Goodbye Potters Bar

A friend of ours was saying recently that she went to see Neil Sedaka live on stage in a little Hertfordshire town just north of London. He apparently walked on with the immortal greeting "Hello Potters Bar!" which was either a brilliant self parody or something tragic beyond words. His latest album is called “I Do It For Applause” which is good because I'd hate to think of him doing gigs like this for the money.


So I went to Potters Bar today, hopefully for the last time in a long time; Dylan had his stitches out, the whole thing went smoothly, he flirted with the vets and they said he was looking in fine shape and had put on a healthy amount of weight. 


Whilst waiting I went for lunch in the Oakmere Dining Rooms where a lovely Eastern European waitress served me a passable omelette (although the mushrooms were out of a tin) and acceptable chips. I settled on the Oakmere as it looked like it could not screw up, unlike some of the establishments in the high street which looked dodgy in the extreme. For the record, this part of the world voted by more than the national average in favour of Brexit so I will be interested to see where they plan to get their waitresses from in future.


Dylan has twenty four more hours of wearing the buster collar then he will be released from that indignity but still kept under house arrest. If I have my way the garden will be cat proofed and his outdoor existence will shrink to something smaller than he is used to but safer than the big bad world that nearly killed him. Call it cat brexit if you like. 

Postscript - TSM said it wasn't Neil Sedaka but a Neil Sedaka tribute. I think that makes it worse. Or I would if I was Neil Sedaka. Perhaps I'll post something on his website ...


*****


I am continuing to struggle on the personal front. But I think the issue is on one level very simple and no different to a ship. Overloaded, I start to sink. Stress is like shipping water; you feel yourself getting lower and colder and start to panic. The type of load doesn't matter that much, its more the total weight. I felt a huge sense of relief when Dylan was given a clean bill of health. The load was lightened...