Stormy Weather II

[BBMmk2]

17C down here today. Sunny intervals and light clouds. Be good for an outing later!

[Serial_Apologist]

17C down here today. Sunny intervals and light clouds. Be good for an outing later!

Hmm - still only 13 C here despite the sunshine. Made the mistake yesterday, thinking the sun hot enough, of spending the afternoon removing suckers from our roses wearing a T-shirt and no jacket, resulting today in a very stiff upper back. To painful even to do the necksercises presumed to help alleviate it!

[oddoneout]

The wind, while still chilly, is dropping away and the sun triumphed during the morning so things are getting more comfortable. Until the wind changes direction though, the evening, night and early morning are still going to be unseasonably cool, so coats definitely in order.

[BBMmk2]

Quite party today!

[Serial_Apologist]

Quite party today!

Don't tell me, Bbm - you consumed so much alcohol you dropped your indefinite article!

[Lat-Literal]

It was a lovely day.

Sunny.

Not too hot or cold.

Because of his dementia, verbal communication with my father is increasingly difficult for us and him. It is as if English is his second language. He also panics. My mother - more long-winded these days in speech than I can be in writing and two years on from a double heart bypass operation - still shows remarkable resilience but becoming flustered is catching. It is alarming when she flags. The three of us when together appears on the surface no longer to work, especially in their living room. For many years, it worked better than anything else.

Everyone is adamant in their own way. Each dogmatic. Each feels that their individual strengths are not being recognised or utilised so that whoever is managing is not the appropriate one for the task so we are all then usurped by muddle. The loss of a belief in a family system of utter dependability is not eased by the need for a bloke who cannot face being in Central London to be in Central London for health support. And it is exacerbated by the expectation that two vulnerable people in their late eighties should themselves travel to an unknown place halfway into Central London to receive help for a man who can barely find his way to a street two miles away. But scenarios matter. My mother on Monday in accompanying me to my appointment could still have that magic effect of providing me with a sense of stability. Yes. That still works as a one to one, albeit now with worry about her and him back at home, along with her worries about him and his about hers. Highly sociable, she deserved her party at the old people's centre today as a break from us, not that the wedding excites her.

In turn, Dad and I ventured out. He driving. Me being his additional focus. We bought a few cheap plants and seeds and did some work on our gardens. Then we drove to two adjoining roads with some woodland looking for the remaining bluebells. On the short walks through local trees, we were mainly alone. Said little but enough. Both like six year olds enjoying the simplest of pleasures. The experience was extraordinarily worthwhile. Almost profound in how it showed that a one to one works well in almost any circumstances where an oasis can be found. In the woodland, we passed just two women each walking a dog, and one man, not very much older than me, who was walking two dogs on a lead from his disability scooter.

[Serial_Apologist]

It was a lovely day.

Sunny.

Not too hot or cold.

Because of his dementia, verbal communication with my father is increasingly difficult for us and him. It is as if English is his second language. He also panics. My mother - more long-winded these days in speech than I can be in writing and two years on from a double heart bypass operation - still shows remarkable resilience but becoming flustered is catching. It is alarming when she flags. The three of us when together appears on the surface no longer to work, especially in their living room. For many years, it worked better than anything else.

Everyone is adamant in their own way. Each dogmatic. Each feels that their individual strengths are not being recognised or utilised so that whoever is managing is not the appropriate one for the task so we are all then usurped by muddle. The loss of a belief in a family system of utter dependability is not eased by the need for a bloke who cannot face being in Central London to be in Central London for health support. And it is exacerbated by the expectation that two vulnerable people in their late eighties should themselves travel to an unknown place halfway into Central London to receive help for a man who can barely find his way to a street two miles away. But scenarios matter. My mother on Monday in accompanying me to my appointment could still have that magic effect of providing me with a sense of stability. Yes. That still works as a one to one, albeit now with worry about her and him back at home, along with her worries about him and his about hers. Highly sociable, she deserved her party at the old people's centre today as a break from us, not that the wedding excites her.

In turn, Dad and I ventured out. He driving. Me being his additional focus. We bought a few cheap plants and seeds and did some work on our gardens. Then we drove to two adjoining roads with some woodland looking for the remaining bluebells. On the short walks through local trees, we were mainly alone. Said little but enough. Both like six year olds enjoying the simplest of pleasures. The experience was extraordinarily worthwhile. Almost profound in how it showed that a one to one works well in almost any circumstances where an oasis can be found. In the woodland, we passed just two women each walking a dog, and one man, not very much older than me, who was walking two dogs on a lead from his disability scooter.

So sorry to hear about your father, Lats. That he can still drive, dementia notwithstanding, is to be cherished for as long as time allows. I have some idea of what it is like to see a parent succumb to this debilitating condition, having lost my own mother that way.

[Lat-Literal]

So sorry to hear about your father, Lats. That he can still drive, dementia notwithstanding, is to be cherished for as long as time allows. I have some idea of what it is like to see a parent succumb to this debilitating condition, having lost my own mother that way.

Thank you. The driving licence is renewed every three years after 70, subject to health, and he hopes to be 88 in December. That is one of the three yearly points. He will not seek to renew it then. His driving is remarkably good, all things considered. What worries me is that my parents will exhaust themselves by getting to what will be for them the back of beyond. Once there, the help will be no help but hindrance in a false drawing of a link between his communication and his capacity for driving. Sadly, then, I doubt I trust what is to be offered.

(I should add that he only drives about two miles in any direction but it does make a huge difference)

[Lat-Literal]

What a lovely day for the event that we shouldn't be mentioning here.

I'm all for it as long as it doesn't lead to the legalisation of cannabis and any broader Californication.

Fun with flags:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvrtxQaZbSA

[cloughie]

Don't tell me, Bbm - you consumed so much alcohol you dropped your indefinite article!

Either that or it was a dyslexic ‘quiet’! Anyway thw weather today is an Irving Berliner - nothing but blue skies!

[Serial_Apologist]

What a lovely day for the event that we shouldn't be mentioning here.

I'm all for it as long as it doesn't lead to the legalisation of cannabis and any broader Californication.

Fun with flags:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvrtxQaZbSA

The only flags that interest me are the ones people walk on.

Lovely day for it - whatever "it" is.

[Bryn]

The only flags that interest me are the ones people walk on.

Lovely day for it - whatever "it" is.

Well I'm all for celebrating this week's major wedding event.

Here's the happy couple celebrating the delights of vexillology:

[Serial_Apologist]

Well I'm all for celebrating this week's major wedding event.

Here's the happy couple celebrating the delights of vexillology:

[BBMmk2]

Hiya Lats. Sorry to hear about your father’s health problems. Amazing that he drives still, good for him!

Lovely day down here. Which is good for those in Windsor! And good here. So far hay fever is behaving!

[greenilex]

Well, bbm, you have a new Duke and Duchess.

Sounds expensive...