IN BRIEF

Tuesday 5th August

Jewellery Workshop at Marston's Brewery 1-2pm. Great bunch of people, but I didn't make a good impression arriving late/very 'on time' ( a main road in Burton was closed and I got completely lost!) Even managed to get lost on the way home!

Wednesday 6th August

Robert still working hard on his freelance work, but I persuaded him to come with me to visit John in Belper - someone Graham used to work with. John left work to follow his dream in Photography and now lectures in it at Derby University while also working towards a PhD. He lives in an old converted factory which once housed rows of knitting machines. It a wonderful space with kitchen and dining room/work space downstairs and living room, bedroom and bathroom upstairs. Robert fell in love with it straight away, probably because John is a very tidy person! After a quick tour round the house, we went out to lunch (everywhere is within walking distance) and then back to see the photos he's been printing for his exhibition. The exhibition will be at Derby Museum and Art Gallery 6th September - 26th October and he'll be giving a talk on Thursday 16th October.

Thursday 7th August

Another outing, this time to visit our 'old' neighbour in Borrowash. We haven't seen Judith since her cochlear implant in April and were excited to see how she is getting on. As Robert's final year project was for a device to help deaf people, he sought her advice when designing it. The first thing she did was show us how big the implant is. You can easily feel it under her hair, passing up past the ear extending to about 5 inches in length. The outside part clips onto her ear like an ordinary hearing aid but then is attached to the implant by means of a small flat round magnet. It still very early days - each time she goes back to the hospital they adjust the sounds she hears. At the moment background noises seem far louder than speech and she still can't differentiate between male and female voices. It takes the brain a while to understand what it is hearing.

After a cup of tea and a good chat we left to meet Lucy in town and go shopping

Friday 8th August Robert's Birthday

Much has been made of the 8th of August this year, as it is deemed a very luck day 08.08.08. The Chinese have chosen this lucky day to be the start of their Olympics. Robert unfortunately still spent the majority of the day at his computer, hard at work. Graham came home from work at lunch time and we adjourned to The Spotted Cow at Holbrook. The quality of the meat there is just 'out of this world' and worth every penny. Then back home for more work. Around 6.00pm we set off to Milford to start a lovely walk to Belper along North Lane or 'The Chevin Way'. The wind had died down a bit and it stayed mild for the duration. We went up past a field of deer, along the top of a hill adjacent to a golf course and then followed a gentle slop down to near the East Mill and back along the road. After picking up the car we headed back into Belper for fish and chips a lovely end to a very reasonable day