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When we were on holiday we were delighted to know that the downstairs bedroom had been allocated to us. ‘Whoo-hoo!’ we thought, ‘Not far to go for anything.’

The bedroom was the most amazing room we had ever seen. All black. Well, apart from the white bedding. The walls, ceiling, furnishings and furniture were all noir. Very ‘Goth’ – even a diamante-studded skull and a top hat sporting a feather as decoration. Wow.

We settled in. Fumbled our way to bed in the dark. Lost things and couldn’t find them – black on black being very difficult to see when your eyesight is as bad as ours. But we loved it.

What I hadn’t realised at the time though, was that the distance from the bedroom at the back of the house to the dining area was miles. I didn’t think about it at all and tootled about as I do. It took John hours to get to his meals (slight exaggeration) and it was only when he got home that he realised just how far he’d walked while we were away.

You see, we were in the room on the bottom left. The dining room was in the Conservatory on the bottom right. Hehehe. Great excercise.

Once we were at home, John said, “I think we’re going to have to get a bungalow.” Eh? Where did that come from, I wondered. And then he explained how wonderful it was to be in a living space that didn’t require all that walking. For example, an open-plan kitchen/diner/lounge. Apparently, even our house is a challenge now. And not only that, but we can’t keep up with all the maintenance chez nous.

So, what are we doing? We’re getting the house valued, of course! And looking at bungalows…… Watch this space! It’s going to get interesting.

Meanwhile, this week sees another of my college buddies reach the 70th birthday milestone. So, off we toddled to Ashby-de-la-Zouch today for an Afternoon Tea with Anita. And what a smashing time we had as we stuffed ourselves silly with all the lovely food!! Loved it.

Gosh, what a very great blessing it is to have such dear friends. Anita is such a pleasure to be with and such great company. Lucky us.

Take care everyone. God bless.

We had a marvellous week away with the family over half-term. The weather was glorious; the accommodation lush; and the company great. We felt truly blessed that everyone made it – apart from Mike, Christiana’s husband, who was working.

We ate and drank well; managed time in the hot tub and on the tennis courts; and finished the traditional holiday jigsaw. The children really enjoyed themselves and there were very few squabbles, which gladdened my heart.

We went out for meals, went to the seaside and had fish and chips, and catered brilliantly well for ourselves in the house. We had a slap-up meal on the Wednesday evening, courtesy of our resident chef, Andrew, of course, when he cooked us a three-course meal with a mains of Beef Wellington – everyone’s favourite!! Gosh, it wasn’t half good!

Far too many tales to tell of the holiday but, suffice to say, it was lovely all being together for a week. Here’s few photos that offer a flavour of the fun we had……

5-in-a-bed; 3-on-a-scooter; kick-boxing-in-a-posh-frock; chaos-in-the-queue-for-fish’nchips; the-biggest-stick-find-ever; a-night-time-story; we-finished-it-jigsaw; and still-holding-hands-at-70.

G’night folks! See you tomorrow!

Yesterday, being Wednesday, we anticipated Quiz Night. I had very carefully prepared a couple of rounds in readiness but, when it came to it, there was a flurry of comments on our little WhatsApp group which offered a postponement. Well, that suited me! I was flat out with preparations for next week, when we take another well-earned rest and spend half-term in Somerset with the family.

In between being out and about and entertaining (see below), we were making best use of the washing machine, washing line and tumble dryer, to get all our togs clean and ready in time for slotting into suitcases.

We had spent the morning to-ing and fro-ing from Heartlands Hospital and Solihull Hospital as well as home, where John had his immunoglobulin treatment at the former hospital, and I had a blood test at the latter.

I popped home mid-morning and was just about to make a pot of tea when the doorbell rang and it was Linda again, returning the cardigan I had left at their house a couple of weeks ago! We had a good natter for half an hour before she set off, heading home to Devon, and I set off back to Heartlands.

