Just another day
The date was already in our diary. Wednesday 12 June. A room had become available in the local (excellently rated) care facility and it had my m-i-l Bettine’s name on it. We’d had the conversation with her many times but her dementia meant that every time was the first time she’d heard of it. My Hero was dreading the transition because, needless to say, she was resistant to the whole idea.
My alarm was set for 5.45am as usual on Tuesday morning but waking at 5.30 and mindful of the long list of things to be done in preparation, I turned it off and turned over. I could manage without a swim this morning. I put some washing in the machine, including several things for Bettine, whose washing machine stopped working yesterday. Did it know?!
I waited for the school traffic to disperse and with my funny little list in hand, jumped into my car to run a few errands. The first part of my journey was the same route I drove daily for fifteen years, taking Edward to school. I smiled as I passed by , thinking of how those years seemed to last forever and yet now, looking back, were over in a flash. I drove on further, into the countryside and over the motorway to a business park on the edge of the city and my first destination.
It wouldn’t usually be my supermarket of choice, but I needed to be in this area and I thought it might fulfil the first few things on my list. Bettine needed a few “supplies” - toiletries and one or two basics like tights and undies. Not only that, but we’d been advised to not take any woollen items because of the laundry issues. Hmm. Almost all of her cardigans and sweaters were wool or cashmere, so I needed to find some “easy care” replacements. Maybe I’d find some here?
Well, I soon realised that the world is not really geared up to the needs of a 99 year old woman. I didn’t find any of the clothing basics here at all and left with a toothbrush and a pack of nice soap for her.
Though one or two other bits might have caught my eye 😉
Actually, Arthur was on my mind as I worked out my next stop. Whilst we were with him at the weekend, Amy showed me a couple of pairs of the sweetest, softest little summer trousers she’d found. I immediately knew they’d be a cinch to make and offered to have a go, knowing that one source of the fabric would be Higgs and Higgs just along the road from here. This was where I’d bought the double gauze for his blanket and the little trousers were made of that very same fabric. The thing is, the store isn’t easy to find and I always need to set my satnav to get there!
But get there I did, choosing some plain blue which has a bright gingham check on the reverse
and some sage green, with a large check on one side and a smaller one on the reverse.
Happy with my purchases, I looked at my list. I really did need to find those things for Bettine and found the directions to somewhere I hoped might have them. It was a shop-within-a-shop in a nearby Garden Centre of all places. I thought of my f-i-l Richard there, for it was his favourite destination when he needed supplies for his well-loved-garden. As I parked the car, I noticed how it’s remained a popular place for elderly couples out for coffee and a bit of a browse around on a Tuesday morning. No wonder a brand of clothes aimed at older ladies had an outlet here.
But I looked around and could see nothing of the kind of thing I was looking for. I could hear her voice, “oooh, much too bright dear”! Asking for assistance however, I was shown through into the next area to find the Edinburgh Woollen Mill (which is not a mill in Edinburgh nor does it offer woollen things!)
Thankfully I soon found a navy acrylic cardigan, a smart navy and cream skirt and a pale aqua easy-care blouse. I hoped she’d approve, but was really more hopeful that they’d blend into her wardrobe without her noticing!
I needed my coffee when I arrived home. It was already lunchtime and there were still things to do on my list.
My afternoon task was to label everything that she would take with her. Thinking ahead, last week I had ordered some name tapes. Here in the country of school uniform, where children are all wearing similar clothes during their school life, we are used to ordering name tapes and I still have a bundle of Cash’s Woven tapes with Edward Thomas upon them. Actually, there are two sizes of Edward’s name tapes in my box, for his sports kit had to have larger, EDWARD THOMAS tags on them, for sewing on the outside of each piece of sports kit. These had to be sewn in and at the beginning of a new school term, we school mums would mutter about the number of the things we had to sew in!
In searching online for the website to order them, however, I found a company targeted at people like me. The Care Home Label Company offered an assortment of labels including some to stick on things - aaagh! I hadn’t thought about that! We smiled when they arrived in this wallet however, and wondered what their marketing team had had for breakfast on the day they dreamed up that little bit of sales bumf!?!
Actually, I found attaching name labels to everything pretty depressing - the need for such things in underwear and tights seems rather sad. Still, it had to be done.
Whilst I ironed-on and peeled-off, my Hero was busy with his screwdriver, putting together our IKEA purchase from the weekend, ready for Arthur’s visit in a couple of weeks. His father’s favourite pandas Jiminy and Jess await his arrival! (And I need to find the mattress protector which is here somewhere!)
With a couple of hours to spare, I couldn’t resist cutting out a pair of little trousers from the sage green fabric and firing up my sewing machine! I didn’t get much further than sewing on a couple of little pockets though, because last weekend, I’d read a rave review of the Royal Opera House’s production of Andrea Chénier and spotted it was to be shown live at our local cinema. Two tickets hastily booked!
We were glad to plonk ourselves down in those comfy seats last evening, then, to watch what was indeed a spectacular performance by my favourite hunkentenor Jonas Kaufmann.
And what of today, the “big day” itself? It was far from easy, for the news of her move came, once again, as a surprise to Bettine. But she went along -somewhat reluctantly - with us and though we left a small, confused and rather bewildered lady sitting in strange surroundings, we know that she will be well cared for in a safe place. We will call in to see her in the next few days and deliver the things that we forgot…for however many lists and bags of things we had prepared, needless to say, we didn’t remember everything.
We bought ourselves fish and chips and sat on the common for lunch.
