John Wetton R.I.P.

Other shock death - John Wetton aged only 67.  I know his work best from the 1972-1974 incarnation of King Crimson, perhaps my all-time favourite rock band.  I can still remember the shock of hearing the Lark's Tongue in Aspic album for the first time back around 1980.

I know virtually nothing about his post-King-Crimson work, but what I have is enough.  The three big Crimson box sets from the last few years have been a great reminder of just how much I love that band.

And I am currently 53.  I would like to live to be 95, so I'd have 40 years left, but what if I only reached 67 - 14 more years is nowhere near enough.

Jill Orme Comment

Back in 2012 I wrote a blog entry about the angler Jill Orme,  I had found a number of old fishing magazines and had been reminded of her as a result.  Of course some aspect of this was because Jill was totally gorgeous and I would guess there were many fisherman who thought it would be really nice to have a keen angler for a wife.

Much to my surprise, I received a comment from Jill on the blog.  I don't look at the comments very often, so the comment was actually posted some while ago.

And very sad it is too.

JONATHON WHO?
JILLY ORME HERE!,STILL ALIVE AND FISHING A BIT!WHEN MY BELOVED ANDY CALLED IT A DAY,I COULDN'T RUN SEER RODS ON MY OWN.
A FEW YEARS AGO I HAD SEVERAL BRAIN OPERATIONS,WHICH HAVE LEFT ME BADLY DISABLED.I CAN STILL GO FISHING THOUGH,EVEN IF I AM IN A WHEELCHAIR!NO BARBEL FISHING THOUGH!THE RIVER BANKS ARE A BIT AWKWARD FOR A WHEELCHAIR!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR VERY KIND WORDS.I THINK YOU WOULD HAVE A BIG SHOCK IF YOU SAW ME NOW!
LOVE FROM
JILLY ORME.

I met Jill once when I bought one of her and Andy Orme's Seer rods - their specialist rover rod which remains one of my favourites.  But her news is very sad and I can do nothing but wish her well for the future.

Problems of an aging Mother

We are just back from a week in the UK where we have been mainly staying with my mother.  Over the last year or so. she has become increasingly frail and we are increasingly worried about how she will manage going forward.

Like many older people, she is fiercely independent and doesn't want to pay any attention to the increasing problems that she has been having.  She continues to be unable to keep her kitchen clean and the house tidy, and we have done a full spring clean on this visit, in some cases doing the first deep clean that some places have had for possibly years.

Mum has a range of medical conditions, including pernicious anemia and a leaky heart valve that leave her short of breath after the lightest exertion.  Getting up and down stairs is increasingly difficult and we had hoped to persuade her to move her bedroom downstairs, but she doesn't want to at the moment.

I have been reading up on such issues at various age-related websites and have been talking a lot with her neighbours, Ian and Nicola, who have been through similar experiences with their own parents.

But overall, I have little idea how to proceed and my constant thinking about this is making little progress.

Addendum - March 2017

Since the above February trip, I have had two more trips back to the UK.  Firstly, I had to go back to sort out the damage done by the recent storm that brought down several trees in mum's garden.

But more seriously, we heard that mum had hurt her foot and following discussion with Iain, I returned to the UK to take her to hospital, where it was revealed that she had a small break.  At least this meant she has accepted that she should sleep downstairs at least until the ankle heals.

On a brighter note, we believe that her tests for colon cancer had turned out to be negative.

We are next back in late April and I am hoping there are no more issues that require immediate attention.

Maggie Roche R.I.P

Sad new - the recent death of Maggie Roche.  I heard about this when Katie Puchrik played Hammond Song on her show to commemorate her.

I first came across The Roches due to Robert Fripp's involvement - Terri Roche sang on Fripp's Exposure and Fripp produced the first Roche's CD.  I saw them play live in London in the early 1980s and have followed them to a degree ever since - not so much recently as I have lost track of what they have been releasing.  But I have enjoyed the odd live show recording over the last five years or so.

She died of cancer as so many do.  A great shame and a great talent

They are Terri and Maggie and Suzi, or Suzi and Terri and Maggie and they don't give out their phone numbers apparently.