Month: September 2022

In no particular order – Thank you to:

• all those lovely people who got in touch once they heard John was in hospital to wish him and me well.
• Linda and Brendan who are lending John a laptop while we wait for a new screen for his.
• the NHS staff who are looking after the ol’ man.
• our dear, dear sons who step up, every time.
• our daughters-in-law who offer company when I/we need it.
• our grandchildren for being their normal, cheeky selves
• And to John, for his ever-present love.

Tough times and, when emotions are high and raw, any offer of support is so very gratefully received; and we’re sad when support is withdrawn due to misunderstanding. A common occurrence, I believe, when a loved one is ill but the friend or relative has no exquisite comprehension of what they are going through.

So, we’re on Day 3 of Hospital Holidays. The initial reaction of the medics was to pump John full of antibiotics. They came in today, stroking their beards and rubbing their jaws. “Hmmm, we’re thinking that the IV antibiotic route may not be the best thing for you, John.” Oh?

‘They said it might be better for me to nebulise with ‘Bibitof’….’ John texted. Bibitof? ‘Bob-it-Off!’ I texted back – one of our running jokes for a drug whose name we can never remember. Transpires it’s actually called ‘Bramitob’. Starting tomorrow. Well, that might be good news. He can probably do that at home. Watch this space, folks.

In the meantime, I picked some Honesty today. Thought it might help…. you know, float in the ether a bit. Waft down the M1; drift down the A41 and glide into the Houses of Parliament?

Whatever. These branches have brought a sparkle to the porch, anyway.

And Susie Dent’s Word of the Day yesterday? ‘Arsle’: when you have the distinct impression you’re going backwards instead of making progress. Honestly, I think that woman reads our minds!

Take care everyone. God bless.

It’s not been a great day for us today. John had two hospital appointments. The first one, with the oncology department, wasn’t vastly encouraging – which prompted John to share his anger with the doctor and nurse who were there, explaining that if the hospital had been a bit more proactive in the last couple of years we might not have got to this point just yet.

They were very sympathetic and the nurse recommended that John complain. Which he probably will do, but it doesn’t help where we are now, does it? We are at the stage of no curative treatment, and onto the stage of containment. The drug of choice is enzalutamide, which John may, or may not start taking today. Why is there any doubt? Well…….

At the second appointment this afternoon in the respiratory clinic, the consultant took one look at him and said, “You’re not very well, are you?” John shook his head. No, he wasn’t feeling great. The pseudomonas infection that has dogged him for the last couple of years is back and making breathing difficult. Two lots of oral antibiotics have not shifted it so…… “I’ll just go down to the ward and see if there’s a bed available,” said the consultant, briskly. Yep, snatched from under the nose of the Bed Manager, there was a bed, so hop in, John!

IV antibiotics for the next few days or more – we’re not quite sure yet, just how long the ol’ man will be in hospital for. As I left this evening, some of the drugs, including the brand new one for the prostate, have not been written up on his chart. So who knows when he’ll start taking it? Hey-ho, it’s a roundabout we go!

We’re both knackered now. And my knees are sore from kneeling on the prayer mat…..

Take care everyone. God bless.

Susie Dent’s Word of the Day? ‘Mulligrubs’ (16th century): a state of despondency or sense of doom.

A weekend away is just what the doctor ordered! It’s a pity John didn’t have the same experience! I came back from my yoga retreat very zen. It was lovely. Good company, good food, good weather and, above all, good yoga!

We were at Braziers Park again, which is a commune, so it was all very grounded and great fun. This neo-gothic house is where Ian Fleming lived when he was a little boy – and there were still two hooks in the beam of what was the nursery, where he had his swing. Fascinating!

Back to it at home now though, and the humdrum beckons. Hospital appointments will be interspersed with time among friends and family this week, however, so it’s not all bad.

We are off to see the oncologist tomorrow to see what they have to say. We are both feeling anxious about the progression of John’s prostate cancer and are hoping for a miracle. We’ll see. Everything crossed and on my knees in prayer.