Pete and Dawn came for a cuppa and chat-chat in the afternoon, which was lovely. Always so refreshing to see them, even though we talk about our woes! It’s nice to share, isn’t it? Despite our woes being the topic of conversation, we always have a good giggle at ourselves and our spirits are uplifted. Smashing.

At the point of Pete and Dawn’s departure, Paul and Freddie arrived, bearing bags of goodies to make a barbecue meal. Oh, lush! Harriet arrived soon after, and then we were into the throws of playing with Freddie – and boy, did Grandpa have a whale of a time with Freddie-in-a-Box! Howls of laughter coming from the pair of them as the ‘newly-carved-into-the-box-and-designed-by-Freddie‘ windows were opened and closed, and the lid lifted and shut.

Shooed out of the kitchen and away from the barbecue, I wandered into the garden to continue that bit of pruning of the jasmine, and Freddie joined me to play in the sandpit. That was nice. We were chatted companionably as we worked – particularly exclaiming over the spiders, the ants, the unidentifiable bugs and the very-nearly nest in the jasmine. So lovely.

The meat was superbly cooked on the barbecue by Paul, and the salad-y bits were skilfully prepped by Andrew. No work required from John or I. Boom!

As it was such a lovely evening, we took the opportunity to sit outside on the patio to eat our food. Oh, how blessed we all felt.

And, to round off the evening before we had to say our goodbyes, Freddie and I played in the ‘woods’ at the bottom of our garden, hacking our way through the ‘jungle’ and emerging triumphant back into civilisation where mowed lawn meets wilderness. Cool, eh?

Another hospital day today, with John at the Urology Clinic this morning in Solihull, to discuss the state of play with the ‘bag-for life’. Appointment was at 11 o’clock, at which time we duly arrived. We waited patiently for about fifteen minutes, then a nurse came along to say the the Urology Consultant, whom John had been keen to collar, was delayed. He’d been called into theatre to an emergency surgery. Rats!

Fortunately, the senior Registrar took his place and John was able to talk freely and easily to him. After our initial wait of over an hour to be seen, we came away with a plan to trial the ditching of the ‘bag for life’ – although John isn’t holding out much hope of the trial being successful. We’ll see – fingers crossed.

Home again and we had a short break for lunch before I toddled off to see Mum, and Andrew toddled off to see about a temporary job, leaving John to do a tidy-up in the kitchen while we were out.

Mum was a little bit better when I visited today, although she didn’t recognise me at first. However, we soon got into our little way of entertaining each other and she remembered then. We were able to have a chuckle together today, which is the first time for a while, so I came away a bit happier than I had been previously. She is still not eating much, but she has tucked into one or two things this week, so the carers felt a bit more confident that she really is on the mend.

So that’s us, folks! Nearly Friday already! Gosh, where did that week go?

Take care and God bless.

After all the revelry on Sunday, I was tired out on Monday!! John was also tired out so we had a day off and didn’t do anything strenuous at all.

“Can you get up by 10.30?” I asked John, as I took him a cup of tea in the morning. “Yes,” he replied, “Why?” The reason: we had a guest coming at eleven o’clock but I had arranged a doctor’s appointment at 10.30 and wasn’t sure I’d be back in time.

I toddled off to the surgery to bleat about my gippy tummy, where I was ages, finally arriving home at almost half past eleven. Linda had already arrived and she and John were nattering away like nobody’s business. We grinned at each other, “We don’t see each other for years on end and now twice in a fortnight!” exclaimed Linda.

Oh, but it was lovely. We really enjoyed the brief visit and have agreed we must not leave it so long until the next time. Linda is very easy company and it was a pleasure to sit chatting for a couple of hours.

After Linda had left, Andrew and I went to collect the car we’d left at the Kenilworth Social Club. Home again, and John was beavering away on the computer, so I wandered outside to see if I could do any titivating in the garden.

