Snusher Meets Garpet or the other way around

Wow What a Build up!

Set out below is the article published by Peter Davis (aka snusher - something we will discuss a little later on) on his blog "Cancer at the Junction" on Monday, October 13, 2008 under the heading:

Snusher meets Garpet. Hungarian blogging guru rolls out red carpet in Gordon.

"Well at last we have got to meet the man and his wonderful partner Leanne!

Today
Lynne & I headed down the motorway 30 minutes south from Evatt, Belconnen to the far lower reaches of Canberra, Tuggeranong [disparagingly referred to as North Cooma] for a meet with Peter Garas [Garpet] and his partner Leanne at their home in the suburb of Gordon.

Peter describes his occupation in his own blogger profile as a 'blog writer', and his output is indeed prolific. It was the continuing blog http://garpet1.blogspot.com of his own experience with gastro oesophageal cancer, right here in Canberra, that gave me information and encouragement from the first days of my diagnosis in October 2007. He has had the same surgeon & oncologist as me. To meet him and Leanne was a real treat. The man himself was unchained from his feeding pole [nicknamed Marmaduke] and was free to greet us at the door. He & Leanne rolled out the red carpet for us and over several hours we engaged in free flowing
conversation across a whole range of topics. Talk of cancer & its treatment was only a small [but important] part of proceedings. We could not resist the chance to compare scars, made by the same surgeon!

The one on his stomach has healed so well that you can hardly see it!

Garpet now receives all his nutrition via a feeding tube [his oesphagus is constricted so he cannot swallow], and he patiently watched on while Lynne & I enjoyed the salmon, rye bread, capers, gherkins, dolmades, cheese & grapes that Leanne so generously provided. We in turn got to see Peter take on board a ration of fluids skillfully administered through a syringe by Leanne via his feeding tube.

Peter's voice was quiet but firm, and I could feel a real sense of engagement with this intellectual, articulate, urbane and widely travelled man. I had taken over a grab bag of books & CDs that reflected some of my interests...the usual culprits that you all know, sundials, French sundials, Captain Cook, cacti, astronomy, tarot, old maps, baroque music & family history. Lynne & Leanne also found much to discuss and several hours went by in a flash. Peter & Leanne are
gregarious and popular people; while we were there a long time friend from Sydney called in for a quick visit.

The whole episode was a delight, and well, I cannot wait until the next time...perhaps next month? This is one of the up sides of cancer..the lovely people you get to meet by force of circumstance!!

Just for the record today I had my routine 6 weekly port flush at the Belconnen Health Centre.

Thats all for now folks.

Peter Snusher Davis
Canberra, Australia
snusher@gmail.com"

Peter, I have to say that your article was so complimentary that I could do no better than to publish it to my readers as well. Thank you.

It was inspirational to be able to meet you and your delightful wife. It was a rare treat to learn that were it not for an accident of time, I might very well have met her in another capacity at the local hospice.

I have to say that I was awed by the subject matter you carried around in your Green bag. I learned so much on the day about so many things that had previously not entered my range of interests. For example, I was familiar with the Tarot being used in the telling of futures, but not with it's use as a complex card game, that you assured me, was similar to bridge. As a former bridge player of little repute (a fact that can be attested by many of those who have come to know me well since I literally stepped off the boat in 1957) I can tell you that I was completely unaware of this fact.

As for some of your other interests, like sundials, or more narrowly, French sundials, ils sont formidable, mon ami.

To learn that you speak fluent French (and probably other languages) puts you in a class that it is, if not unique, well up there with the most talented people with whom I can claim some connection.

What you may not have seen was that Leanne also very skilfully administered the medication that I had to have at that time of the day. I would literally be nothing without her these days.

Yes indeed all in all an exceptionally enjoyable visit and one that I too hope can repeated, whether in our "north Cooma" residence, perhaps yours or if the time is well chosen, (i.e. between 7 am and 6 pm) a 'neutral' scenic spot of great ambiance.

I promised my readers a brief digression about 'snusher" Apparently this is Peter's ancestral name. That is to say that people in his family once were called snusher and in his genealogical searches, Peter is searching for any connections to this name.

So dear readers, if you wish to be helpful, then please let Peter know as and when you DO come across this name. His email address is listed above.