In the meantime, while I was away, John decided that he’d change the guttering at the back of the house……. honestly, that boy! He’s done a very good job and there’s only one area of a drip, drip, drip as the rain falls, which we’ll sort out in the next few days. Naturally, he overdid it though, didn’t he? He was exhausted when I got home yesterday and was still tired today. Didn’t stop him having another fiddle with the bit that still needed doing this morning, though.

Now then, on a totally different note – what’s the consensus? Put your heating on or not? The temperature is going to drop over the next few days…….. We have succumbed to lighting the fire in the lounge so that our evenings are not totally chilly, but it’s a bit of a shock when we come out into the rest of the house! And we might put the heating on for an hour in the mornings – even though it’s still September. Or we might bring our bed into the lounge……. what d’ya reckon? Hehehe.

Nothing much to report on activities today. John slept for much of the afternoon and I have done nothing and have simply whiled away my time, trying to retain that zen feeling…… it doesn’t last long, unfortunately. Never mind, there’s a yoga class tomorrow morning!

Take care everyone. God bless

Apologies for the radio silence, everyone. Thought I’d have a bit of a break on the Blog front; and then, of course, one thing let to another and the break lasted longer than I intended. Ah, well, back on it today …… although I’ll be back off it again tomorrow. All being well, that is! I’m going on a lovely yoga retreat for the weekend, don’t ya know!

It’s now a week ago, but we had a great weekend with Malcolm and Caroline coming to stay so that we could all go to the Centre Stage play last Saturday. Really enjoyed their company and really enjoyed the play. Everyone did their parts very well and the play was amusing. Just the light relief we were after.

Slightly anxious week for me afterwards, of course, because one of members of the group, who sat at our table as we had after-show drinks, has now gone down with COVID. Fingers crossed our mitigations were enough. Ha! Given our luck, what are the odds do you reckon? LFTs are still negative so far……

Our week since then has been mostly taken up with birthday celebrations for William, who was 5, and hospital appointments. We had a cracking family party for William on Sunday to which we took the birthday cake that Grandpa had created. Andrew had baked the cake this year; and had John modelled it. “What would you like as a birthday cake this year, William?” we had asked. “A dinosaur!” came the quick reply. “What sort of dinosaur?” we wondered. “A Stegosaurus….” Oh, crikey!

But, as usual, John came up trumps and mastered the art of crafting something that impressed William. It may look a bit scruffy in the photo but I assure you, it was pretty impressive!

Monday was a fabulous day at the Kenilworth Originals’ house. We all piled round there to watch the Queen’s funeral, eat and drink well, and take a dip in the hot tub. Mission accomplished and a very nice day we had too, despite the sad and momentous occasion.

Tuesday was a hospital visit for a check on John’s oxygen levels – which turned out to be quite good apparently. Always the way, isn’t it? He can’t breathe, but: “You’re alright John. There’s plenty of oxygen in your lungs,” they tell him. He doesn’t believe them when he’s half-way up the stairs gasping for breath, but hey-ho.

After we’d been to the hospital, I trundled over to visit Mum. We had arranged for a Social Worker to go and do an assessment so that we can sort out some new funding arrangements. Mum was on top form and very chatty but couldn’t remember much. “Who’s this?” asked Debbie, the social worker, pointing to me. Mum looked at me thoughtfully, grinned and then shook her head. “I can’t remember,” she said. And then, in more or less the next breath, referred to me by name. Bless.

We popped over to see William on Tuesday tea-time on his actually birthday. I had thought we wouldn’t stay long as I was planning to go out for the evening. However, we had bought him one of those ‘Tonie’ things which tells stories – and you can record you reading your own on them, too. So that was a little job that I couldn’t resist. Record a Mr Men story and then sit with William at bedtime for him to listen to it. Great fun and such a lovely idea.

