Listeners' pictures of 5pm
I am intrigued with your "Window on the World" project, an interesting one and intriguing - especially to someone like myself, who has long been involved with oral history in various capacities, including making documentaries.
I am attaching a picture of my mother Ilse Meyer, taken at 5 p.m. yesterday (give or take a minute or two),on my mobile phone, about five weeks after she celebrated her 100th birthday! She is in the sitting room of the residential care home (Brown's Field House) to which she moved very recently, to be near me in Cambridge. The beautiful Christmas tree beside her is typical of the high standard of care given there, and the attention paid to making the surroundings attractive and pleasant.
Until August, my mother had been living alone in London, shopping and cooking for herself, etc. Then she collapsed with heart failure, and many people including me expected her to die. But the wonderful medical treatment she received in our local hospital, Addenbrooke's, restored her to relative health, with the results I've just mentioned.
The picture shows her still in her coat: we have just returned from attending the funeral in London of my mother's best friend Phyllis Hillel (the aunt, incidentally, of the BBC's Jenny Abramsky, who was there too). Phyllis was a mere 91. When my mother was ill, Phyllis phoned nearly every day to enquire about my mother's welfare. Then she herself was diagnosed with secondary cancer, and the boot was on the other foot, with my mother and me taking it in turns to phone her and then, as she got more and more ill, phoning her son, to enquire about her. It is extraordinary to many people that my mother has outlived Phyllis, rather than vice versa, and that the reversal happened so fast (in just a few weeks). My mother is a fighter - and a survivor!
In the picture she is sad about Phyllis's death, but also smiling - to please me, and because one smiles when being photographed, doesn't one?
My photographing my mother happens pretty often now. As she is living so near me, and I am (technically!) retired - though still working quite a lot as a freelance (journalist and academic) I go to see her at least every couple of days. I also take her out as much as her and my energy, and the weather, allow. I take pictures so as to have a record of this precious and, presumably, limited time.
I have been listening to PM for many years - although not consistently, as I am often working or doing other things when it is on. But it is a fine programme.
I do hope you will give your listeners full feedback as to the results of this "survey" of people's activities at 5 p.m. yesterday. It will be interesting to those who have taken part in it, and those who haven't alike.