Our nearby town has an annual night farmers’ market. The local farmers set up their wares in the square and the idea is you choose some meat from one (which the farmer barbecues), some wine from another or what ever you want, then you buy some bread or chips to go with it and sit at long trestle tables to eat it. The long suffering one bought some beef sausages and gave me a €5 note for the bread as I’m a bit like the Queen nowadays in that I do not carry money. We were right in front of the bread stand and when I gave him the change he noticed that instead of two €2 coins I had been given one and a 50c so he very politely pointed this out. The bread lady was decidedly frosty … no she was really rude and said it was impossible. Being very British we just let it go. We finished our meal with our neighbours and wandered off to watch the band who made up on volume and enthusiasm what they lacked in musical talent. However the bread incident unsettled us and we went home earlier than usual.
We didn’t really give it any more thought until a few days later two cars drew up outside our house – very rare events. The first was our log man for our winter wood order and the second a grim faced stranger accompanied by a lady from my gym club. He asked if he could come inside to speak to us in private. It turned out that he was the President of the town’s Comité des Fêtes. Very gravely in a lengthy speech he explained that the gym lady had witnessed and reported our treatment by Madame Misère and he had come to proffer the apologies of the town, the committee et al and to reimburse our €1.5. We were amazed but very touched.
On the Parkinson’s front I too was very sorry when I learned the circumstances of Robin Williams’ tragic death. This was even more so because shortly before the announcement I had been bemoaning the fact that it seemed to need a celebrity to ‘come out’ with Parkinson’s Disease to give it a higher profile in the quest raising funds for better treatments and a cure. I felt sad that this latest role has gone to Robin who seems to have given away all his sunshine to others. I felt like apologising to him. At least for the present press coverage about the disease has increased. However, the press seem to dwell on doom and gloom and a lot is hard to read for those suffering from it and their families and friends. It helps me to read something more positive so in amongst the misery I am glad to hear and share about two 80+ year olds who have had the disease 20 or so years – the first somewhere in the U.K. still maintains his immaculate allotment and the second, in Canada, is on a sponsored cycle ride. This article from Forbes news helped me a lot too: http://www.forbes.com/sites/dandiamond/2014/08/15/why-parkinsons-disease-is-so-scary-no-cause-no-cure-but-its-not-a-killer/
Parkinson's Disease and me 