Realizing that it's a week since the last post, I've resolved to spend a few minutes catching up on odds and ends. First, the weather: not only because it provides such a dramatic contrast to Sheffield: until about 1am this morning, it had been another beautiful week, with clear skies and warm temperatures (up to 16 degrees down the hill). The following pictures were taken on the road from the cable car to home, and at Kobe College in Nishinomiya (where we'll both be teaching fulltime for a year from next Spring).Sheffield offers a slightly different view, I understand: I'm grateful to Sue Vice for sending me the picture below of the Botanical Gardens. If you happen to be stuck in the snow, take comfort from the fact that this is just a seasonal aberration for you: no doubt after a week or so, it will be back to 6 degrees with blustery winds and extended showers in time for Christmas (which is, curiously enough, how it is here today: looking out on the mountain, I can barely see the houses 50 metres away, let alone into town). The other consolation is that quite soon, we'll be up to our knees in snow here: though I'm looking forward to the mini ski-slope 10 minutes away on the bus, the prospect of trying to dig out the car, and attach snow-chains at 7:30am, to get Julian to nursery, does not inspire enthusiasm.
To other matters, on Monday (I think it was) we drove to unlovely Amagasaki, between Kobe and Osaka, to see another specialist about Justin. Hospitals and doctor's visits are rarely uplifting experiences—there was nothing wrong with the hospital, or with the specialist: she seemed to be a very experienced and caring woman, who will set up a course of meetings and possible therapies for Justin in the coming months—but it's hard not to feel discouraged everytime we look to the future, and prognosis always seems more consuming of energy and hope than diagnosis. Also, she did confirm the DNA diagnosis of Down Syndrome, which finally laid to rest any residual hope we might have had about Justin's condition. This only confirms my growing conviction that (other than precautionary) thinking about the future is a recipe for misery. What's important is that he's well now, and growing well. The fact that he hasn't smiled no doubt makes things harder, but he's hardly atypical in this respect either: probably most typical babies aren't so hot at smiling in week 4.
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