Extreme Knitting Redhead: Frantic Friday (19th April)

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Frantic Friday (19th April) - part 2

So off we went to the London marathon exhibition at the ExCel centre in Docklands. The weather was fine and it was a nice walk to the tube station at St James's Park.

On the way we snapped things that caught our eye:

This striking statue of Henry Purcell, the 17th century composer of so much wonderful music, was on the edge of Christchurch Gardens. I thought the face looked very feminine and I wasn't sure why he had flowers on his head so on closer examination I found that the statue is entitled The Flowering of the English Baroque and that it was created by the sculptor Glynn Williams on the tercentenary of Purcell's death in 1995. It's in the form of the 'green man' carving found in churches and the flowers intertwined with cubist representations of instruments represent the ideas flowing out of his head. Aha, now it makes sense!

Statue dedicated to Henry Purcell

This wonderful old pub is The Albert which is described as the most photographed pub in London, probably because of it's position between the 2 glass monoliths.

A few stops on the tube and we reached Tower Gateway where we caught the Docklands Light Railway to the ExCeL centre. Thankfully it wasn't too busy so we literally picked up my running number and chip, dashed through the exhibition (with no time to browse the stands), pick up my goody bag at the exit and then grab a bite to eat.

Entrance to the ExCeL centre

Massive cranes designed to become a feature when the building was completed.

I have to mention Mike at this stage because he was simply the best supporter in the world. He organised everything on the day for me so I didn't need to worry about timings/trains etc, he calmed my nerves when the need arose and he hung around waiting patiently whilst I did interviews and took loads of photos. Thanks love, you're a star!

My support crew having a bite to eat!

On the way back we were right at the front of the train and I took this photo because it felt rather surreal to be at the front but with no driver.

Where's the driver then?

On the way to Tower Bridge I had a couple of phonecalls requesting interviews, one of which, for the Independent newspaper, I did on the concourse at Tower Gateway - how glamourous.

The wonderful Tower Bridge

The hotel where the photo-shoot for Virgin London Marathon and the Guinness World Records press conference is held in a hotel right by Tower Bridge which is such an amazing structure. I have a fondness for it as I used to work quite nearby when I worked in London many years ago.

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Mum's Story

In 1997 my mother, then aged 81, had a series of minor strokes. Shortly after that we started to notice behavioural changes notably memory loss and confusion over everyday items. We thought it was just old age finally catching up with her. Then she started wandering and had violent mood swings. Although she already lived with us it became obvious that she couldn't be left alone for long and so I left my job to care for her. The next few years saw a gradual decline into the blackness that is 'vascular dementia'. My normally placid mum became violent and aggressive. She had psychotic incidents where she would see imaginary people (children hiding in her wardrobe, Russians sitting on the stairs, women stealing her clothes) and she would shout at them and sometimes throw things too. She was so convincing that we used to go and check that there wasn't anyone there! When my sister died mum did not know who Judy was or that she was her daughter. There came a point when I suddenly realised she no longer knew that I was her daughter and this was a terrible time for me. In the last 2 years that she lived with us, life for us all became almost unbearable as she needed 24 hour care - she couldn't be left alone at all because she would either wander off or hurt herself, she never slept for more than 30 minutes at a time during the night, she became incontinent and incapable of doing anything for herself. Finally my husband and I realised that we could no longer provide her with the care that she needed and she went to live in a special care home where the team did a splendid job caring for her in the last few months of her life. There she lived a zombified existence unaware of who she was, what she was or where she was. It was heartbreaking. She died in March 2005, the day after her 89th birthday.

Thank you for taking the time to read mum's story and I hope you'll dig deep and sponsor me using the link below to help find a way of beating this destructive disease.