‘No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent.’ John Donne

I have always believed myself to be very independent and capable. I still am, but as I have lost my hearing and with that the ability to understand speech I have learnt to accept and appreciate help and support and the immense kindness of some people.

In the summer I was to take part in a book launch and promotion. The writer’s job would be to turn up, read their piece, have their photo taken, sign books and drink wine and eat canapés or drink tea and eat cake, depending on what time of the day it was – ‘simples’ as the Meercats would say.

Not so simples; first of all my reading out loud is terrible because I can’t hear and modulate my own voice and I had to find a reader to read my piece on my behalf.

Secondly all the events involved a fair amount of people who would all be rushed off their feet making sure everything ran smoothly, so I needed someone to help me be in the right place at the right time and doing the right thing.

Then various members of the audience would come up to me asking for their books to be signed, finally and hopefully a big publisher or producer would beg me to do work for them, so I needed an interpreter.

Paul Harris a fellow writer became my reader on all the events. Rob my husband and Barbara Fewster my best girlfriend took turns at the events to interpret, tell me to keep my voice down and prompt me into action. And Emma Baines made sure I was in the right place at the right time. Without these people I would have sat in a corner, possibly the wrong corner in the wrong place not knowing what was going on and not being able to participate.