Saturday. The weekend. Not a lot different to every other day except Malcolm comes and drops off a spot of shopping, for which I am always grateful. Makes me laugh every time. The Co-op doesn’t always have what I’m after so Malcolm substitutes items and makes me smile as I delve into each bag’s depths. It’s a goody bag, and I never know what is going to be in it. But it’s always something good. Today there was a little nugget of something unexpected – a little bar of chocolate nestled in there – ooooh yeah……. And it’s always nice to see him for a little ‘path chat’.
I was determined today, not to have a plan. Just go with the flow and do whatever took my fancy. That meant a little tidy-up in the kitchen, which is forever untidy no matter what. There’s always tools on the counter and some post, parcels, food remnants or remnants of ‘projects under way’, crockery and cutlery – and the dishwasher is always waiting to be stacked or unstacked. It seems to me that the kitchen has a mind of its own. For a nano-second I tried the ‘Ideal Home’ kitchen when we first redecorated, but it’s not finished and it’s not ideal yet. But it is home, so I go with that. And we usually find a space to eat our meals, so that works.
Mum made heavy weather of getting up again today. Once persuaded to be out of bed at eleven o’clock, it then took her an hour and a half to get downstairs. Heaven only knows what she was doing. I don’t know, and neither did she when I checked on her. Once she’d arrived in the lounge, I sent her off to the kitchen to get her tablets, but she was very confused today and got as far as the kitchen door before turning back. “What are you doing, Mum?” I asked, gently. “I don’t know.” she said. “Tablets?” I suggested. Oh……. she trotted back to kitchen. Not long after, she was back, tablets in hand, triumphant. “I’ve got my tablets.” she smiled, “but, I don’t know…….” It turns out she was looking for water and couldn’t remember where the cups or glasses were. Ah, well, it was something that she found her tablets, I suppose.
I don’t know what I was watching on TV just at that point, having given myself a break from kitchen cleaning, but it must have been soporific as I dropped off to sleep. I knew I was asleep, and I knew I shouldn’t have been, but couldn’t quite rouse myself to sort food out for Mum. Fortunately, John, my knight in shining armour, came to the rescue and made her a sandwich. Phew. Might have been world War Three if he hadn’t…..
Once awake, instead of leaping up to do more jobs, I sat and watched daytime TV. John sat alongside me and couldn’t drag himself away either. We were fascinated by how you can make a programme out of four competing B&Bs. Hilarious and a study in human nature which amused us no end. Mind you, I don’t think we’ll be making a point of watching that particular programme again.
Mum was alert enough later on in the afternoon to do a little job. I had suggested to her yesterday, that if I cut some hydrangea heads, would she like to arrange the flowers in a vase today? Yesterday, she thought she might. Once we’d finished watching afternoon TV, I went outside, in between showers, and picked half a dozen hydrangea. And sure enough, Mum was up to the challenge and spent a very happy twenty minutes preparing them and slotting them into a vase. Nice job. Well done, Mum.
Apart from watching daytime TV, John has been busy on the Lotus this afternoon, up and down from the ‘Man Shed’ to the garage, and back again, fishing out the right tool, and crafting pieces of metal into the right shape. I was an able assistant, after a bit of a false start when we had a misunderstanding, and expertly held a spanner in place while John grovelled under the car to tighten a couple of nuts. And, no, I wasn’t counting us as the couple of nuts, thank you….. although now you mention it…..
We had also done a ‘specialist’ shop from Ocado last Sunday, and delivery was this evening. We set up a military operation of me washing the shopping and John putting it away. I got the better end of the deal of course, as I wasn’t bending up and down or reaching into cupboards with the stuff. But I salved my conscience that such exercise is good for John because he is trying to improve his fitness, so what better way to do it? Tee-hee.
We haven’t had the promised thunderstorms here in our next of the woods, but we have had the rain, which means that the plants are looking very buoyant and lush. It also means I haven’t had to trundle round the garden with the hose pipe watering everything. And it’s freshened the air. I think John and I both feel better for a bit of a breeze and some cooler air.
The figures published by the government today tell of the continuing plateau of COVID-19 cases. 100 deaths in all settings and 895 people confirmed as infected. The NHS reports 10 deaths in hospitals up until 5 o’clock yesterday and 32 confirmed for the day before.
I am pleased that the virus no longer appears to be out of control, but still think of those people battling the disease and their relations trying to support them. No matter what, and whatever the weather, it’s still a tragedy for some families, even if the numbers are reducing.
Peace be with you.