Wednesday was full of medical stuff. Blood tests and telephone consultations – one of which was for me. I’ve been feeling a bit low so I toddled off to the GP in August, who referred me for a mood assessment. Chit chat on the phone yesterday and then the verdict: a bit depressed and anxious. Yep. That’s right……. Anyway, the upshot is that I’m going to do a stress management course for six weeks and see how I feel then. Let’s keep ours fingers crossed it’ll do the trick, eh?

I had a lovely morning today, though. I went out for breakfast with one of my church friends and then went on to Yoga. John, however, is also feeling a bit depressed and anxious and so spent most of the day having a bit of a snooze, and then venting his frustrations on the oncology nurse who’d been assigned to talk to him about a questionnaire he’d filled in. Bless her – she answered his questions very patiently. But really, we don’t know what to say to each other at the moment.

Take care everyone. God bless.

I was hoping for a quiet week, but we haven’t half been busy!

Wednesday saw us charging over to Heartlands Hospital for John’s immunoglobulin treatment, then swiftly changing into mourning clothes for a funeral at St Nicholas’ Church in Kenilworth. We couldn’t quite face the burial and the wake, so we trundled across to the Kenilworth Newbies to drop off a couple of pieces of wood before we came home to collapse on the sofa.

There was no Wednesday Night Quiz for reasons of others being elsewhere, so we sat and caught up on our TV programmes, which was rather nice.

Yesterday, we spent time with Dave & Chris and George & Sue at Brixworth Country Park. And we had some great fun. John is not the only one to have a mobility scooter now, though; George has treated himself to one, too. And, guess what? Did they race? Or did they not?

I didn’t capture the moment of the racing, nor did I capture the moment of the two engineers putting their heads together to compare models and consider adjustments that might be made, but I did capture the moment when they told me off for taking the photo! Hehehe.

It was a beautiful day, weather-wise, and we walked all along the lakeside path as far as ‘the beach’ before we turned round and came back again. Chris, in particular, did well to walk that far, having had recent surgery on her knee. Bacon butties and coffee were then the order of the day as we piled into the café and carried on nattering to our hearts’ content. It was such a wonderful day with dear friends. As ever, I thank our lucky stars that we’ve got such good mates.

John, despite feeling less than on top form this week, enjoyed the day out and has generally continued to battle on. Sleep eludes him very often and he wakes with aches and pains.

But he never gives up! Today was just such an example. He had a good morning because, despite getting up a bit late and having to deal with medical bits and bobs, he went out with Bryan for breakfast. Marvellous. He had a great time, managing to put the world to rights, which always helps, doesn’t it? I was delighted that he’d enjoyed his time out. Makes a change for him to go out instead of me!

Then, this afternoon, he has got on with creating a birthday cake for William, whose birthday party it is on Sunday. Although it hasn’t quite turned out as he thought, he’s adjusted the design and his execution of it until it’s something like. I am sure William will be happy, whatever Grandpa makes for him! But it hasn’t been an easy job so far…..

I spent the morning faffing about at home and taking delivery of some coal that John had ordered ready for the winter. Have we got enough though?

On the health front, we have heard back from Graham and Gail. Following the biopsy, it transpires that Graham doesn’t have temporal arteritis, after all. ‘Yay! Whoop, Whoop! Phew!’ and words to that effect was my reply. That’s a big relief. Thank goodness for some good news, eh?

Take care everyone. God bless.

Susie Dent’s Word of the Day is ‘dumfungled’ (19th century): wearied, befuddled, and just a little used up. Oh, yes! Now that’s a very good word, isn’t it? Another one to adopt!

Ey-oop! I bought a lovely jigsaw puzzle last Christmas for the festive period but, with one thing and another, I didn’t have the appetite for it then. Anyway, I bought one of those roll-mat things that nurtures your jigsaw puzzle while you labour away at it and then keeps it safe when you want to put it away. So I thought I’d get it out and start the puzzle just to see if the mat worked.

