When I phoned our Heating Engineer yesterday morning he pointed out it was:  ‘Car Crash Monday’.  I realised I was lucky to catch Dave, as his phone never stops ringing with callers wanting the problems of the weekend resolved as soon as he switches his mobile on.  True to his word, Craig, one of Dave’s engineers was here by nine and began his investigations into the problems with our boiler.

Maureen stayed in bed as Craig had to turn the heating off to begin his investigations.  She was still in bed when Chloe, our carer arrived.   They were holed up in our bedroom for a while chatting away like mother and daughter.  As I typed in the next room I could hear then catching up on events over the weekend.  Lots of further interesting events followed during the day indicate that Maureen’s recovery from stroke is continuing.

Around noon Maureen advised Chloe that she could go as she wanted to ‘sort out the remainder of the housework herself’.  A short while afterwards she held court yet again on ‘carers coming into our house and disrupting our lives’.  I listened and made supportive noises about it being difficult to know the amount of help we needed.  Later in the day Maureen had been thinking about the support we needed and I found her thoughts very interesting, as my dad would say.

I had popped out for some shopping and been away for about an hour.  Maureen had decided to have a rest rather than accompany me on my shopping mission.  When I returned I fully expected to find her asleep but she was in the kitchen making a hot drink.  She told me that she had been thinking while I was out.  I couldn’t quite grasp the whole of her thoughts but it was something along the lines of we didn’t need to go anywhere else as the ‘ladies’ (as she often calls the carers) could stay with her here if I needed to go to work or visit family:  so we didn’t need to go anywhere else.

I think it is possible that Maureen is asserting that she doesn’t need to go into care.  Her reference to not needing to go anywhere else might well mean that she is o k where we are now.  The positive in all of this is that I can pop out for the odd hour and she is quite comfortable to be left to her own devices.  How I make sense of her packing to go home, in a big way, later in the evening is another matter.  Quite simply, I can’t at the moment and I will just return all the precious items to where they normally go.

By the way we didn’t make the opticians.  Maureen decided that choosing glasses was better left to another day.  My second post of the day will attempt to recount a fascinating exchange that too place at 2.30 am this morning.  I think my dad would describe that conversation as very, very interesting!

I can remember my dear father often using the title of this post.  I would often chat with him and he would say : ‘very interesting’.  I am sure it was a catch phrase from somewhere but I will always remember it as one of his sayings and gives me a lovely reminder of a great dad on this cold morning in Cleethorpes.

Yesterday was very interesting indeed!  Maureen was up by 9 am and in good form for the whole morning.  We had our breakfast together and commented on bird behaviour in the garden.  The good news being that  ‘Blackie’ is back – we think: a blackbird that responds to Maureen’s whistle.  We can’t be sure it’s him, only time will tell when Maureen ventures out and tries to feed him grapes!

The morning went well with Maureen assisting her Chef with preparation of the Sunday Lunch.  My new plan to be a bit tidier in the kitchen was appreciated by my humble assistant – possibly coach.  As always we larked about -even danced- to music  as we prepared lunch.  Music while you cook is always on the menu here.

After lunch we had an afternoon nap with Maureen grabbing a couple of hours of shut-eye.   On waking she was again keen to help with preparing our evening snack – ‘Lilly May Tea’: dedicated to her mother.  Apparently, her mum always steamed crumpets, so I carry on with the family tradition.

Following tea we did a couple of crosswords together.  One to be honest as we both struggeld with the clues of the second.  Our routine is I read out the clues and we take it in turn to answer.  Double points are awarded for silly answers – even more for suggestive ones!  Maureen tired as we both ran out of enthusiasm and decided to ‘close her eyes’ for a while.

Around 9 pm I tried to encourage her to go to bed and failed.  She said she was comfortable and it would be time to get up soon – obviously thinking it was morning.  So I decided to go to bed and woke a couple of hours later to hear her pottering about in the kitchen.   It took me quite some time to persuade her to join me in bed  but eventually I succeeded.

In retropsect I think we had a fairly normal day for a couple of our age.  It was cold outside, so we stayed in and had a restful Sunday.  I think the balance of  activity, stimulation and rest was about right.  It will be interesting to see what others think of  what the old folks got up to yesterday.

For the music lovers or ‘pop pickers’ I couldn’t resist this one: Lazy Sunday Afternoon

It’s 5.30 am in the morning and Maureen woke about an hour ago and got out of bed in a distressed state.  She was very confused about lots of things: particularly about who is in her bed.  I am not going to quote her as I couldn’t possibly recall her words.  Basically she is wondering why strange men get into her bed in the night?  She is talking about the importance of having her own private bedroom.  If people in the Office can’t sort things out, she will go to the Press.

I have had to use all sorts of strategies to try to calm her down.  I am hoping that  she can get back to sleep, although I am concerned about the amount of rest she has needed in the last few days. No such luck for me: I need to reflect on what has gone on, and review my plans for tomorrow..

This morning we are back to Maureen’s fears about men in her bed.  Such concerns often arise and her fear is palpable.  They continue to haunt her when confusion about where she is in her life history surfaces.  Those who are familiar with events in her life understand the origins of her concerns.

I no longer think our plans for tomorrow are safe: Maureen’s presentation this week has fluctuated more than ever.  It is no longer sensible to leave Maureen to her own devices for  more than a short periods of time.  There have been too many instances this week when she has woken up and been totally confused. The sensible option is to postpone my visit to Coventry until we can review Maureen’s current presentation and plan accordingly..