To be honest, we’ve done nothing on the garden this year, apart from plant some dahlias. As I looked round, I was a bit overwhelmed because, of course, everything is suddenly flourishing – weeds ‘n all! Ah, well, you’ve got to start somewhere, haven’t you? So I grabbed a pair of secateurs and set to on the jasmine. It had taken fright over winter and almost all of it was dead wood.

I have noticed one or two other plants have totally died in the garden this winter, which is a bit of a shock as I thought they were nicely established. A visit to the garden centre I think, in week or two’s time.

Meanwhile, John and Andrew had decided to tackle the dining room door. For some unaccountable reason, the door no longer hinged all the way back when we opened it. A new hinge was required and John was on the case. They successfully managed to take the door off, put the new hinges on, and put the door back on again. Boom!

More door fiddling was on the agenda today, though. Apparently , the new hinge had changed the set of the door and so it needed planing down. “While you’re over in Kenilworth having your hair done,” John said, “can you call into Michael’s to see if he’s got my planer? I think I lent it to him.” Yup. I called in, collected the planer and handed it to the handymen in the house. Lots of whizzing, screwing, lifting the door on and off again, and an hour or two later, there it was – a perfect fit! Thank you, boys!

Who knows? We might yet get this house ship-shape! Mind you, give us time. We’ve only been in it 40+ years…….

Take care everyone. God bless.

We had a wonderful day today. Oliver Charles Sleath was christened at St Nicholas’ Church in Kenilworth and a good time was had by all.

The sun shone, everyone wore their Sunday best, the baby was an angel, the cake was a triumph and we celebrated with great food and drink. Marvellous.

We were all up early-ish, showering and putting on our posh clothes and making the last minute preparations to take bits and bobs over to Kenilworth for the buffet. I went over to Rugby to collect Danielle’s Mum, while Andrew and John drove straight to Kenilworth Social Club to get things set up.

The christening service was lovely; just the right balance of informality and solemnity with Oliver definitely star of the show, even having a bit of a laugh at the font. Oliver’s looking a bit unsure, but he dealt with it wonderfully well – not a peep out of him!!

We all piled back to the social club where the frivolities began. The kids had a whale of a time on the bouncy castle; the adults had a whale of a time catching up with each other. It was particularly nice to see Christiana and Mike with their children. It’s the first time I’d met Nicholas, and what a bonny boy he is!!

And here’s darling Freddie, looking as happy as Larry, wearing the mask he’d made. Ah…. I do love a christening party!

Regrettably, we didn’t organise photos of us, so no funky frock photos, as everything happened so fast and furious. Time just swept by and before we knew it, we were feeling weary and saying our goodbyes to everyone by mid-afternoon.

Once home, John had a snooze in bed and I had a snooze on the sofa….. Oh, yes, a good day was had by all.

Take care everyone. God bless.

We have had a very interesting day today.

For a start, I nipped into Kenilworth Books to meet an author who was selling and signing her book in the shop. Lovely lady, and I was glad to have made the effort. Apparently, though, she didn’t make many sales. My purchase made up 50% of the total……. oh, dear! Anyway, I’ll let you know what the book is like when I’ve read it! ‘Cuckoo in the Nest,’ by Fran Hill, is about a girl in foster care, so it’s something a bit different.

Andrew was out early to get his teeth polished at the dentist this morning before planning to hasten home and finalise the christening cake. John would be there to offer a helping hand – or maybe just moral support? Whichever it was, Andrew was grateful for the company.

Meanwhile, back in Kenilworth, I thought I’d slip across the road to see if there were any nice dresses in the dress shop. There were, so I bought one of them. A funky one. Heaven knows what everyone will make of it tomorrow at the christening! Tee-hee!

Having purchased a nice new dress, I then took myself off into Waitrose to buy some crudités for tomorrow’s buffet and then drove to Michael and Danielle’s to drop off a few pashminas for Danielle to choose from. She and Harriet were just returning from Costco having bought all the goodies for the buffet, so it was a thrill to see Freddie and Harriet as well.

