A Turn-up

I visited Mum today. It’s been a while since I saw her what with one thing and another. She was absolutely on top form!! She looks incredibly well, and is very contented. Still can’t remember anything but it doesn’t matter because it doesn’t bother her at all.

She was funny – as always – and made me smile. I arrived, flowers in hand, and greeted her as she trotted from the lounge to her room. She was delighted to see me. The carer who’d gathered her from the lounge said she’d put the flowers into a vase. Mum said she needed to the loo and followed the carer out of the room. “I need the loo,” she said as she went, “but where is it? Now then, which way……?” I shouted to her that there was one in her room. She couldn’t hear me. I shouted several times and finally tapped her on the shoulder to turn her round and usher her back to her toom. “Ah, yes,” she said, “this one’ll do.”

Apparently, she can’t remember the way back to her room once she’s been out of it to the lounge or the dining room, either. But she really doesn’t mind. Here she is having a giggle.

As I left the care home, I whipped off the mask and gloves that they’d given me, and then peeled the apron off over my head. In so doing, I flipped my ear-ring off. Oh, bother! Ah… I spied the back of the ear-ring and picked it up from the floor. But I couldn’t see the actual ear-ring anywhere. The carer obligingly donned another pair of gloves and rummaged through the bin, in case it had dropped into there. No luck. “Ah, well, never mind,” I said, “leave it for now.” The staff thought it might turn up and they’d keep an eye out for it.

After I’d visited Mum, I came home and we sat out to eat our lunch. It was such a beautiful day. As usual, though, I was up and down like a yo-yo. I nipped inside to grab some plates. Then I nipped in to grab a glass of wine. Then, some spoons. Oh, the parasol isn’t quite right. And, gosh, are those weeds just there? Ah… let me just put the sprinkler on, while we’re sat here. Oh dear, John, are you getting wet?

This afternoon, both us of were busy. John was still tipping stuff into the skip and then he was determined to jet-wash the patio. Prior to that, however, he’d been a genius and set us up on a new internet system. We have jumped from BT to Sky and, to be honest, I think we were both dreading the switch. Anyway, it seemed to go without a hitch. Crikey – that’s a first. Shhhh…. don’t say it too loud.

Equally, I was also still tipping stuff into the skip this afternoon or, actually, finding stuff that John could transfer, if he felt so inclined. Neither of us quite knew where the time went, but it was soon tea-time, and I hadn’t done the one job I promised myself today – and that was to take Paul and Harriet’s bins in. It’s always the way isn’t it? Other jobs seem more attractive and you get distracted by them. But we enjoyed our industrious day, nonetheless.

We had an hour’s sit-down to watch Tom Daley and Matthew Lee win the gold in the diving before tea. As I sat down, I happened to put my hand down the turn-up of my trousers. What’s this pile of seeds in there? Oh, not seeds. An ear-ring. Well, that was a turn-up for the books!! I was thrilled, as you can imagine.

After tea, I did do the one job on my list. Tick.

Once I was back home, I thought I’d just amend the shopping list on my Ocado account. Oh, Lord! That was hard work. I couldn’t get things added and then it added things I didn’t want – the ‘regulars’, from way back when that we no longer need – and all in all, it took an inordinate amount of time – and it’s likely that we’re going to get double-doses of some items and a shortfall in others. Ah, well, you can’t win ’em all.

Finally, I sat down for an hour to watch TV. John was beginning to wonder where I’d got to….. I think our bio-rhythms are out of sync at the moment, too, because I am a late owl and suddenly got a second wind and tidied the SnuGym before I came upstairs to do the blog. It’s either that, or I am slowly going mad.

Lastly, it’s the COVID report: 24,950 positive cases today. It’s amazing, isn’t it, how the numbers decline when all students (5-21 year-olds) are on holiday? 14 deaths in the community; and in hospitals, the data reflects 23-25 July, with 21 deaths in that period. None reported today yet.

It’s the summer. Hope you are enjoying the warm weather and making the most of it. Take care and God bless.