Joy at Spanish exam success for Glyn tempered by hilltop tumble
Good news and bad news from Birmingham businessman Glyn Pitchford.
He’s finally passed his Spanish exam.
Hurrah!
You may recall me telling you that he was doing a course at Aston University and the grand-dad of a class with lots of 19/20/21 year olds in it.
And you may also recall that somehow he persuaded the NHS to give him a free hearing aid to help him pass.
Actually, considering his years, there’s nothing wrong with his hearing. But his argument was that it still left him disadvantaged in comparison with the sharpness of all the ‘kids’ when it came to translation tests.
I say he’s just a big kid!
Anyway, it paid off.
“I’m not going to tell you the mark; all you need to know is that I managed it,” he tells me.
He thinks he will press on and do a bit more studying – he’s become something of a teacher’s pet – but acknowledges it is getting more difficult.
And all this is so he can natter away over a glass of wine or three with Spanish chums near his holiday home in Majorca.
Or, as he prefers to put it, his office abroad.
Anyway, the lessons had better not involve any writing for the next few weeks.
Because the bad news is that Pitchford has broken his left hand.
And he is left handed.
Everything to do with his recent ski trip to Davos in Switzerland where he insisted on braving a white-out.
He tells me: “I was on the flat at the top of this mountain and wasn’t even moving when I slipped over.
“I knew instantly something had happened. I skied through the pain barrier hoping it would go away, but it didn’t.”
Helped, no doubt, by plenty of gluwein.
Anyway, he has had his hand put in a splint having been sent to the hospital by the doctor on his return to Solihull.
“I’m going to have to invest in a helmet,” he announces.
How that could have saved his hand from being broken, he doesn’t explain!
Actually, to be serious for a moment, the tragic death of Natasha Richardson has indeed put ski safety firmly in the spotlight.
Still, Glyn’s computer skills are now even more limited.
“It’s always been a one finger job on the keyboard, now it’s just the right finger,” he complains.
