This is a real cool story. For days now I have been teasing Christo that, once he is up and running I am going to challenge him to a chess game. 5 days ago he was diagnosed as having such severe Apraxia (inability to translate ideas to actions, initiate co-ordinated motor actions and plan a sequence of motor responses) and Aphasia (unable to properly process sensory input
). So, I naturally thought that the great chess challenge was still well in future dreamland. I told him that I was going to practice against myself in the meantime and to illustrate the point, I hauled out his chess table and introduced myself to myself by swapping sides. He looked at me, looked at the board and then arranged the King and Queen correctly, as I had reversed them (give me a break - it has been a while!) Then he pinted to me and to the board. SO I moved Kings pawn 2 to KP4...and the game was on!
). So, I naturally thought that the great chess challenge was still well in future dreamland. I told him that I was going to practice against myself in the meantime and to illustrate the point, I hauled out his chess table and introduced myself to myself by swapping sides. He looked at me, looked at the board and then arranged the King and Queen correctly, as I had reversed them (give me a break - it has been a while!) Then he pinted to me and to the board. SO I moved Kings pawn 2 to KP4...and the game was on!That was 2 days ago. Today I bought him a glass chess set and in a blink we had renewed the challenge. Today, I was a lot closer to losing to him. If he had not slipped up with a vulnerable queen, I would have been the one biting the chess dust. But spotting the gap, I carefully closed in on his cornered king and with the humility of a man who has played a thousand or more chess game years, Christo conceded defeat. I am pushing for daily games because I know that it cannot be long before I lose my temporary advantage.
The latest image is at the top....Today Christo took the tiring 270km journey from Eugen Marais hospital to his home in Polokwane....tiring but it surely makes me recall the words of Neil Sack, who, with but a few months to live had the following to say - "Never has music sounded so sweet nor colours been so vivid. I have further come to the conclusion that my problem is people, not cancer, as I only experience discomfort when in the company of people I do not like."
Isn't nature wonderful! A 5 legged stick insect is insisting on climbing all over me attracted no doubt by the brilliance of my Laptop screen, here in the middle of the African night. What happened to its 6th leg, dog only knows but it had certainly recovered. And recovery is a hopeful but slow process for one Christo Jooste, my bru-in-law traditionale. If you want the whole storie check out my udder blog - http://musemed.blogspot.com/
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