darlings

you know it’s been Nearly Two Years Ago since you-know-what-happened

we took this picture as we walked very slowly out of the hospital room with BF helping us into his car – because we sort of wanted to remember what had just happened.

it’s Odd (many things are but this is odd in particular) – that we never named our thyroid.

we named the three tumo(u)rs: Tobias and his Sisters in case you’ve just joined us.

and we fretted about them a lot because they were said to have C powers (you can guess what that is) which is why we had to have an operation (and also because Tobias – the larger one – was pushing up against our main artery and if he had pushed a bit further – well – our head would have exploded – that’s a bit Dramatic – but apparently not far from the Truth).

in the end Tobias and his sisters didn’t have C powers.

which means that every time we tell the story (and we tell it less and less these days but we Assume we’ll be saying it more and more round about the time This comes Out and we talk to Lady Reporters and Gentlemen of the Fourth Estate – and we don’t mean that misguided one just outside Milton Keynes) and we get to the bit where we didn’t have C powers the face of the one listening sort of changes.

it’s imperceptible at first, but it’s the same face after a while so we got used to it – it goes from sad-loving-big-eye-look to slightly glazed over and they always follow it with a crisp, “But you’re allrightnow, yes?”

and as the conversation is clearly Over and we really ought to get back to discussing the weather/books/technology (depending on the country/virtual or otherwise they come from – we can happily do all three) we don’t get to say what we’d like (obviously we’re saying it Here so bless you for reading thus far):

how well do You think you’d function without Your thyroid and para-thyroid glands?

it’s sort of Rhetorical.

because until one Has (and know just a few people who Do) – it’s impossible to describe.

so we’re not even going to try.

at best, one feels a Tiny bit Cyborg (which we like) – having an essential organ replaced with (in our case chopped up bits from an animal’s organ) a daily pill that marches around our body and checks that the pituitary gland, hormones, metabolism and general-emotional-state is ticking over (sometimes it does the job Well – other times we’re reduced to the boudoir to wait for the endocrine storm to pass.)

books are Very helpful while waiting for the storm to settle in our body. 

especially when they are Very Deep in Thought themselves.

and then there’s the permanent scar.

which has definitely lessened over Time from caught-in-a-serrated-knife-fight-in-moscow to a “oh, i can barely see it!” (this is our Least favo(u)rite response btw, as the young people say) – we like what Tina said:

“Oh, I rather Like It”

so the other day, who-we-are-in-RL, was doing an Interview (she was the member of the Fourth Estate on this occasion) and instead of being allowed to call the Interview Subjects on the Princess Phone (much preferred – then one can wear a robe and no mascara and sort of look into space a lot while thinking), she was told she had to do it using Google Hangouts (this happens to be a Deeply Interesting Technology Piece which we will share with you in October when it comes out – as long as you can read Spanish, for it shall be Translated thus).

we like to be helpful.

so we re-arranged the furniture so we had a good Background for the “Google Hangout” video call and tried to Imagine that we were playing the part of Floyd in 2001: a space odyssey  placing his “video call”

and then people from all over the world (well, four people, two countries, three cities which is still Deeply impressive) logged in and who-we-are-in-RL started Asking the Interesting Questions while we arranged the pencils and made sure anything not Serious was kept Out of Shot.

while she was Doing the Interview, we took a screengrab from the Google Hangout to check that the background of pictures/articles-in-frames and inspirations looked nice.

which it did.

we think she looked rather sweet-serious actually (we suggested the blue shirt – it was sort of Androgynous and Tech-savvy with the glasses).

but it was only after that we looked at the dark shadow on the neck and thought, “Oh, right, the Scar.”

but all that’s behind us now (or at least left on a petri-dish-in-some-lab).

we must get ready and apply the mascara.

for we have been Invited To Tea over at George’s rooms (that’s what they used to say in Brideshead and George has as many books as Rooms in an Oxford College so feels appropriate somehow, plus he has a lovely set of Spode)

it might seem strange to bring books to someone who has Lots but those are Exactly the sort of people who appreciate them.

here’s what We are reading now.

and if we get a chance tomorrow, we’ll tell you about Quintessence, the Fifth Element (not to be confused with that lovely Sci-Fi movie starring Mr. Willis).

so.

two. years. on.

and (you know) still here (but bits of us are still missing).