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I got keen on fly fishing some years earlier, we used to dash away to Taupo and stay in motels. I  used to niggle at Valerie to get up early so I could fish. She called my niggling 'GRURZLING'. 

I built the bus so we could park on the side of a lake and I could get up at 5am to fish leaving her safely sleeping in bed in a locked, dry, warm and cozy mobile motel. We named the bus "The Grurzle".

What more could a man do to show his love for his wife?

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Valerie did stitchcraft, Sudoka and crosswords.

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That  at times was magic. When we stopped at a new place and sorted ourselves out I would sit out there with a battery powered amplifier and start playing an arrangement of 'Moonlight in Vermont'. If you asked what I was doing I would explain that I was sending out mating calls for musicians! 

It invariably worked and other musos would appear, sometimes we had some great sessions!

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Not over here!

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Trying to get picture twisted the right way before adding text!

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Barbara,   I  had to look at the date of your stroke before comparing it with my progress. Yours was only this year so you have quite a way to go as far as recovery is required. I'm not sure whether I had the same problems, difficulty finding the correct word to say was a handicap only for a short time for me. Saying the wrong thing, I don't know, but I havn't got many friends left so perhaps I was guilty.

My biggest problem is actual speech. I work hard at improving it but even after two and a half years I am nowhere as lucid as I would like to be. I can make myself understood to a sympathetic listener and that is excellent, but if I am tired or under pressure I am in trouble! I dare not get into arguments and when in a crowd even good conversation is very unsatisfactory.

Since I am a person who likes to talk and argue this is a condition I am not happy with.

What part of the UK are you from?

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Aha, Yes. Playing out with the local "Sunset Coast Big Band" of Waiuku, NZ.

I get about half an hour's practice daily on the guitar and sometimes the fingers move quite well. I'm not ready to play out yet, the endeavour of packing guitar, amp and other things into and out of the car would be just too much. Another six months and things could be quite different.

The same goes for the keyboard. I work at the local museum once a week and I have a little bash on an old upright piano there to earn my cup of tea. It is hard work but good for the fingers.

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Don't say it's the sort of thing you would do?

Am going to do a better photo of it today. Can't understand why I didn't snap it when I first saw it in situ!

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Brilliant. What a tremendous recovery story.

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trying to contact you on the forum.

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Watch out, these UFOs can be lurking in strange places!