P&O SUE

Busy on here this morning! I’m trying to read in between my work calls! Big development here, my sister and bro in law (who is a nurse) came up on Tuesday and took my mum to lunch while we did some shopping. Unknown to us before they picked her up they visited a couple of nursing homes and said one was horrible and one was lovely and had a free room. We went to see it the next day with Mum and it was lovely. So… she’s moving in on the 29th!! She’s been here since 11th October so it will be strange without her! I felt so bad though for ‘abandoning’ her and both me and my sister had a cry! Even though she is hard work ! I really hope she likes it, she has a light airy room with a view over grass and a tv in the room and an en-suite. They have activities every day and a doctor and hairdresser who visit once a week! Just have to hope she likes it….

I was going to say that! Or tell them what you’re using it for! I, at least, put mine for recycling 😇

Good luck with everything Michelle.

Never fear, a lot of people aren’t voting for Layton as they see him as a ringer. I want Ellie to win, I couldn’t stand her character on Corrie but she’s so different in real life. At the end I’ll know if I’m pleased or not who wins but at the moment I’m rooting for Ellie.

In lighter news we’ve just binge watched ‘The Good Ship Murder’ over a couple of afternoons! It was enjoyable fluff! I really liked Shayne Ward’s singing at the end of each episode. Bit daft plots, but I enjoyed the scenery. Has Shayne been in the Limelight Club? He’d be good I reckon.

I hope you get this sorted soon Dave, I’m gutted for you. Not great for some of us Medway people lately!

Hi Sarah, I’m sorry for all your problems and know exactly how you’re feeling. Hope things start to improve soon. At least you have your sister to help. Mine is a good 2 hours away so most of it is falling on us. She said today they had a nice trip to the cinema, lucky her I thought!! My mum has been staying with us since the 11th October when my Dad went into hospital. He sadly passed away a week later so we’re stuck in limbo really. She’s not safe to be left alone but she’s very stubborn and isn’t keen on a home. On top of all that John broke his arm sometime between my dad dying and the funeral! No driving for him! His cast is finally off now so he’s done couple of short trips which is good. It’s really too cold to be at a bus stop! He’s been signed off work til the 30th December!

Regarding post, we don’t get a lot nowadays but it is a bit hit and miss at the moment. My poor mum is frantic though, in her flats their post is bad any time of year because the postmen can’t get in the main door! She regularly got loads one day a week. She now hasn’t had any for three weeks!! We went to our local sorting office yesterday and asked. He said there wasn’t any for her, I wasn’t convinced he’d looked but hoped it was out for delivery. John went over there today but still nothing 😔 she should have had a weekly magazine and also a credit card bill. I phoned the credit card though and paid it over the phone. I got a couple of Christmas cards the other day that took about 4 days to get here so not bad. It’s normally at least 2pm before our post arrives though.

Thanks all for your thoughts, my mum has got one of those alarms she can wear round her neck, but she hardly wears it! 🙄 Obviously if she goes back to her flat we’ll have to insist she does. I also have Power of Attorney which has been invaluable in sorting out her bills and shopping. Luckily we are at the same bank so I can easily switch between our accounts. My son took my mum out for a couple of hours this morning, shame I was working! I’m getting a bit panicked how close to Christmas it’s getting now. I’ve got peoples main presents, it’s the little bits and surprise presents I’m not sure of! I did ask my sister if she was planning to come up again before Christmas so she is coming up Tuesday so might get some shopping done then. Hope all is well with you all. Haven't heard from @SarahHben for a while?

Thank you Avril, my parents moved from the family home to a ground floor flat in 2022 but obviously there are still plenty of things then. I’ve had a look at a few online and you can take your own chair etc to some I’ve noticed. As well as her falls her eyes aren’t great either and her speech is often not clear either. I said to her what would she do if she fell and she said she’d call an ambulance but often her speech is very bad on the phone so I’d be afraid she couldn’t. It very sad.

Sounds crazy! I don’t own any Christmas jumpers - bah humbug!

I think that too but hey ho!

No we haven’t yet as John’s not driving yet and I don’t drive! You couldn’t make it up could you!

We’ve had proper overnights in Amsterdam and the crew were manning the doors all night, they looked very cold at 10pm bless them! I’m guessing they didn’t do very long on the doors on the ‘night shift’.

I agree on both points. Not all ports are easy to find but Amsterdam has always been reliable.

Morning all, just checking in. Sorry there’s too many pages for me to read everyone’s news. Life is just Groundhog Day at the moment, work, look after mum. Go to her flat to see no post again! Over 2 weeks at the moment since she’s had post it’s ridiculous. Next Tuesday my sister and brother in law are coming up to give us a couple of hours of respite! One piece of good news- John’s cast is off! However they’re still advising he doesn’t drive just yet and he’s been signed off work til 30th December! He had his first physio session yesterday so I hope that will help. Mum is being adamant she doesn’t want to go to a care home, I don’t know what to do! She’s really unsafe on her own. She wants to go back to her flat but I would be worried sick constantly if she did. There is a letter I’ve read from her Parkinson’s nurse that says ‘she can fall in any direction’ and that sums it up!

Although on the plus side for Lloyds I was dreading having to go to the town further away to sort out my Dad’s accounts. Luckily most of them were joint accounts with my mum. I have Power of Attorney on their accounts and that section of the bank has always been very helpful when I phoned them. So I rang them thinking I’d probably have to make an appointment to go down there. She did it all on the phone - sent me an email that I replied to and had to upload the death certificate and it was all done! I was very impressed, the new cheque book arrived and my dad’s sole accounts were closed and the funds put in my mum’s account within a week or so!

My friend worked for Lloyds all her working life ( and me for most of mine - was TSB first) She told me the other day she’s written a letter of complaint to them . Her Dad is 88 and goes to the next town to do his banking as our nearest one shut last year. He was very upset as he was told very rudely he couldn’t go to her till for what he wanted to do and he had to go to some pod area. He likes to chat to a cashier. They are both planning to change their bank to Nationwide now!

I remember that, the machine was very noisy!

Morning all, life is just jogging on here, feel like we are in lockdown! Ridiculousy excited as my sister is coming up tomorrow and is taking my mum for lunch and going to her flat to pick up any post. John and I are going to get on a bus to the local shopping centre and have some lunch out ourselves! It’s the little things….

Well done on your promotion Damian!

They used to be called Baker days when my son was little, after the Education secretary at the time who ‘invented’ them!

John agrees with you on the clingfilm in the shower business! He’s finally got an appointment at the fracture clinic at the hospital but the voicemail didn’t make it clear if the appointment was this Thursday or next! Apparently a letter has been sent but how long it will take to get here is the problem!

Morning all, life is chugging on here in fairly boring fashion. We all really miss going out in the car! It was my birthday on Thursday but it was a fairly boring day. John cooked us a nice meal. Friday was better as son, partner and grandson came to dinner which they cooked and we heated up. Pudding was chocolate and Baileys cupcakes that Amy made, yummy! We seem to be having post issues again, I had most of my birthday cards the day before but yesterday I got three, one had a first class stamp and had taken 3 days!! I had also given up looking at 2pm (we have a porch and have to open the door to look) and John found them when he locked up before we went to bed! We should have been having a long weekend at Centre Parcs this weekend so I’ll be off work tomorrow but I do feel a bit grumpy! Pictures are the gin that was a present from my son and the cupcakes!

That sounds gorgeous.