Maureen and I met on the landing at 4 am this morning embarking on two different missions: mine to make the bathroom; hers to get up.  We had landed in different quarters last night as she wanted the marital bed to herself.  This followed an elongated getting ready for bed session with lots of distress and confusion.

We had a reasonable day yesterday with a fair amount of activity interspersed with a couple of siestas.  I’m beginning to wonder if resting is due to tiredness or boredom on Maureen’s behalf.  There’s an interesting post by The Unforgettable Team that may help me to shed some light on this issue.

This is the second day running we have cancelled the Carer Sit.  In some way it is our Bank Holiday from Strangers being in our home as Chloe and Gail, two of our regulars, are on leave.  This doesn’t mean I’m confined to quarters as Maureen likes to have the house to herself while I pop next door for a chat or go for a walk around the block.  It was lovely to be greeted by a warm smile yesterday as Maureen waited for my return as she stood at the back door.  I always use a couple of whiteboards to remind her where I have gone when I pop out and suggests she takes a key with her if she decides to go out by herself: preserving a semblance of Maureen’s independence is vital at this stage of our journey.

I need to restrain my temptation to encourage Maureen to join me in a trip to see relatives.  She clearly doesn’t want to make a long journey away from here – every time the phone rings she is anxious to remind me that we are not planning to go anywhere: I also get the impression that she would be reluctant to receive visitors.

As we often say we are planning an ‘Easy Day’ today with a couple of walks like yesterday. Pottering in the garden also beckons as there is always something we can find to do to pass the odd half -hour in the fresh air.

The beauty of being retired is that we know we don’t have to go to work tomorrow: although I’m sure Maureen will ask me what time I have to be on duty in the morning!

Footnote:  I couldn’t resist the Lancaster as I never miss the opportunity to pay a tribute to my dear old dad who was a Tail End Charlie flying on over 30 missions.  When you consider the casualty rate of Bomber Command we were very fortunate children indeed!

Edit:  At 8 am all sorts of things are wrong and Maureen doesn’t even want another cup of tea so she is ‘staying in bed’: hope she sleeps it off!