It’s All A Bit Emosh!

It really is all a tad emotional here at Lanyon Manor (aka Maharanijit’s Prosecco Palace) this week.

We are a week away from the last week of my fundraising for Parkinson’s UK built around ‘Who Stole Grandma?’ and there have been sniffles, sobs and tears.

Tuesday 19th October is the rescheduled date for what we hope will be a cosy, intimate Book Celebration at the wonderful Bear Bookshop (https://bearbookshop.co.uk/) so, yesterday I was down at the shop with Jenny working on the programme and the organisation – there were moments of misty-eyedness as we discussed the chapters to be read, which only got worse when I jokingly suggested to Jenny that, if I choke while reading, she would have to take over.

At home, whenever there is an absence of people in the house, I take advantage by practicing my reading out loud, which is way, way harder than I remember from my teaching days. Recently, I was chatting with a friend who is a singer about the fact that there are lots of songs that I can’t sing without getting teary – she agreed and had a list of ‘can’t sing without gulping’ songs. It turns out that I’m a bit like that with reading my chosen excerpts of ‘Who Stole Grandma?’ too, so I’ve been trying to remember where the gulpy bits come, so that I’m ready for them.

Yesterday, Her Most Wonderfulness arrived home while I was in full-flow read-out-loud mode. I decided to ignore her and carry on. As I reached the last four words, I knew they were gulpy, but got through them, only to turn round to find HMW completely beetroot and crying . . . next Tuesday could be challenging, but I’m hoping that, if HMW is in charge of samosa distribution or raffle ticket selling, we can avoid setting each other off.

Other things are triggering our tear ducts: in one of the chapters that I chose months ago (The Malayans In The House) I reference my lovely cousin, who we lost last week, so every time I come to her name I have to breath, AND I talk about the Tunnock’s Tea Cake Game, which was taught to us by a dear, recently departed friend, whose family and friends are joining us. Just to add to the layers of lachrymosity, I’m buying the tea cakes from the corner shop just round from the nursing home, where I used to buy Moosh’s Saturday essentials (mainly biscuits and magazines) – I could just buy them from Aldi, but why not embrace the emotional deluge?

Lastly, there’s the music. The second chapter that I have chosen (The Birthday Breakout) ends with our eldest singing to his Grandma and I’d asked him to re-record the song that he wrote especially for her. Although he’s demurred about that particular song, he’s recording a cover of a family favourite, which made me decide to put together a playlist of Moosh songs to play while people browse (songs she loved, or which remind us of her). That too has taken us off into wistful reminisces, but it’s also brought giggles as we remember Moosh being highly entertained as she waved her diskinetic arms to Queen’s ‘Radio Ga Ga’.

In closing, I wanted to let you know that, along with our little Book Celebration, we will make ‘Who Stole Grandma?’ free to download as an ebook (from 8:00am on 19th to 8:00am on 24th October) in the hope that it might inspire a few more people to make a donation to Parkinson’s UK. So far we have raised a little over £3,250. I’m hoping to publicise this last fundraiser as widely as possible, so please bear with me, if you receive a message or a text asking you to help me to – I’ll stop soon.

People can download WSG for FREE from 8:00am BST on 19th October at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Who-Stole-Grandma-Memoir-Laughter/dp/191689240X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=who+stole+grandma&qid=1633861540&sr=8-1

They can donate to Parkinson’s UK, anytime, at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/wsg4puk

Find out more about WSG at https://marklanyonstoryteller.com/who-stole-grandma/

And you can find out more about the work done by Parkinson’s UK at https://www.parkinsons.org.uk/