Hello everyone,
It’s very quiet here this afternoon so I’m tempted to get back into bed and catch up on the sleep I lost during the night. The tea trolley is due round soon, however, and I daren't risk missing that – it has become the highlight of the afternoon!
Monday is ‘outing’ day and those residents who are able to get on the mini bus go on a little trip to a mystery location (which, from what I can gather, is generally one of only three possibilities and so, therefore, not that mysterious for those of us with our memory intact). There is always a great flurry of activity which involves rushing through lunch and charging down the corridor with zimmer frames ahead. Coats are donned and then they wait, sweltering, for the next hour and a half for the bus to arrive. There is a great fear of being forgotten.
Unfortunately, the bus is not wheelchair friendly so I have not been able to make a break for it with the rest of the dirty dozen. The prospect of sitting on a bus, staring at the sea and eating ice-cream seems mightily inviting at the moment and my new best friend W was keen for me to join her.
W, bless her, is a no-nonsense northern lady who, despite having shrunk to less than 4ft is, nonetheless, much more mobile than I am. I’m not sure how old she is as it seems to rise every time she mentions it to me – this week she is 100 years old apparently, although last week she was in her mid 90’s. I can understand that you can easily lose track of time in here but that is a little extreme.
She spent some time this morning showing me how her false teeth have become too lose at the top. I had already spotted that though as they do tend to fall out when she speaks. I did try to be helpful and suggest something to keep them in but fear that I may have recommended polyfilla rather than polyfix – oh dear. Apparently she did have some somewhere but somebody stole it during the night (just the sort of thing I would target if I were a burglar). On the bright side, however, she found her glasses in the bottom of her bed; they had been missing for three days.
W used to cook for Agatha Christy who lived in a river-side house not far from here and confided that she could be a bit of a handful “If she liked you, she liked you. If she didn’t she didn’t” The two of them got on like a house on fire and I can see why.
Anyway, the reason I wanted to mention W is to acknowledge the encouragement she has been giving me during my stay here. She thinks I am very brave and a lovely girl (oh, it’s such a long time since I’ve been a girl). When I asked her what she thought of my new haircut last week she said to me, “You look like a film-star darling, now live up to it”. So, here I am: an obese, post menopausal lady with funny shaped joints that don’t work properly but now determined to project Sophia Loren from my every pore. It is the very least I can do. Thanks W. x
Helping others,at any age
A letter from home after a long weekend in hospital part1
More mixed messages about paracetamol and Gabapentin!! Getting frustrated.