When I finally arrived home at mid-day, my first question was, “How have you got on with the cake?” Andrew grinned, “Erm…. not done anything on it yet,” he replied, as he stirred a delicious-looking risotto for lunch. “Not long got back from town. Been buying myself a suit!” Well, would you believe it? We seem to be pulling out all the stops to look nice for the christening.

Anyway, suffice to say that the cake is still in progress and there may be a photo of it tomorrow! Perhaps. If there’s no disaster as it’s transported to Kenilworth in the morning. Meanwhile, please enjoy a pic of Chef in action……

After lunch, I left the boys to it and trotted off to see Mum. She was pleased to see me but had no idea who I was. She smiled at me as I arrived, and said, “Nice to see you” before following up with “Who are you?”. I suspect another water infection but we’ll see – the staff will organise a test on Monday.

Mum was rather confused today and apparently still being awkward about eating, drinking and personal hygiene. Despite that, she complied when I suggested she go to the loo and change her underwear today. And we had a nice time together – so much so, that she was reluctant to let me go, unsure of when she might see me again. I promised another visit in the week and so she blew me kisses as I waved her goodbye.

Home for tea and a bit more cake-faffing. Well, Andrew cake-faffed, while John and I made all sorts of unhelpful suggestions!! I’m sure it’ll be alright on the night!!

Take care everyone. God bless.

Since we arrived home from our little break away last week, we have been very busy one way and another! Andrew is home, having brought everything with him, so it’s been a matter of trying to find homes for everything since Sunday. The house is creaking at the seams! He sent us a video while we were on holiday, in which he walked through the hall, the kitchen, the utility room, the gym and the garage to show us that each space was full to the gunnels.

We haven’t finished the ‘Great Unpacking’ yet, but we hope to break the back of it next week. The attic may be bowing under the weight of it all…….

Danielle and the children came over on Sunday for a roast dinner, which was lovely, while Michael was out and about watching the Coventry City match in the Play-Offs. We had a great time together just chilling out; and then, further excitement just as we were waving goodbye to them: the Kenilworth Originals arrived for a cuppa on their way back from a trip up North. Smashing to see the family so soon after we’d got back from our holiday.

Andrew and I have spent some time during this week digging the house out, in between other bits and bobs. John took himself off to his exercise class on Monday, which was good and he was pleased he went.

However, John has been pretty tired all week, feeling a bit ‘post-holiday blues’ and frustrated that every job he tries to do seems to take for ever. I had suggested a visit to the docs to ask him to up one of his meds, but we’ll see if things improve before he does that.

We had great fun on Tuesday – Michael was working and Danielle had an appointment at the hairdressers for a full overhaul of her hair. Four hours in the stylist’s seat and she came home looking beautiful. John and I looked after Oliver for the morning and a bit of the afternoon. Well, I say ‘John and I’, but John was quite tired and spent some of the time inspecting the back of his eyelids!

Oliver was as good as gold and great company. He’s not daft though. I had sent a photo of Oliver and Chester to reassure Danielle that all was going well. Danielle texted back: ‘Not missing me, then?’ And he wasn’t at that point. However, a bit later on, he crawled with purpose into the hall. Finding no joy there, he crawled into the lounge. Ah…. no Mummy or Daddy! He turned round to look at me, as if to say, ‘Well, where are they then?’ Fortunately, no tears as I was quickly able to distract him, but he was definitely looking for one parent or the other.

We drove into Birmingham on Wednesday morning for an appointment with the immunologist and he said he thought John is doing very well considering the tough times he’s had. It was a good appointment and we came away satisfied. Despite that, John continued to feel tired all day, to the point that he wasn’t keen to stay the course for Quiz night. It turned out that none of us were really, for one reason or another, so we simply had an evening of chat instead, postponing the prepared questions until next week.

