Time Crooks' for the first time. I used to like Woody Allen films, especially the early funny ones. Now I look on his work with despair. Occasionally funny one liners do not make up for the selfishness and smugness of these pieces, nor their warped morality. Yet Allen played a big part in my growing up - 'Hannah and her sisters' was a genuinely life changing film for a whole number of reasons. 'Banana's' remains a deeply funny and subversive movie - dated as it is.

Radio 4 remains my greatest comfort in sickly days - worth the license fee in itself. Listening to 'Loose Ends' I caught the striking live performance of 'Bust' by Dan Michaelson and the Coastguards. Check it out (especially if you like Leonard Cohen)

But on this mothers day, I realise that I can only cope with illness, and it has been horrible, with the help of Cat - wife and mother to our beautiful children. She has given me the space to begin to recover, whilst having to work her socks off with Clara and Angela. My hope and prayer is that when you reach my age, a certain age, that you too will have someone so dear to rely on.