Oh, crikey! I was disciplined during the day today – hardly touched the puzzle at all. I was disciplined all evening. But, just as I went to draw the curtains on retiring to bed, a piece caught my eye and I saw where to slot it in. Ha! That was it then for the next hour. I’ve had to drag myself away. I was supposed to be going to bed! And I still haven’t tested the mat out. Ah, well, maybe tomorrow ?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we’ve had a busy day today. I toddled off to yoga this morning and came home to find John up and at ’em. Poor man, he’s got so many things on his mind – jobs to do, you know – that he hardly knew where to start today.

First off, he pulled out the washing machine, which had died on us the other day. I feared the worst, but Superman had a look and said it was ‘just the belt’. Oh, giggle, giggle. ‘Just the belt’. Well, I wouldn’t even know where to start – the whole thing is a puzzle to me! But naturally, John did, and does, know where to start. Honestly, he is just amazing.

So he repaired the washing machine. “Do you want a hand?” I asked. “No,” he replied. “Oh, I thought you might need some help stretching the belt onto the gubbins.” With his head in the machine, he replied again, “No, I’ve done it.” Wow!

That job done, John thought he’d then carry on with a job he started the other day: up a ladder clipping wire mesh to the underside of the fascia board where the squirrels get in. He’s had a go at it before, many years ago, and it’s time to refresh the area. He’s doing a very good job, but of course, the effort has taken it out of him and he’s exhausted this evening.

Mind you, it’s not surprising really. He never does things by halves and even got the scaffolding out! One plank, which gave me the heebie-jeebies, but still. He just never gives up. No puzzle there – he’s just Mr Determined.

So while John tinkered about with that all afternoon, I tinkered about with cleaning the utility room. Oh, and the SnuGym, which I might rename ‘The Retreat’ since we have given away the sports equipment that was languishing in there.

I have been painting and decorating in recent weeks and have managed to use almost every paint brush we own, then fail to wash them, just putting them in water to soak. Yes, yes, I know. Those of you who are perfectionists will be squirming in agony at the thought…… sorry!

There were tins of paint everywhere, paintbrushes, rollers and roller trays to clean up. Tools cluttering up the work surface and the new bird feed holders and bird feed I’d recently bought, ready and waiting to be put outside. The sink, too, of course, was splashed galore and needed a good scrub. Fortunately, it’s all water-based paint I use, so I knew it would all come off. But it took me all afternoon. Nearly finished. Just another windowsill to paint before the next project. What will that be, I wonder?

Both of us were worn out this evening so we sat and stared at the TV. The Great British Bake Off is back……. that’ll keep us entertained for a few weeks – Yippee!

In other news, Graham is home from hospital after his operation and not doing too badly. We had a wonderful conversation the other day on the phone. I was absolutely thrilled to talk both him and Gail. It was so lovely. Obviously, we’re still thinking of him and sending positive vibes. The results of his biopsy for the temporal arteritis come through on Thursday, so fingers crossed it’s positive news and a little pill is all he’ll need to take.

Still on the health front, positive vibes would be appreciated for John, too. Although it all looks hunky-dory, he’s struggling with his breathing just at the moment, so I’m keeping my eye on him……

Susie Dent’s Word of the Day is ‘bethink’ (10th century): to take thought and reflect; to return to oneself for a moment.

Hmmm……. that sounds like a good idea. And ‘The Retreat’ might be a good room to do that in.

Take care everyone. God bless.

I was tired at the end of the day yesterday. For a minute, I couldn’t think why. Then it came to me! Ha! I was back at yoga on Friday and stretched bits I hadn’t stretched for a week or two; and then yesterday morning, bright and early, I went open water swimming with Linda.

We had a good time together – I actually got into the water with a little less fuss than previously and managed 600 metres again. And we had a laugh. We were both ploughing up and down the lanes at our own pace when, at one point, I met Linda coming back. She grinned. “I’m going to have to stop at the end. My float keeps floating away!! I’m sure I haven’t lost weight round my waist but it’s drifting off, anyway!” We chuckled. “Need a hand?” I called. She didn’t and we carried on.

Two minutes later, Linda grinned again, “I’ve lost my wrist band now!!” Crikey! Chuckling, I reckoned she must have lost weight! And there it was, at the end of the lane, floating about, having unravelled itself.

