Tuesday

I arrived at The Home as Eve was giving Mum her chewable calcium tablet. While Mum was in the process of spitting it out we had a visitor.

“Hello Shirley!”

Eve did her best to usher our guest out but was met with some resistance.

“That’s not fair! She’s got Maltesers!”

“Would you like one?”

“I’ll just take one and then I’ll go.”

I’d only just got mum cleaned up and put the residue of a half-eaten tablet in the bin when Shirley came back.

“I need a tissue.”

She tried to take the whole box but I took one out for her.

“I need another one”

“OK. Do you know where you’re going Shirley?”

“No”

“Try down that way”

“Will you come with me?”

“No Shirley. I’ve come to see my Mum and I’ve only just got here”

“Oh”

I had thought that Mum was confused because it was still daylight when I got there but she was just generally confused. I got told about her trip up to London and how she’d been worried that I wouldn’t know where to find her. The little ones in bed with her were all asleep apparently. I reassured her that if they’d been up to Town with her then they’d be worn out too. She thought that was reasonable.

Her tea arrived. Normally she gets either a plate of sandwiches or a couple of Weetabix mashed in cream with sugar. She got both today. Trying to make up for a lunch that had been refused I reckoned. She made a pretty good stab at it I thought. Half the sandwiches, three quarters of the Weetabix, all of the smoothie, and a full cup of tea. The colossal burp she produced caught her by surprise.

There was more chat and then I thought I’d try the telly. The best reception seemed to be a channel called That’s TV. The home of classic British TV it says. I left her watching Benny Hill with Kenny Everett and Steptoe & Son to follow. That was the first time since it arrived that she’d shown any interest in the telly. Up to that point, when given the option of telly or radio (which is how I refer to Alexa) she’d go for the radio.

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