A visitor

Look who came to visit today!!

All rather unexpected to be honest, but Mum had a nice little trip to our house today.

I’d had my COVID test, waited the requisite half an hour, and then was waiting patiently at the door of Mum’s care home, to be let in for a visit. There were several people waiting, some of whom were taking their parent out for the day. The door was opened numerous times and inmates released one by one, when all of a sudden the door was opened and there was my Mum being ushered out, wearing her coat.

Erm….I wasn’t expecting that. “Well, we’ve got you down as taking her out” they said. Mum was delighted to be going out and delighted to see me. “Where are we going?” she asked. I thought hard, but not fast. I couldn’t think where to take her at such short notice, so I said, “Home, Mum. I’ll take you to our house.”

On the way home, I realised that, by the time we’d arrived home and had a cuppa, it would be lunchtime and probably too late to get Mum back to the care home for her lunch, so it was a bit of a nip into Tesco to buy a ready-meal so that I could at least feed her.

We had a lovely time. Mum didn’t remember our house really, and spent most of her time looking round and admiring the décor, the furniture and the ornaments. She did however, recognise the two winged back chairs that we’ve got. “They used to be at our house,” she said, meaning her parents’ house, forgetting that she had owned her own houses in the meantime. “Yes, they did, Mum.”

On further inspection, Mum thought she might have been to my house before – had she? Yes, I told her she had. I explained that she had even stayed at our house for a while. But she couldn’t remember any of that at all – even when she saw the photographic evidence in the Lockdown 2020 album.

Surprisingly, once I’d taken Mum back to her home, I felt absolutely drained. I have done nothing all day since, except watch the tennis and the football. Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal! Crikey, who expected that? Not me anyway. But pleased they won.

John is still languishing in hospital and feeling blue. Not even the excitement of the England win this evening brought him out of the doldrums. A couple more days… just hang on in there for a couple more days. I think he is getting better though, and the infection is more under control. This poem by Lemn Sissay seems apt:

 
 When storms surround me,
 And surround me they will
 I tell myself 'This too shall pass
 Hold on and Hold Still' 

• 24,885 people tested positive for the virus today
• 18 people died in the community. No data for hospitals at the weekend, of course
• 358 people admitted to hospital – over the last seven-day period it’s up by nearly 25%
• Nearly 86% of the adult population have had their first jabs and just over 63% have had both jabs
• Paul is having to self-isolate following a Test and Trace message to do so. He’d been to London on business on Tuesday and was amongst the mask-less football crowds on the train. Praying he isn’t infected.

Take extra care everyone. God bless.