Yesterday I turned 88, which is not that old for a lady, and it’s such a crying shame that I had to spend my birthday in a hospital bed. Two weeks ago they put me in hospital for observation. I’m not sure what bits of me they’re observing, but I hope to get home soon because they’ve probably seen enough of me.
I got given a transistor radio for my birthday, from a darling great-niece. She’s such a sweetie. I had told her that I had nothing to listen to in here, and so she gave me a transistor radio. It’s amazing: today’s technology, isn’t it? I’m feeling quite up-to-date!
Let me tell you what happened. The lady in the bed next to me has her own transistor radio, and she played it all week with her head phones on. And I asked her if she would like to pull the head phones out so I could listen to it too. But she said, no, it was her radio, and she got pleasure listening to it on her own.
Then, the other day she wasn’t listening to it, and I asked if I could borrow it while she dozed, and again she said no. I was disappointed because it was Sunday and I like to pray along with the hymns being sung. Especially now as I can’t get to church. And I’m partially blind.
So it is simply lovely to have my own transistor radio. It’s company for me in my lonely hospital bed. (I don’t have much family left alive you see. Just my great-niece. And the lady in the bed next to me, as you now know, is very unsociable.)
Well, let me tell you. This morning the lady in the bed next to me — the batteries in her transistor radio went flat. And she asked if she could borrow mine.
Naturally, I told her she could stick her batteries where the sun don’t shine.