Lawrence: I can’t remember it from all the, all that time, but my mam was with me as I can and I played that and that and it was really on the thing and he, he, he went, “Right,” he says, “well I’m very, I’m very happy,” he said, “and it’s got, it’s really, it’s really good, we could, we could have you and go.” And, and I went, “Oh right.” He said, “There’s only one thing though, it’s £500.” [Laughs] So, so I said, “Mam, we’re back, we’re back, we’re out, we’re going, OK?”

Daughter: Yeah, you had a place, didn’t you, but.

Lawrence: And I can remember changing that to my, my rock, my rock and roll guitar.

Lawrence: I’m just trying to think, the blues, was it Lol, was it the blues?

Daughter: Mm.

Lawrence: Yeah, Lol, it is, OK Lol, right [playing guitar and singing].

Daughter: Hey-hey [claps]

And music is obviously part, important to you too, music and playing the; what is it called, banjolele?

Lawrence: It’s erm, yes, have to be acc, yeah, it’s brilliant.

Daughter: Yeah, and you’ve got your guitar, haven’t you, dad, you’ve got your guitar as well.

Lawrence: Guitar.

Daughter: You love, you love your music.

How long have you been playing the guitar then, all your life?

Lawrence: Do you want a listen?

Sorry, I’ll get it. 

Lawrence: Thank you very much.

There you go.

Lawrence: Thank you very much now [Iaughs] thank you very much now.

Daughter: You’re got your American accent now when you play music.

Lawrence: [Playing guitar] I used, used to try and do it on a classical thing [playing guitar]. I’ll just give you a couple of my [playing guitar and singing].

Lawrence: This was the, these were the, these were the runs.

Oh right, so all the different marathons that you’ve done?

Lawrence: So, all these marathons, right, yeah, on my, my, right, right.

Daughter: Your mate, he gave you that for your birthday, didn’t he?

Lawrence: Ah yeah, that was, that was.

Daughter: And you’ve done; but tell them about the London Marathon, how many times you’ve done that.

Lawrence: Four times; we did do it.

Daughter: You can still run now, can’t you?

Lawrence: I wish, I wish, it would, it’d be nice [laughs].

Daughter: But we do lots of walking, don’t we, dad, we do lots of walking every day.

Lawrence: Yeah, yeah, go out a good walk, yeah, so.

So, do you, do you sort of know; where do, where do you walk from here, into the countryside or around the town?

Lawrence: Right round the town, that area, get things round, the walking things, with my wife and, or just me walking and; yeah, oh I, because you get, oh no, I’ll go, I’ll do the walks.

Daughter: You like the market square, don’t you?

Lawrence: Market square.

Daughter: Because all the old men gather there.

Lawrence: Yeah, that’s it.

Daughter: You, you and the old gits go up to the market square, don’t you?

Lawrence: That’s it, yeah, yeah, yeah, so.

Daughter: You’d have liked it round here, wouldn’t you, dad, you’d have liked to work here?

Lawrence: Oh, it would be, yeah. Look at this house, we’ve just, what we’ve got now was well we’ve had, well we’ve still got, what’s it still, Rachel’s [Daughter] got that place, not, just round the corner.

Daughter: Ten minutes away. Five minutes/ten minutes’ walk.

Lawrence: Ten minutes. Yeah.

I was just wondering if, with you being, used to work in the Royal Mail, I just wondered, when the post workers come, if you ever have a chat with them.

Lawrence: Yeah, yeah, oh yeah, of course, it’s, yeah, it’s really good.

Interviewer: A bit of reminiscing? 

Lawrence: Yeah, yeah, exactly, it is reminiscing.

Daughter: You tell them that they don’t know, they’ve got it easy here in the countryside. But your, your job in the, [city] was a lot harder.

Lawrence: Yeah, exactly, yeah, so.

Lawrence: Yeah, he comes, and he came with it and he went, “Flipping heck, have I got you?” And it was great, “Yeah, sorry about that, I real, I really do, I’m really sad, aren’t I?” and what to think. So anyway, he was great and I think, then anyway he’s sent a card.

Daughter: Tell about, what do you do with [volunteer name], you, tell them about his, his car and what you do with [volunteer name].

Lawrence: Oh, the car; well, oh, oh it’s just that he’s er, he has his own cars as well when he comes on every, well it, now it’s on Tuedays, on the Tuedays regular, but at the moment we miss, we’ve gone two weeks.

Daughter: He’s on holiday, isn’t he?

Lawrence: Holidays, two weeks, three days and that, and we did, he used, he, the first time when I met him I, I knew he would be great, he’s, in a, and, and he was in a blue car and it was the first, he said, “Right,” he said, “so about you with, with the car when.” “I’m not bothered with the driving.” And he went, “OK.” And it’s in; what was the car?

Daughter: It was a Porsche, wasn’t it?

Lawrence: Porsche, so.