As we neared the end of our swim, I said I’d get out after a couple more lengths. “Me too,” said Linda, and we swam on. I got out, and waited for her to finish. “Now look what’s happened!” she exclaimed. “My hat’s come off now!” Well, I chuckled some more. That girl had a time of it yesterday, didn’t she?

Home again, and John had been pottering about with the car. Unrelated to his activity and keeping a secret to himself, he said, “Paul and Michael are coming over later to collect the cross-trainer.” Right. Great news – I am de-cluttering and that would help.

In the meantime, we saw that we’d had a missed phone call from Gail and Graham. More excitement. We phoned back and spent an hour or more chatting. Oh, bliss! Graham said he wasn’t feeling too bad, although his foot was throbbing a bit, so I am hoping he makes a swift recovery and it’s not too painful for him. But honestly, it was so lovely to have a long conversation together. Loved it.

Paul and Michael arrived after lunch and promptly set to work. They had brought Freddie and William too, so I was on supervision duty. Not that the youngsters needed it really. Aged 7 and 5-next-weekend, they played beautifully.

Anyway, we were in the garden and we heard a ‘vroom, vroom’ noise. “What’s that?” William asked and stopped what he was doing. Excited, I said, “I think that might be Grandpa’s car starting up!” So we all rushed out to look.

Yep. Sure enough it was. Not only was it starting up but it was taking a trip down the road. Gosh, brilliant. Fabulous. And more words to that effect. The photo doesn’t do it justice because it’s snapshot from a video – but you get the gist. It’s on the road.

We were all grinning from ear to ear as you can imagine when John came back – and then he went out again. Having given Michael a ride out, it was Paul’s turn. Ah…. yes. Taking us back to our youth when we rallied cars……those were the days.

This morning I went over to Kenilworth to look after Thomas. We were both going to go, but I didn’t wake John up in time really, so he opted to stay home. It was probably a good job he did because we seemed to be here, there and everywhere!

Michael was running the Kenilworth half-marathon. Danielle was taking William to a rugby session and would take Oliver with her, so I was detailed to toddle up to the finish line with Thomas to wave Michael in. More excitement. Thomas loved it, clapping and clapping the runners in. He was so engrossed, he nearly missed recognising Daddy for a minute as he ran by. But order was restored and we ran up to the holding area to meet him.

Paul and Freddie arrived just as we were taking the obligatory and congratulatory photo. “You ran too fast!” Paul said. Indeed he did. I think this was Michael’s fastest time for a half-marathon this year, in under two hours.

We were just grabbing a coffee when Danielle phoned. Apparently, William hadn’t actually enjoyed his rugby and was feeling a bit frustrated. “I’ll go back,” I said, “You enjoy your coffee.”

The storm had settled when I got back and it was all quiet on the western front. William and I started reading a book and playing a few games while Danielle had five minutes rest. Maybe less than that….. “I’m hungry,” says William. Oh, crumbs – the poor girl has only just sat down! “Shall I hold Oliver while you get some lunch ready?” I said, (any excuse to hold the baby). So lunch was served but the baby didn’t settle so I took him out for a walk whereupon he fell asleep for a nanosecond……. Crikey, it’s been all go today!

When I got home, John said he hadn’t done much today. I’m not surprised. All the excitement of getting the car ready to run yesterday must have taken it out of him. He’d watched the Grand Prix which ended as a bit of a damp squib, and then he had a bit of a nap. Good for him. Pace yourself, boy!

On an entirely different note, I thought it my duty to remind everyone that COVID is still doing the rounds and, in some cases with devastating effects. In England, we’ve had eleven thousand people die within sixty days of a positive test for Covid (and that’s with hardly anyone testing) in the last two months. Makes one pause for thought – well, it made me pause for thought again, anyway. Sorry for still banging on about this, but it ain’t over, folks.

Take care everyone. God bless.

Susie Dent’s Word of the Morning on Friday was ‘thole’ (14th century): tolerance and forbearance, as towards other people’s feelings and points of view. Apt, I thought.

