William Cutting

Dear Kathleen, Thank you for "Surfacing". (And also thank you Maureen Beattie) My wife and I are an old, long retired Scottish couple now living near our daughter on the edge of Oxford. My wife's family came from Ayrshire, and her first jobs were in in that county the year before we married in 1958. Now with her heart failing and slowly advancing dementia I am her carer. In an attempt to widen our "support team" we had invited another elderly couple to come for tea today. My wife, because of her desire for independence, had worked herself into a state at the thought of having visitors. In the end their car failed to start and so we had a quiet cup of tea and listened to the last episode of "Surfacing" on the BBC Sounds. Maureen's voice and your gentle stories of the peaceful Scottish countryside, family and good friends were a balm. Her laboured breathing, coughing, spluttering and stress were eased and settled as we heard of those people and places. It was just right for us. No medication or psychiatric counselling could have worked so well. Thank you again. William A.M. Cutting. P.S. I write a little myself, but not so beautifully as you do. If you were in the least interested you might check my "Face the Future" books.