More blood tests for John on Thursday down at the surgery, whence he travelled on his scooter as I had the car to go to yoga, and Andrew had taken the other one and stayed over at Paul’s the night before. We both pottered about a bit. John mending the door handle to the lounge, and trip to Screwfix and ToolStation for parts, before we collapsed on the sofa for some evening TV watching.

Andrew and I gathered together a whole pile of stuff – his and ours – to take to the tip on Thursday afternoon and both felt better for getting rid of some junk, but bad about the waste when you see what other people are chucking out!! More sorting to do and another trip to the tip next week, maybe?

And today, John and Andrew have been baking cake ready for Oliver’s christening on Sunday. Danielle was working and Michael had a meeting mid-day, so I toddled over to Kenilworth to look after the two littlies for an hour or two. Once again, had a lovely time, messing about in the garden and the children were as good as gold. Only Chester spoiled the tranquility of our togetherness by doing a bit of barking for what appeared to be no reason at all.

The boys worked hard on the cake(s) which are cooked but not yet decorated…… pics tomorrow if it’s finished!!

And that’s us!! We’ve been on the go all week and are beginning to feel a bit befuddled……hehehe! Take care everyone. God bless.

We had a lovely break away in Cornwall last week. The travelling went well, the hotel was special, the weather was kind and John’s health kept up with whatever was asked. All in all, it was wonderful to get away for a few days.

We weren’t sure how it would all turn out, given that when we arrived at (nearly) our destination, the heavens opened and it absolutely poured down. We had decided to call in at St Ives before driving on to the Carbis Bay Hotel, but it wasn’t as easy as we’d hoped. Nowhere to easily park, and then the heavens opened. So we had a quick cuppa in a café and decided to move on. No sightseeing for us there after all!

The hotel staff in Carbis Bay were great and brought our bags into our upgraded bedroom – nay, suite – for us. Perfect. The only thing we wondered about was how John would get about as it was a bit uphill and down dale. However, he managed exceptionally well, and walked everywhere, including a couple of treks down the stairs to the beach.

The view over the bay was absolutely spectacular and we revelled in the view from our room every single day, feeling very blessed indeed.

The hotel had a spa area, where swimming, sauna and jacuzzi were the order of the day and which I visited frequently. I had thought I might swim in the sea but, after a paddle up to my ankles, decided that it was freezing cold and not for me this time.

On our first day we enjoyed a Cornish Cream Tea – but failed to follow the Cornish way of putting the jam on the scone first…… oops, the etiquette police will be after us!

For our evening meal on the second day, we made our way to the ‘Ugly Butterfly’ restaurant, which is a fine dining restaurant, where we had the tasting menu and really enjoyed it. Marvellous.

We spent one lovely day in Marazion, too, where we visited familiar haunts and whiled away time, watching the boats and people travelling to and from St. Michael’s Mount. Fabulous. And we couldn’t resist a thoroughly tasty pasty from Philps’ either!

On our way home, we popped in to Coverack, another old haunt with fond memories, stopping at the Paris Hotel for a swift pint. Here’s the ol’ man enjoying sitting in the sunshine in the garden. Ah, what memories the visit evoked!! Lovely.

And yet another treat was in store as we wended our way home. Richard and Linda Bones invited us to call in and stay over if we liked. We liked – and so we did! And what a marvellous overnight stay that was! They were such brilliant hosts – great company and just easy to get on with.

John and I were both given a tour of the land that Richard has acquired over the years, with its lake (they call it a pond, but I assure you it’s not!), its woodland, its barns, and the fields with grazing cattle and sheep. Glorious. What an amazing amount of work Richard has put in. It absolutely took our breath away.

Linda created a delicious evening meal when we arrived and then, the following morning, she and I took the dogs a walk while John and Richard went to the land. It was beautiful weather and we had a smashing wander. We then went along to the local church where a wedding was taking place, to listen to the bell-ringing. Linda is a trainee bell-ringer and she was keen to listen to the experts. Such a fabulous experience.

Here we all are, having just arrived on the Friday! Don’t we all look good?