I hadn’t planned to write a blog today, as I knew I was going to be busy. However, on the day the Queen has died I thought I’d like to say that I couldn’t help but admire her.

A woman who pledged her life to the service of her people and kept her word. Never wavering in her duty, she steered a steady ship despite several periods of choppy waters.

And her sense of humour, which she allowed to emerge in recent years, was fantastic. From the Olympics escapade ‘parachuting’ from a helicopter with James Bond, and then moving onto another Bond – sharing tea (and her secret hiding place for her marmalade sandwich) with Michael Bond’s creation, Paddington Bear. As Paddington said: ‘Thank you, Ma’am, for everything.’

May she rest in peace and rise in glory.

Take care everyone. God bless.

With the Kenilworth Sleath Originals back from their holiday, we went round yesterday afternoon. We didn’t intend to stay long, but they offered us an evening meal, so naturally, we said, ‘Yes please’ and stayed on.

The Kenilworth Newbies also came along to see the Originals, so we were all there. How good is that? Oooh, we had a lovely time. We had fun playing with the children – well, Freddie played on some electronic game or other that was on the big screen and we all watched. It was hilarious. The monsters kept eating the character – to much screaming and giggling. “Your turn!” Freddie offered at frequent intervals to William or me or Grandpa or Harriet. Only Harriet took up the challenge when, once more, we were all giggling and screaming when the character lost another life on screen. Great fun.

We had a lovely evening meal, with a nice bottle of red wine, and then the chess set came out. We all had a game at one point or another and really relished it. The competition was fierce with everyone wanting to take Andrew on and beat him. He is currently the family champion, so there’s always a bit of rivalry.

I think the bottle(s) of rum that Paul brought out of the cupboard oiled the grey cells. Well, they certainly oiled something, because we had to get an Uber home (again).

This morning, there was a cheery wave and a cheery greeting from Michael, who had left the party early to put the children to bed and so was as sober as a judge. ‘How is everyone?’ he wanted to know. A few thick heads this morning. And at least two of the party stayed in bed until the afternoon. Harriet replied, ‘On a school night, never again!’ Hehehe. Famous last words. But we didn’t half have a good time.

I was left to my own devices for most of the day today while the Sleeping Beauties caught up on their sleep and worked off their hangovers. So I wafted about, forcing myself to tidy up a bit to get to the point where I could have another go at some painting. In the end, I didn’t get that far. Before I could take the lid off the paint pot, Paul and Harriet came over to collect their car and take me back to theirs, for me to collect our car. I just managed to get a bit of caulking done though…… go on, ask me….

It was Back to School for Freddie today and Start of School for William tomorrow, so school uniform was in evidence. It makes such a difference to how grown-up they look. My, how smart are these boys?

Quiz Night tonight – all lovely and hunky-dory and looking forward to it until about seven o’clock, when I suddenly remembered we were all supposed to be doing a couple of rounds each. I shot upstairs and, as luck would have it, I had something ready to work from. I had sorted out my bookshelves and came across a quiz book, published in 1945, from the radio programme ‘Ask Me Another’. So I picked questions from that. Made for an interesting quiz….. we all enjoyed ourselves again and were pleased to see each other, as we are every week.

As the quiz evening came to a close though, my thoughts turned to Graham and Gail. Graham is to go under the knife today/tomorrow to mend his wonky toes. Sending him all the best and most positive vibes I can find. In addition, he was recently at the doctors for something totally unrelated, and found himself whisked off to the hospital for investigations into whether he has temporal arteritis. A biopsy has been done and we are awaiting the results. Fingers crossed they can sort it out quickly. In my prayers.

Take care everyone. God bless. Keep your loved ones close and enjoy them as much as you can.

Susie Dent’s Word of the Day is ‘finifugal’ (19th century): regretting the end of something, such as a good book, or the summer. Ah, yes….. the nights are drawing in.

See? This is the problem when I only do a Blog every so often. Can’t remember what we’ve been doing………

Anyway, I’ll have a go.