Daughter: An open top.

Lawrence: He gets in the Porsche and drives it like, and I went, “Oh it’s nice, this is a nice car and I would like,” I said, “I would have liked it to have gone like that.” And I tell you he did exactly, he went, “Right [Lawrence], I’ll tell you what, let’s just give it a bit of vroom.” And it really was over the, one hundred, over the hundred like, and I went, “Hey er, do you think you can get it up even more than that?” Anyway, he slowed down; we have, we, we still laugh about it. Anyway, yeah.

Wow. That’s, that; so. 

Lawrence: [Cough] Sorry.

That sounds like an interesting thing, person to come and visit you.

Lawrence: Yeah.

That’s got, something a bit different, isn’t it?

Lawrence: Yeah, exactly, yeah, yeah.

Daughter: A volunteer, isn’t he? Through carers resources, he’s, and they have volunteers, and they asked if dad would like a male friend. Because you’re surrounded by women in this family, aren’t you, mum and two daughters. So, he’s your male friend.

Lawrence: Oh, oh don’t be so daft. You’re OK, you’re all right. Yeah, so yeah.

Daughter: So, it was through carers, wasn’t it?

Lawrence: Through carers.

So that’s a local organisation that has volunteers?

Lawrence: Yeah, yeah, volunteers and, yeah.

Daughter: You go walking with him though, don’t you, dad?

Lawrence: Yeah, oh walking, right, yeah.

Daughter: For walks.

Lawrence: Walking things.

Daughter: And you’ve, you’ve done bowling with him.

Lawrence: Yeah, oh the bowl, bowling’s just taken off a month now and we’re going to go, carry on with that with a bit of luck.

Oh right. Whereabouts is that then; is it local?

Lawrence: It’s just, yeah, just ten minutes, fifteen/twenty minutes that way.

Daughter: And you beat him, don’t you?

Lawrence: Eh?

Daughter: You keep beating him.

Lawrence: Oh, I beat him, yeah, of course but it’s only silly so it doesn’t matter.

Is there, is there a group of you go or is it just the two of you?

Lawrence: Just two because we bowl together, he, we change it probably one week or two weeks or whatever.

So, what kind of bowling is it, like a bowling alley or a green?

Lawrence: Just a bowl, bowling alley, yes, it’s just a bowl.

Daughter: The grass, isn’t it, dad?

Lawrence: The grass, yeah.

Daughter: It’s lovely, isn’t it?

Lawrence: Yeah.

Ah like, like green bowling sort of thing?

Daughter: Mm, mm.

Lawrence: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s great. We hope we can keep it, keep it going. On just every, but every Tueday.

Daughter: You take tablets, don’t you, dad? Tell Lyndsay [researcher] about the, the tablets and how they make you feel.

Lawrence: The, oh the tablet, yeah, oh the tab, yeah, yeah, they do come and go with the, with the; it’s a bloody nuisance isn’t it, so.

Daughter: Tell Lyndsay [researcher] about your headaches and your…

Lawrence: Yeah, the headache, oh yeah.

Daughter: Mm hmm.

Lawrence: The headaches co, you know, come with; like, like this morning it was a bit – you know. But what, I’m getting, getting through it. I mean I like, you know, it’s, it, it, yeah, it, it’s, I just, I carry, go through, and if I do it’s not too bad but yeah, it’s.

So do you think, I think it’s Memantine, the tablet that you take, you said; I think that’s what you told me on the phone.

Lawrence: Yeah, was it on, right, yeah, yeah.

And so, do you think that’s what causes your headaches or, sorry, I didn’t, or is it just you, you, you do, you already have, get the headaches?

Lawrence: Just to, if you get the tablets, we, we tried, yeah, yeah, to, to, the, the ones I’ve got now are just, there’s four, was there four, sometimes there are five, you know, tablets and, well they, they, but it’s, what they do, it’s not, it’s nothing serious, you know, so.

You get through it?

Lawrence: I get through it, oh yeah, yeah, so.

And is that, that seems to be maybe the way you approach everything, you’ll just get through it, carry on?

Lawrence: Yeah, I suppose to – I have to, yeah, yeah, I’ve got to do.

Daughter: They’re always changing them, aren’t they? [Laughs.]

Lawrence: Yeah, oh they change, yeah, they do change them.

Yeah. And does that, does that affect you when they change it, do they?

Lawrence: Yeah, they do. Li, it’s like now, now, from two, two hour, an hour, two hours ago, I took a tablet and it’s, I can feel it goes, but I can find it, fight it, I should say, I just keep going.

But do you feel like it has a good effect, it’s worth taking them, is it, does it help you overall?

Lawrence: It does the, to a point, yeah, yeah, it does help a bit. So, it’d be nice if it had been just normal but obviously it’s not, it’s not so different at all, it’s, it’s, it is, it’s, not brilliant at all.