The Hunt Is On
22 September

Life seems to be settling into a measurable pattern.

Linda and Ian sent me this photograph of them attending the Paralympics in London. Another photo to treasure in years to come.

As for me, every Saturday, I travel over to the Wirral and meet up with mum. We go to the Care Home to see dad. We go for a meal together. Mum pays. She won't have it any other way. "Your dad would want you to have the support at this time." We both grieve inwardly but keep up each other's spirits with brave talk.

Meanwhile, Ross continues to experience ongoing and sometimes excruciating pain in an area somewhere to the front of his left kidney. There's not a lot of agreement as to what is actually going on. I recently took him to Aintree Hospital for immediate attention to a possible blocked liver or bile duct. Feels like just one thing after another at the moment. There was a day of blood tests, X-rays and examinations. The result was a determination that there is no immediate problem with Ross's liver. There's probably something going on with an acidic stomach and high intestine which medication should sort out. There was a lot of waiting around so I was glad that I took a book.

I sign on every fortnight and justify my JobSeekers Allowance by producing a typed list of all of the websites, agencies, newspapers and journals that I have scoured for employment. My Personal Advisor is impressed by this. The list helps him and the fact that I'm doing positive things must be a boost to his statistics.

In the meantime, I am actually actively seeking employment and I'm starting to spot a few jobs that I can apply for. The TES and Guardian websites seem the best bets alongside the various local authorities. Local authorities all have there own, different forms they want filling out. The information they require is the same; it is simply arranged differently and involves different levels of detail. What I've done is to download a sample from each and pre-primed them with the basic information so that they can be amended as jobs come up.

Currently, I've got half a dozen or so applications out there and I've been to visit a couple of schools in the Liverpool area.

And, glory be, I've also just accomplished my first day of paid work as a supply teacher at a Catholic Junior School in Liverpool. The Deputy Head seemed impressed that I'd stayed behind at the end of the day to make sure that I got all the marking done. Hopefully, there will be more work to come from there.

I've been doing some yoga on a Thursday evening.

Ross and I went to see the National Theatre presentation of Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time at FACT. We had both enjoyed the book enormously and were dubious about its transfer to the stage but, in the event, it was a tremendous achievement.

Luke Treadaway led the cast and was excellent as Christopher as he tries to find out who killed Wellington and discovers that his mum isn't dead after all. Marianne Elliott's production was incredibly inventive and by using digital displays turned the whole environment into a visual toolbox to help explain the narrative and what it is like to have Asperger's Syndrome.

Mr Treadaway has also been appearing on the telebox in an adaptation of Ruth Rendell's 13 Steps Down. He's an attractive psychopath in that one and makes a good job of it too.

And one last piece of news...

Scot has retired. Not that we can afford his company and services at present but the memories linger on.

I feel quite sad at the thought of not meeting up with him again.