Saturday: There had been a plan to go open water swimming in the morning, but….. of course, I’d enjoyed some lovely bubbly Prosecco on Friday night, hadn’t I? Thought it best not to go swimming early on Saturday just in case. So I didn’t. And that then set the tone for the day. Not doing much at all! Drifted through the day…… John managed a lot of snoozing in his chair. I managed a bit of tinkering round the house. Andrew kept us company.

Sunday: “D’ya wanna come for food” we asked the Kenilworth Newbies, “and eat in our new dining room?” They said ‘Yes’. Regrettably for us but fortunately for them, whichever way you want to look at it, the Kenilworth Originals were still on their holidays on the other side of the world, so they weren’t going to make it. They were still enjoying themselves and trying out new skills…..

Trying to ignore the thrills on the other side of the world, Andrew and I went to Oakes’ to buy some lovely food. Andrew then banished me from the kitchen to set about magicking up the most flavoursome beef roast. Oh, wow! I’d love to be able to cook like that. I mean, this isn’t ordinary food; this is Andrew’s food. So good, that I can’t even describe it…..it was absolutely delicious!!! D’you know what? I reckon that boy could make a career out of cooking! Hehehe!

After we’d eaten, I allowed myself to be commandeered by the children. I love it. “C’mon, Grandma! Let’s go to the space ship!” exclaimed William. “C’mon! Let’s go!” re-iterated Thomas in less intelligible terms. So we mounted the wooden hill and made our way to what-I-call-The-Harry-Potter-Cupboard, which is now ‘The Space Ship’.

We fiddled with a few buttons, pressed a few knobs and swooshed into orbit, right across Mars (the landing) into the other space ship (in the main guest bedroom), where we giggled ourselves into position. “Get in, Grandma!” said Thomas. “Quick!” said William, “The Aliens are coming!” (That would be Mummy, who loomed large at the window and grinned at the boys enjoying themselves.) Oh, gosh. We so enjoyed ourselves that William didn’t want to go home. Note to self: must learn to wind us all down at the end of the day….. having far too much fun!

Monday: Oh, crikey! It’s a while since I dropped in to see how Mum is getting on. I thought I ought to see her, so drove over today. Ha! She is, naturally, on top form. She even recognised family members in the photo-show.

“Now, I remember him from his auburn hair!” she proudly proclaimed. Wasn’t sure of his name, or relationship, but knew she knew him! That’d be Paul, then? “Ahhhh…..” she cooed, on seeing a photo of John, “Now, I know him!” Not sure of the name….or who he belongs to, but: “He looks nice, doesn’t he?” I had to agree. He is my husband, after all.

And then we sat silent, as Mum sipped her tea and nibbled her biscuits. She, with her thoughts; and me, with mine. Hers soon led her to hum ‘Que sera, sera’; mine led me to days gone by, remembering when she was a force to be reckoned with. Now, we were just two close relatives, comfortable in each other’s company and no words needed. Gone were the tussles, slights and affronts. Gone were the criticisms, said and unsaid. Just a grateful acceptance of companionship. Praise the Lord.

Once home, I remembered that John had offered to help move Michael’s shed. Other proposed times having come and gone, today had been allocated. “We’re going round to Michael’s about 3,” said Andrew. Yes, John confirmed. So muscles and brains had been booked and ready to help shift the shed.

It was marvellous. John mostly provided the brains; Michael and Andrew mostly provided the muscles. But boy! It was fun! There was a lot of: ‘To you….to me…..no, this a-way!…no, that a-way!… watch out!… mind your toes….’ Even the children joined in ‘moving’ their own shed. And I haven’t seen John so happy for a while.

Family life, eh? Love it! And can’t wait to see the Kenilworth Originals now that they are back home!

Take care everyone. God bless.

And, in case you were wondering…… Susie Dent’s Word of the Day is: ‘Zugzwang‘ [tzoog-tzwung]: a situation in chess (and life) in which a move must be made, but each possible one will make the situation worse.

Boom! What is she talking about?