17th September: Our wedding anniversary

Off to work first thing then on to see Simon at lunchtime. We swapped anniversary cards, they made me cry a little. Shared a coffee then Simon was whisked away by a therapist. Thankfully they allowed him a little rest in bed this afternoon. Shirley and I arrived this evening to find him still in bed and desperate to get up and ready for the party. It was dinner time for the other patients so we had to wait a while keeping him entertained unwrapping presents. We had a lovely silver photo frame from Shirley. Surrepticiously my family arrived and colonised the dayroom. Margaret had cooked up a storm, a beautiful buffet, replete with all the condiments. Thank you so much for all that hard work, Margaret. We took the liberty of bringing champagne and some beer. Simon shaved, put on his best shirt, and made his entrance ten minutes late... We had a lovely evening with the family, plus a couple of other patients who joined in happily. We were entertained by Raina, our two year old niece, she loves opening presents and was delighted to help Uncle Simon to unwrap his. Also to blow out the candles on his chocolate cake (twice). Simon tucked into his buffet with some gusto, even more so the champagne and beer. The nursing staff were very understanding about this but said that they would like to use the lifting machine to put him into bed this evening on account of him being so pissed! You can rely on Ozzies to be direct and honest.

Back to the presents, Simon got a portable DVD player, a new fleecy jacket, and a garden gnome painted by Raina in what might be described as 'Picasso Style' - it is priceless. I took a bunch of photos but find I am really not very good at this, so this was the best I could come up with: Gerry, Simon, and Jamie - 'three wise men'.

Love Marian xx