J1 fails to get his green beret January 08

I am afraid that I cast a jinx on J1’s acquisition of his green beret by mentioning it in my Christmas letter. Disaster befell him. On his first day of the commando course he cut his leg which went septic and he tried to continue until he was in agony. The result was that on the Tuesday I had a phone call saying he was in the Exeter and Devon hospital on intravenous antibiotics and delirious. He stayed in over a week and then had another few days at the base hospital. He was absolutely gutted. All this effort and training with this group of blokes he thought were the bees knees and in the end they were to go on to get their lids without him. It was a nightmare trailing 3.5 hours each way. A* took 2 days off and went down by train. At the week-end FP and I just went and stayed in Torquay. I find it difficult and depressing to stand by my kids sometimes and have to say that all the effort in the world sometimes does not bring you the results you may deserve. He finally got home in a weakened state just before Christmas.

Even then we still had to take him to the Luton hospital as his infection was not cleared by the time his antibiotics were running out, but he seems to be well now and went back to London last night. Eventually his disappointment was put into perspective by a number of events. Another bloke in their 8 person unit got the same infection as him during the training so did not pass either. He had a brother in the team who did. Two more of them ended up in hospital after the training with a similar infection. Then another young guy from the unit who J1 had been talking to at the base hospital went out for a Christmas party, drank too much and choked to death on his own vomit. J1 was so shocked. I remember reading somewhere over the Christmas period that in the depths of any crisis you should ask yourself – will this matter in a year’s time? I suspect for J1 it will not matter in a year’s time.

Plan B and the good news is he will not be going off to war in June. He will not go on the next commando course as it starts in April when he is focusing on his finals. As he has to start all over again with a new group he will probably go straight on to a full time officer course in September. He will also get paid for this starting at about £24k which is almost double what he would have got as a regular. I think he is just thinking over a 4 year commitment at the moment.

J2 is fine. He went out on New Year’s Eve with his new Dunstable mates to a pub in Studham where they had a casino night. Out of over 150 people at the event he ended up having the most chips at the end of the night (from roulette) and won the only prize of £100. Not something I would wish to encourage although no doubt his achievement got him well and truly noticed, but he is spending it quite wisely including paying back FH some more of the money he lent him to go to Newquay last year. FH is not letting him off the money! Incidently, FH’s partner Gill’s 11 year old son has come over from Israel permanently to live with them in Wales, but J2 still has his ‘special’ room there.

A*has fallen in love with a 30 year old failed wine businessman who is now doing the same job as her at work who she admits is an FH look-a-like. I am a bit concerned about her sleeping with someone she works in very close proximity to, but she is happy and it could be the love of her life.

Both FP and I had the whole of the Christmas period off, but were spectacularly unambitious about what we did. We had planned to spend a few days away between Christmas and New Year, but had spent that money visiting J1! I spent a lot of time at the horse, cleaning the house and clearing up after catering for between 5-8 at every meal, but it was actually quite nice just to chill. A great chunk of the plaster ceiling fell down in the hallway following a bathroom leak about 6-7 years ago so it’s probably lucky that I am planning some substantial hall/bathroom refurbishment this year. The boys paid for FP to see Crystal Palace so we went there to the game on New Year’s Day. They don’t chant as loudly as Millwall!