Lucky me.

We had a nice first wedding anniversary although I peaked a bit too soon.

In the morning we went to 'The shop that never opens'. I'm being unfair although we did go there yesterday when it was supposed to be open and (of course) it was shut.

I wanted to get Robyn a piece of jewellery but the problem is that most of what we can afford looks like rubbish and the good stuff is just too expensive for us.

We went to my favourite jewellers; Moonstone in Teddington. It's about the size of a cupboard and you need to phone to make sure it's open before you go.

I used to go there when I was working and my job took me across the road. I bought a silver ring - she mainly sells ethnic jewellery from Mexico, India and Afghanistan. It's not too expensive, idiosyncratic and charming.

This time we were lucky and I got Robyn a pendant necklace made of Laboradite which is a kind of iridescent moonstone. When you hold it up to the light it's kind of pink and you can see through it. When the light is straight on it, it looks like a blue opal. We also got a little heart that Robyn liked.

Then we took a walk along the high street and, to my horror, Robyn bought a thing that cuts vegetables into spirals. Just what I didn't want and where are we going to put it?

We came home and Robyn had made up a box full of memories for me, when we were first together and I was well enough to do things, which made me rather sad.

She also gave me another present which cheered me up again but I'll do a Blog piece about that on its own.

In the evening we had a meal where we had our wedding reception last year and we took a photo in the same place where we had our picture taken last year.

By this time I was fading fast - the chair hurt my back and I started suffering. So it was very nice to have a little nose around the place but I needed to get back home.

We had lots of memories - of an amazing day last year as well as all the struggles in the year since.

I'm fighting hard right now. The pain I have is a real struggle but I am doing things I wasn't attempting a month ago, let alone six months ago.

I certainly know that I wouldn't have bothered with this fight at all if I didn't have Robyn's support. I'm like an old boxer, I can handle the pain if it's worth it. It's much harder for Robyn to watch what's happening to me.

So, as I've always said, I am the luckiest man alive.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com