Simon gave his first public lecture since his stroke today. He spoke in front of around 40 speech pathology students at Flinders University on the subject of 'Living with Dysphasia'. You can see him pictured here with his speech pathologist, Kate Elliott, who has helped him to get this far. It was a wonderful speech, and the students gave him a sustained round of applause. Simon aims to write this up for a good journal. I am so proud of him.
There are quite long spaces between blogs now because our lives are so busy. Simon is about to graduate from the BIRCH programme at the end of November. Next he will start with the Springboard programme in the City, and we are looking forward to this next stage.
The powered wheelchair has gone back for some adaptations and to be covered in 'racing vinyl'. Then it will be his for keeps. It has been great for Simon to get around by himself. He can manage trips up to the village by himself, and is getting ready to go further afield. Jeremy, from the Royal Society for the Blind, is going to come back a couple of times to try out new routes, and maybe try access to various forms of public transport into the City.
We have opened talks with UniSA about return to work plans. They have moved Simon's School to Mawson Lakes (four hour round trip from McLaren Vale) so we need to have serious discussions about that. Simon will be in the City at least once per week for his Springboard programme, so I am hoping that UniSA can arrange office space for him at a convenient place in Adelaide.
Meanwhile, I have been working my socks off. So much marking I must be a markswoman by now. Only a few more weeks and I will be able to take a break; need one. I long to sit under a tree and read a good book from start to finish. I still read a lot, but in snatches. Most recently, I read 'The Winter of Frankie Machine" by Don Winslow (this was good), also Damian McDonald "Luck in the Greater West" which might have been less confusing had I known anything about the suburbs of Sydney. My favourite recently was Willy Vlautin "The Motel Life" of which the last two lines are "I hoped. Because hope, it's better than having nothing at all." For all you Hammers fans.....
There are snakes about in the Vale just now - waking up looking for a bite to eat. Skippy is on full alert. Luckily, there is quite a large population of frogs nearby (amphibians, you understand) and the snakes should get a good feed on those. There was a brown snake spotted in the garden of the house opposite us. By the time news of this reached us it was reputed to be 4 inches thick and eight feet long. A bit like those giant spiders that chase English tourists through the botanic park every year.....
Love Marian x
