Wednesday

“Got any thoughts on where we take The Dog today?”

“Nope.”

We were both a bit short of thoughts today after yet another poor night’s sleep. Dehydration probably. Not even a 2am cup of tea helped. With Lesley being out of the house all day yesterday she was unable to carry a drink as well as all the other stuff she was taking back to her dad’s house and I didn’t get my usual prods to have a drink either.

“Are we letting her choose where we go then?”

The Dog has instituted a new rule. She prefers to be driven somewhere for her first walk of the day and after relieving herself will head in the direction of my car unless we’re able to convince her otherwise.

One look at Lesley told me she didn’t have the mental strength to argue.

“OK then. I’ll take a car key. Just in case.”

The Dog has cut her walks at The Copse short on the last couple of visits so we headed for The Hill instead – a decision I only made after starting the car and driving off.

It was busy. We got the last space in the car park and we’ve never seen so many people walking their dogs there. Fortunately, they’re a well educated and sympathetic lot there. They all seem to react appropriately when they see The Dog wearing a matching orange harness, collar and lead ensemble. Even though all the other owners were careful to give The Dog plenty of space and stopped their dogs from running up to ours I was proud that she remained so calm. She’s come a long way. Even so, after only 45 minutes walking she stopped and gave us the look the unquestionably said

“I’ve had enough now. The car’s this way.”

We didn’t argue. We’d all had enough. It wasn’t as picturesque as it had been last time we were there. The grass is left unmown so that the skylarks can nest in peace. Someone on the council must have decided that they’d had enough time to get a brood fledged and away and the grass was hacked down except for the verges by the hedgerows. All that was left were the tail end of the Knapweed flowers and the Wild Carrots. The skies were silent.

The grass was flat. We felt flat. Lesley was still ruminating on not being able to find the right book to help her get through the forms for her dad’s and my Mum’s estates and also on the size of the estimates from the solicitor to sort them out. But, neither estate is quite as straightforward as we’d first thought and a mistake now could cost a fortune. She’s under quite enough stress as it is now. Time to bite the bullet and hand the job over. She did say that the bills shouldn’t be as high as the estimates given how much work had already been done.

After coffee I admitted to having had a bit of energy to start tackling the huge DIY list that had grown while I’d been preoccupied with visiting Mum.

“I’ve got a list of stuff I need. I’m going to do a quick run to The Sheds.”

“Oh! If you’re going that way there’s some stuff I need from the supermarket. Would you mind?”

“Er, no.”

It’s been a while since I’d been to that supermarket and it’s been ‘Upgraded’ since I was last there. I couldn’t find a thing and it felt like I was doing a full lap of the store for every single item on the list.

Bloody hell.

Author’s Note

My Mum was in a nursing home in the Thames Valley for a year and a half until she passed away in December 2024. My Father-in-law went into the same home the following January. But Lesley’s sister didn’t approve and made the situation so awkward that he had to be moved. He passed away in March 2025. Names and locations have been changed or hidden to protect the identities of those involved.

Image Credit

Original Image by Nick Gilmore. July 2025.