And that was our holiday. We had such a lovely time and came home felling exceptionally blessed – and tired after along journey, but refreshed. I think we’d like to do it all again!!

Take care everyone. God bless.

It was a new one on me. ‘Coronating’ the King. I had never heard of such a thing, but yes, it actually is a bona fide word. Anyway, we thought we’d have a family party. Any excuse to get together, drink champagne, eat lots of lovely food, chatter and play.

We started off with bacon butties and ended with a buffet lunch/tea. But, do you know what? We were having such a good time that we forgot to do the Piñata!! It wasn’t until everyone was going home that I remembered, and by then it was too late. “Never mind,” soothed Danielle, “we’ll have it at Thomas’s party instead.”

The children had a good time, too. “Can we get the craft box down?” Freddie asked. Yes, of course. I popped it on the kitchen table, poured some paint and they dug in. I meandered into the lounge, leaving them to it. Quite a long while later, Harriet went into the kitchen and then came back into the lounge, horrified. “We’ve left the children unsupervised!!” she exclaimed, “There’s glitter everywhere!” Hehehe. Yup! The kids had had a great time!! I wondered why they were so quiet……

Naturally, we had brought toys downstairs for the children to play with but who needs toys when you’ve got other, more interesting stuff………? Hehe! Oliver loves a dishwasher!!

Oliver was clearly having a ‘standing up’ day yesterday. Not quite walking but steady on his pins. “Clap hands!” we all chorused as he stood, looking as pleased as punch with himself as he got ready for bed. And he did. Bless him.

The day was great fun – as it always is with the family. The only thing was, I think we were quite loud. Anyway, after we’d eaten some of the buffet, John felt overwhelmed by it all and took himself off upstairs to lay down on the bed. An afternoon nap is normally a good thing but he didn’t feel so great when he came down again. So, after the family had left about seven o’clock, we just spent a quiet evening together.

The family had tidied up before they left, but there was still a fair bit of crockery waiting to go into the already-busy dishwasher, so it wasn’t quite like the Wrinklies Cartoon in the house, (and sorry for the repeat showing of this, it always makes us chuckle) but this is what we felt like……… and we’ll be discovering glitter for months to come I expect!! Tee-hee!

We had planned to go over to Kenilworth Castle today and watch the Lion King with the Kenilworth Newbies, but it was a slow start for John who is not as well as I’d like him to be – although his cold has improved greatly. He’s feeling weary and everything is an effort. So we decided to stay home for the day – until the plan changed this afternoon!

I had got up early to greet the Ocado delivery driver at 7.30 with all the goodies. I had got fed up doing the order and just allowed a previous order to roll on. Ha! Ha! That was a mistake! I mean, a bottle of Port and a huge bottle of sherry? It must have been the Christmas order….. Anyway, suffice to say that we can’t eat three bags of carrots and two packs of pear, a pineapple, 8 bananas, 2 boxes of mushrooms and so on, before we set off tomorrow for our few days away can we?? I think Andrew is going to eat well when he gets home*……..

Once the shopping was all put away, I suddenly remembered that I’d ordered some play sand from Argos in Kenilworth, so we decided to nip over and collect it, and take some of the excess food to the Kenilworth Newbies. As it was a lovely day, I suggested we might go to the pub on the way back. “Let’s see what time the family will have finished at the Castle,” I said. In the end, it was Michael who phoned us and we had happy hour drinking beer and cider in the sunshine. Nice end to the weekend. Ah…. family!!

……*which reminds me! Andrew will be home this week!! He has waved goodbye to Midsummer House and is moving on to pastures new. Nice tribute from Daniel Clifford on Instagram on Andrew’s last day today:

Take care everyone. God bless. Hope you enjoy the rest of long weekend.

Yesterday was one of those funny days, whereby you whizz about a bit in the morning then, like an untied balloon, you deflate extremely rapidly and flop on the sofa for hours on end thereafter. So, nuff said about yesterday.

