Time and circumstance

Regular readers may have noticed the distinct lack of posts for October. Some may even echo the words of singing underwear magnet Tom Jones and say “That’s not unusual”, but, in fact, the month of October and the start of November were a complete write off regarding painting and modelling. My excuse, and it is rather a good one, is that after a relatively minor and routine operation my Dad experienced complications; he endured further major operations and week long stay in Intensive Care, spent longer in a Surgical High Dependency Unit and finally onto a normal ward. He’s currently enjoying being waited on hand and foot at home. One senior consultant even described him as a “tough old bird” which, although not a medical term, does now seem remarkably appropriate. It got to a point when watching the TV drama show ‘Casualty’ I recognised, and even understood, several of the medical acronyms being used (It's surprising how quickly you can annoy your family by repeatedly saying, “Yes, I concur with that doctor's diagnosis”).

What's this got to do with with blog? Well, not much really but oddly enough, whenever I could grab a few minutes (literally) to paint I have found it quite therapeutic. Without wishing to sound too flippant, painting has actually enabled me to ‘switch off’ from worrying about more serious issues, if even for only a short while. Perhaps I should write 'Zen and the art of paint brush maintenance`?

Although I doubt if little toy soldiers will ever be available on prescription from the NHS (which is a great pity) I honestly think it has helped keep me relatively sane over the past weeks.

Normal service will, hopefully, resume shortly. This includes the completion of an interesting project I was working on for someone before being rudely interrupted by ‘time and circumstance’ and which I hope to detail sometime in the future on this blog site.