Hello everybody
                   many thanks to those who have sent cards , messages of sympathy ,etc ,following my recent illness . I was taken ill at Wallingford Bunkfest , 24 hours after scratching my right leg on a bramble (blackberry ) bush. I was rushed off to the Royal Berks Hosptal in Reading , where I have been up until yesterday , suffering from severe cellulitis and kidney failure . Thankfully , if somewhat painfully ,I have been saved by 3 weeks of acute haemo-dialysis and massive intraveinous injections of fluxloxacillin , clindamycin , and linezolid .
            I am back home in Tewkesbury with Nicola now , thankfully ,although only able to walk with crutches and very weak after losing 30 pounds or so in weight. So , fellow "catters" --keep well away from those blackberry bushes ,especially the low-trailing ones !!!