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| SAS Memorial Hereford Cathedral |
This had totally pushed down the news of President Putin expelling 755 US diplomatic staff, to leave by 1st September. This would bring US diplomatic staff levels down to 455, the same number as Russian staff in the US.
Today's UK news commemorates the tragedy of Paschendaele, which started 100 years ago and led to the death of almost half a million soldiers on both sides of the first world war within a few short weeks.
I find visiting someone with light age-related dementia for a couple of days very difficult. The reality of loss of short term memory manifests itself in different layers.
The most obvious is that current reality is within a minute or so, then there is a big memory gap until the longer term past, often decades ago. You can watch a comedy show, because the jokes are immediate. A film or 'Midsummer Murders' are incomprehensible, because you cannot remember who people are or follow the plot line. Immediate conversations are circular because you are not sure what has just happened or been agreed or what you wanted to do next.
Older, long term memories bubble up and cycle through, interspersing current conversation. To cope, life is a continuous spoken commentary on the stream of consciousness; as a reminder, reassurance, reaction to and questioning of a confusing reality.
It doesn't work completely, and there is a realisation that something is not quite right but not knowing what. A worry that is continuously forgotten and immediately resurfaces, freshly formed.
But good times can still be had as a family with outings or meals out, as we did yesterday on a visit to the Cathedral (and its cafe).
For me, the highlight in visiting Hereford Cathedral, was seeing the completed SAS Memorial, a beautiful, modern stained glass work of art - to find out more, visit http://www.sasmemorial.co.uk/.
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