Sunday

The car dashboard had given a reasonable impression of the Christmas lights we hadn’t been able to enjoy on the drive home last night. First the warning that one of my headlight bulbs had failed, then the low fuel warning light and finally, low tyre pressure.

I had thought that that was going to be enough nonsense from the car. But I was wrong.

I was woken by a loud crunch. I looked out of the bedroom window to see my next-door neighbour looking at the back of his car and the front wing of mine. He’d reversed his car off his drive a little too enthusiastically straight into mine.

He was mortified.

“Don’t stress yourself mate. Listen, with the list of problems we’re dealing with right now, this barely registers.”

He promised to get it sorted and nothing I had to say could’ve made him feel any worse than he already did.

Lesley hadn’t slept a wink all night. Dad had been up and down to the bathroom all night.

“He’s not fit to be taken into The Hospital for his MRI is he?” she said.

“No. Just let him sleep.”

I got given a list of things to take back over, checked that my car was still driveable, fed The Dog and headed off.

He did look bad, I have to say. He was uncomfortable but was unable to express whether he was in pain or not or where the discomfort/pain was. No doubt about it though, the Tummy Turmoil that had blighted his life since Christmas was back.

I don’t know how or why it happens but I, we, always underestimate the disorienting effect that the chaos that surrounds him has. I’d hoped to be able to get to a store to buy a new headlamp bulb. Instead, I limped home on one headlamp through the gathering mist leaving Lesley to endure another night supervising him.

Bloody hell.

Author’s Note

My Mum is in a nursing home in a small village in the Thames Valley. The photo is not of the home. I used an AI image generator to give the reader some idea of the home she’s in.

All, some or maybe even none (you’ll never know!) of the names have been changed to protect privacy and hide real identities. If you think you recognise someone then let me know and I’ll edit the post or remove it entirely