Seasons Greetings

The writing and sending of birthday and Christmas cards is still part of the English tradition and more so than in Germany. I do not know if this will end because of teenagers staring into smart phones all day. UK reports are not good. Schoolchildren in Brexitland are now way down the international list for reading, writing, maths etc Perhaps they will be top in looking at smart phones for 16 hours per day. Let's wait and see.

I really enjoy selecting cards and writing messages and comments for recipients on birthdays and at Christmas. I equally enjoy receiving cards. This Christmas I got just over thirty. A real pleasure to open, read and then display. I particularly like getting cards with photos and/or news of families with children. You can read about progress in school, music, sports and if photos are attached you can see how they are growing.

All of this happened yesterday as I emerged into the 25th December. In the afternoon I took a tram then a U-Bahn then a Regional Bahn and emerged in Bernau. It is a town north of Berlin and I used to work there. I have happy memories of that time. I arrived to find a two hour wait for a bus and no taxi outside the station.

I set off to walk to the specialist heart hospital in the town before noticing a taxi had arrived. I ran back to the station and jumped into the taxi. Five minutes later I was in the hospital and taking the lift to a ward to visit Oldie H. Yes, another stay in hospital and another heart attack. It had happened six days before.

I was pleased to see him looking better than I expected.We talked about many things including his health and future plans.. On the return journey knew I had made the right decision to visit the hospital. There I saw how staff looked after patients in the best tradition of care which you can argue is also part of the Christmas message. An unusual Christmas Day for me. Seeing the cards again made me feel better when I returned home. Thanks to all who sent them and your messages :-))