Times are a-changing….

We have had a busy 48 hours, what with one thing and another, but essentially looking after the Sutton Sleath grandchildren for twenty-four of them while the family moved house. We can no longer call them the ‘Sutton Sleaths’ as they now live in Kenilworth, so I have no idea yet how I shall to refer to them but something will evolve, no doubt.

It’s been wonderful that Andrew is still here at home though, because John had a hospital treatment this morning and so I left William and Thomas in his care while we drove to Heartlands. Uncle Andrew is very much in favour, with cries of ‘nclandrooo‘ echoing around the house as the children vie for his attention.

He made us laugh though, as he told the early morning story to Michael and Danielle: “So Mum and Dad left about twenty-five past eight this morning and we went upstairs to play in the ‘den’ (the Harry Potter cupboard). We played for ages and I thought it must be nearly time for Mum to get back. It must be nearly half past nine, surely? I looked at my watch. It was twenty to nine.…… she’d only been gone fifteen minutes…..”

The children were all safe and sound when I got back though, so he’d done a good job. The rest of the day was play, play, play, of course, interspersed with cake-baking as a house-warming gift, the return trip to Heartlands to collect John, and an hour or so of TV while Michael and Danielle waited at our house for the transfer of funds to be effected before they could collect the keys.

All went swimmingly and they are in. We took the children and the dog over at tea-time, along with a fish and chip supper, which I think helped in the ‘thank goodness I haven’t got to cook’ stakes.

But it was full family affair today – Paul and Lily had previously called in at the new house with a house-warming present, and while we were there, Harriet called in too, as she was walking the dog. Lovely. I pray that strong bonds, friendship among family, and harmony all prevail for them all in the years ahead.

In other news, Mum is on the mend and, when I phoned yesterday, she had eaten her breakfast and was getting out of bed. I didn’t get chance to phone up today, but the care home staff had promised to phone me if there was anything to worry about, so I am implying that no news is good news.

I spent a couple of hours at Pete and Dawn’s yesterday lunchtime, to catch up with Liz, whose 30th birthday celebrations I had missed last week. That was a little oasis of calm in an otherwise crazy world, with delightful conversation and company – especially baby Arthur, who gurgled and blinked his very large blue eyes at us the whole time.

The march of Omicron and our ‘busy-ness’ has meant that some of our regular activities have been shelved this week, but we have certainly filled our lives in other ways. Thank the Lord, once again, for dear family and friends who are the constants in our lives that keep us going, when things are a-changing.

In terms of feast days and days for celebration – we have had Christmas and New Year; we have had our friend, Ann’s 70th birthday and my god-daughter, Liz’s 30th birthday; we have had Michael’s house move – and today is Epiphany – the day when the birth of Jesus was celebrated by the Magi arriving with their gifts. I’d love to have been a fly on the wall when they turned up…..

COVID, for the record, is still here, with 179,756 cases today – almost a 30% increase in cases in the last seven days; 231 people died in the community – suggesting a rise of 56% in the last 7 days; 2,078 people admitted to hospital – a rise of 64% in the last 7 days; and 87 deaths in hospitals in the previous 48 hours. And it seems to us that the Prime Minister has simply said, ‘fend for yourselves’……….

Take care everyone. Here’s to better times. God bless.