Today, however, we seemed to keep going most of the day. Wow! That’s an improvement!

We were up early to go to Solihull Hospital. John drove there and back. He insisted and said he felt up to it. The appointment was for me this time, you see. I had finally got an appointment with the Eye Clinic following my referral from the optician at the beginning of last December.

It transpires that the scans show a lamellar macular degeneration in both eyes, but mostly in the left. It’s a ‘watch and wait’ situation. Fortunately, the chap I saw was very kind and he was quite upbeat, saying that the holes in the macular were ‘quite small’ and not to worry. So I won’t.

On the way home, I had suggested to John that we call in at Oakes’ to buy some goodies for our family get-together tomorrow while we watch the coronation. He was in agreement and, in turn, suggested we stay for a bite to eat. Yep, that sounded good to me!! And who should we see as we walked in? Louise and Dave!! The very same whom we’d had to cancel for lunch on Tuesday! What a lovely surprise.

They posed with us for a photo, but were soon setting off as they were entertaining their Canadian relations and were on their way elsewhere for the afternoon. Fortunately, John’s cold is no longer infectious!!!

This afternoon I left John at home and went with Paul to visit Mum. And what a good time we had!! Would you believe it, but Mum was on top form and quite lucid for a change!!

She didn’t quite remember who Paul was, but knew she knew him somehow. She was absolutely enamoured of him though and couldn’t stop stroking his hair and feeling his muscles. I don’t know how many times she said, “You’ve got lovely auburn hair! Where does that come from?” and then, “You’re very big, aren’t you?”

She thought he had a lovely face, lovely teeth, lovely hair, lovely muscles and was in fact, all in all, just lovely.

We giggled together for the whole of the time we were there. Naturally, with Mum being hard of hearing, there is often a mix-up in what was said, what was heard, and what was interpreted. It always ends in laughter.

Mum had been repeatedly admiring Paul’s hair – and then we got to talking about age. “You are 97,” I told Mum. She could hardly believe it. Paul followed up with, “And I’m forty-two,” Mum looked him up and down, looked back at his hair and said, “You bought it, too?” And, before we had time to respond, she reached out, patted his arms and said admiringly, “It looks like you had a very good buy!”

We plied Mum with cups of tea and water throughout the afternoon to try and keep her fluids up. The first offering of tea was rejected. Mum turned her nose up and said ‘it tasted funny’. Paul called it, and thought was probably too sweet. Ahhh…. yes, it had sugar in it. The second cup of tea was initially rejected because it was too hot. We offered water instead. Mum took a sip and said it was too cold. We decided she would give Goldilocks a run for her money…….

All in all, it was a very enjoyable afternoon. Seeing Paul must have triggered something in Mum’s memory because she did remember quite a few things today – some of which made her sad to remember, but still…. it was a bit of my old Mum back and, after all the worry, she seems to be on the mend, after all. Fingers crossed it stays that way.

Home again and we had a cuppa with Paul before John and I decided to set off for Sainsbury’s. I wanted to buy a Piñata for the children to play tomorrow, and Sainsbury’s website suggested that they might have some in.

John went off to Timpson’s to get a key cut while I walked round and round and round Sainsbury’s and couldn’t see any Piñata. I asked and was directed to the stationery department. Nothing there. I asked someone else. The girl thought they’d be on the bottom shelf…..oh, there weren’t any there. “Amy will know,” she said. But where was Amy? Nowhere to be seen. The girl went to find her and, by luck, did so. “They’ll be on the bottom shelf, if we have any…. oh, there aren’t any there.” My heart sank but I was resigned to coming away empty-handed. Amy suddenly remembered they had shifted some of their stock to Aisle 4 the other day. “You could try there?” she suggested. And, guess what? Success!! Yay!! We’re going to have fun tomorrow!!

Take care everyone. God bless. And thank you for all the healing vibes – John is feeling a lot better today.