A bit mis, really

The news is that mum is not well. It’s been one of those stories, where a UTI knocked her sidewards. We were involved (by phone) with multiple doctor/medic/ambulance visits until she agreed, reluctantly, to go into hospital yesterday afternoon. Now, 24 hours later, the news is pretty dire. I won’t say any more than that, but the prognosis for a return to anything close to normal looks unlikely, if not impossible. One of her close friends has been in this evening as have her two granddaughters (Kevin and Tracey’s). And we hope to get there by teatime tomorrow. It’s all pretty bleak, I’m afraid. There’s a background story behind this which involves the care we put in place and the danger to older people from UTIs, but I’ll leave that. The bottom line is that when you get v old (mum’s 89) any infection can do substantial damage.

No words

Focusing v much on the living we had a lovely time with Rebecca, Steven and Henry. I took them to Geneva airport on Friday and C said that she cried as we left. They have that affect. It was great to give them the opportunity to ski whilst we looked after his nibs. Henry continues to have a draw which I can’t explain. Sure, like any kid, he can be a pain in the backside. But for 70% of the time he is a bundle of absolute joy, so much so that I can’t begin to explain. It was sad to see them go but there is a possibility we might catch up with them over the Easter break.

We’ve left early to get back to see mum. I made the decision that rather than do the French motorways (tolls = 80 euros) we would take the shortest route through Switzerland and use the French A roads, stopping as far north as we could make it. And it has proven to be a sensible choice. The route is lovely, with plenty of long A-road stretches which are typically French … that is empty and easy. And the route out through Switzerland was beautiful. We’ve stopped at St Quentin for the night, just a short 150 miles from Calais, so our assault on the UK will begin in earnest tomorrow. And, you’ll be pleased to hear, the car has been faultless.

and again

I’m OK. My back/rear end has improved, but is not fixed. We’ve agreed to to give it until next Monday. If it isn’t better by then I’ll take professional advice. And I’m still waiting for the publishers to come back ref my mate, Guy’s, book. As such we’ve both hit the pause button until we get news.