CFZ PEOPLE: Noela Mackenzie

Noela, the oldest member of the CFZ is 88 today. Happy Birthday, dear.

NOELA IN HOSPITAL

Noela Mackenzie, the oldest member of the CFZ (aged 87), has fallen and fractured her hip, and part of her pelvis.

She is presently in the North Devon District Hospital but will be back in the old people's accomodation in Torrington in a day or two. Our thoughts and prayers are with her.

RICHARD AND GRAHAM VISIT NOELLA

Many of you who attended the Weird Weekend between 2001 and 2005 eill remember the oldest member of the CFZ, Noela mackenzie. She is now 87, and living in an old folks' home in Torrington.


She is remarkably spry and alert for her age, and last week Richard and Graham paid her a visit.

NEWS FROM THE OLDEST MEMBER OF THE CFZ

I haven't written about Noela Mackenzie for a while but at 87 and a bit, she is the oldest member of the CFZ and has been since she was a youngster of 69. In fact, she was one of the first members we had back in 1992.

As regular readers will know she was living in sheltered accommodation in Bideford (which turned out not to be that sheltered), but had a series of falls and accidents at the end of last year which necessitated a long period in hospital.

Whilst we were in America she sadly had to give up her flat and moved to a new old people's facility on the outskirts of Torrington. When we first visited her there I have to admit that my heart fell, because the building was huge and utilitarian, and set on the outskirts of an industrial estate, but - happily - I could not have been more wrong.

It seems to be a very nice place and the staff appear to be kind and attentive. We visited Noella on Tuesday, and she appears happy and content (if a little confused at times). I know that she is very dear to many CFZ folk who know her from various of the Exeter Weird Weekends, and so we will keep you all updated on her progress here on the bloggo....

BAD NEWS

Noela, God bless her, had another fall last night and has broken her hip for real this time. On the last occasion she merely chipped it, and was in hospital for five weeks. She is going into surgery this morning, and I will keep you abreast of the news, although the prognosis doesn't look particularly good.

She is 87 and very frail. This is a big blow.

As always, your thoughts and prayers to whichever deity you follow would be gratefully appreciated. She, by the way, is C of E but also a devotee of the Maharishi....

EVEN MORE ADVENTURES OF THE ANARCHIST SOCIAL WORKERS

Well, the anarchist social workers are back in business. Noela Mackenzie, the oldest member of the CFZ, has been in hospital for a month after falling and breaking her hip in mid-November.

It wasn't a very big break, and all seems fine now. Indeed, she is tootling along on her zimmer frame at a rate of knots, far more confidently than even before she broke her hip, so that is one good thing.

However, after a week or so of negotiations, she was discharged from hospital yesterday. But does an 87-year-old lady with an impressive battery of health problems - both mental and physical - warrant one of the worthies from the Hospital Car Service to take her home?

Apparently not. We crammed the dear old thing into the back of the CFZmobile where she sat next to the Lady of the Manor with a catering-size box of sweet chilli crisps on her knee.

Noela took it all in her stride and seemed to enjoy herself mightily, and was soon back at her flat with her beloved pussy-cat, Misty.

I, however, gave fuel for future generations of stand-up comedians who might look at this blog in search of material.

What do you call a man with a zimmer frame on his head?

We had done the last of the Christmas shopping that morning, and we only have a very small car, and the only place we could put the zimmer frame was on top of me.

Never mind.

Anarchy, Peace and Goodwill to all men....

GETTING THERE

We are slowly getting back to normal. What BT didn't deign to tell us is that half the villgage had their telephones out of order after the thunderstorm last week and it wasn't just us. We only found this out when we went to the Farmers Arms yesterday at the invitation of Allan and Jennie to meet a pair of ghost hunters from Cornwall who came up to have a gander at the poltergeist (if you can have a gander at a poltergeist).

They then came down to our house and spent a jolly afternoon swapping exploits. One particularly interesting encounter of the lycanthropic kind is featured in this month's On the Track. Speaking of On the Track: where is it? I can hear all you assembled throngs screaming impatiently.

I know that it is four days late. I am about a third of the way through it, and hope to finish it today or tomorrow. However, in addition to the computer, telephone and health problems about which you are all only too aware because I keep on banging on about them in a tedious fashion, large parts of each day are spent visiting Marjorie Braund and Noela Mackenzie. The two old ladies (one at home and one in hospital) are both very dear to me, and are far more important than anything else that is around at the moment. Marjorie is as comfortable as can be expected, but there is a lot of ancilliary work (laundry, admin, arguing with social workers, feeding her cat) that has to be done for Noela, so perforce other stuff has had to be put on the back burner.

CFZ PEOPLE: Noela Mackenzie and Marjorie Braund

Much of this week has been taken up with visiting and caring for these two dear ladies, who are very dear to me, and much loved members of the CFZ family.

Mrs Braund is as well as can be expected. She seems to enjoy our daily visits. Yesterday we took Shosh and Gavin with us, and although she was convinced that Shosh's mother was my ex-wife, she was pleased to hear about Shosh's adventures as a newly qualified vet.

Noela was moved to Bideford Hospital yesterday. We shall be going in to visit her later.

Both ladies look so fragile and vulnerable, like baby birds in the nest, that one's heart aches not to be able to do more for them. The picture, by the way, is of Noela at my 45th birthday party at a long defunct Russian restaurant in Exeter. She distinguished herself by eating an enormous meal and drinking prodigous amounts of vodka, which would not have shamed a burly man half her age. She was, by the way, 82 at the time....