Poor service

It was with quite a lot of trepidation for all of us that we planned Grandma's discharge from hospital on Monday 6th November. She was desperate to get home; by this time she had been in hospital for five weeks. We had a few days notice so we had a bit of time to get her new care package into place. I have to say that South Lanarkshire Council has been generous in providing three carer visits per day for her, and we have added in an extra private visit at lunch time. This means that she has help to get up, has all of her meals prepared, and has assistance to get washed and go to bed at the end of the day.  She also has a cleaner twice a week and I shop for all her food. Nevertheless it has been a difficult transition for her, which I can understand; she was nervous about how she would cope after being in hospital for so long and she doesn't like the fact that it's a changing team of carers, which unfortunately can't be helped. I don't think that she realised just how "entertained" she was in the hospital; she enjoyed complaining about the nurses and making remarks about the other patients!
However there have been lots of good things; she is visited every day by family, she is back in her own comfy bed, she has her own television rather than the one she could hardly see at the end of the ward, and she has been able to get her hair properly styled again. She has been practising walking around the house with her zimmer although she is still very frail, so hopefully her strength will continue to increase and she can get back to some of her old independence. We have arranged for her optician to visit, new carpets, physiotherapists, a personal alarm, and a doctor's visit to check that she is continuing to recover.
We took her for a run in the car up the Clyde Vally on Saturday and we went for coffee at Sandyholm Garden Centre, and she really enjoyed getting out and about. Yesterday one of the care team came round to see her and I went along too; when asked how she feels about the care package, Grandma replied in all seriousness, "The service just isn't very good." She couldn't specify what she wanted to be done differently but I think that what she really wants is to go back to how things used to be, before she needed all of this help. And sadly, that's one thing that we cannot provide. My heart goes out to her. 

Mystery Saturday

When we were discussing what we were going to do on the first weekend of November, I suggested to James that I would plan a “mystery Saturday” for him. Apart from visiting Grandma in hospital at 7 pm, the day was completely free. I decided that for James to enjoy a day of leisure it would have to include a walk, so when he was out with friends on Friday evening I perused a book of walks in the West of Scotland. I finally decided on a walk in the Clyde Valley, starting at the village of Crossford. We have been visiting the fruit farms and garden centres of the Clyde Valley all of our lives, but rarely go for a proper walk there (apart from at New Lanark and the Falls of Clyde, or Lanark Loch). This is because nearly all of the places to visit are right beside the road that goes up the middle of the valley, so we usually just drive there. However I found a three hour walk in the book which looked promising. The route started just north of Crossford, climbed gently on a track through fields to the village of Netherburn, and then descended along a disused railway track to Craignethan Castle, and onwards through the Nethan Gorge back down to Crossford. What could possibly go wrong?
Well I will tell you - MUD! The first part turned out to be possibly the muddiest walk we have ever had the misfortune to embark on! The path was very faint as it followed the edge of several fields, and it was so muddy! We had to pick our way from clump to clump of grass, which were dotted through the sea of mud. Our boots and trousers were soon completely trashed and sometimes it looked so deep that I was quite worried that if I fell in it could go up to my waist. It took ages to get to the top of the hill with the mud sucking at our boots every step of the way, and although he didn’t complain much, I could tell that James was not impressed with my choice of walk! When we turned along the disused railway track at Netherburn it was very pleasant at first, but mid way it turned into series of huge puddles; we had keep right to the edge to get past and my arms were raked by hawthorn bushes. Then I tripped over a fence wire which cut into my shin, leaving a purple welt across the front of my leg. Happily our walking conditions improved as we approached Craignethan Castle. It is a very impressive 16th century ruin which was built by a member of the Hamilton family. From there we walked through the attractive wooded Nethan Gorge, along delightfully dry paths scattered with Autumn leaves.
The next part of my plan involved scones at one of the nearby garden centres, however we were so dirty - even my face was splashed with mud - that we decided to head home instead where we had a coffee and then warm baths.
Undaunted by our ordeal, we went on to the next part of my plan, an outing to the cinema after visiting Grandma at Hairmyres in the evening. We visited the new "Odeon Luxe" in East Kilbride, which has reclining chairs. There was no food ordering and delivery during the film, like the time we went to a luxury cinema in London, however the seats were very comfy. The film was Murder on the Orient Express. We enjoyed it although it's such a well known book and film that we knew the ending already, in common with about 99% of people I should think, so that did detract a bit from the point of going to see a murder mystery film. It was very much a Kenneth Branagh production, with him playing Hercule Point complete with lavish moustaches, and it was entertaining enough. 
I felt that my "mystery Saturday" had been moderately successful, and next time it would be James' turn to plan a day out for us.

Bringing things up to date

James has complained to me that my blog posts have been skipping about between past and present recently, and he finds it confusing. So no more retrospective blogs for now, even though there were lots of other pleasant happenings in October, not least a couple of trips to Dundee to visit David and Chanel.
So now it’s back to three of us in the house - James, Ally and me. Or should I say five, including Tom and Floof. Ally has started his first graduate job as a trainee solicitor and I am very proud of him.
Floof still annoys Tom when she wants to play with him while he is having a nap, but Tom definitely seems more comfortable around her - he looks less horrified by her antics. Floof just loves Tom and hopefully will be a good companion for him. She is so funny and currently specialises in leaping high into the air and is a bit bitey and scratchy. She has been to the vet for her first jag and is healthy and gaining weight. She is very vocal and has a strange wee voice - a hoarse shout. Ally told us that he said “Meow” to her and she replied “Baaaa” like a sheep! Our first three cats, Tess, Jack and Jill, all knew how to meow beautifully - but Tom and Ruby just say / said “Eeeee!” and now Floof has her weird bleat! She also has a quite alarming and loud scream that she uses when she is over-excited, which is quite often. She watches Tom going out and in through the cat flap and I’m sure that she would love to go outside but she will have to wait a few more months. However Tom has brought in two dead mice for her this week (at least they were dead when I found them, poor wee things!) Floof was enjoying playing with them and was absolutely furious when I took them away from her!

Last Night of the Proms

Having just enjoyed a couple of days in London I am reminded of another visit there in September, when James and I went to see the Pink Floyd exhibition at the V & A. It was only after I had booked tickets for this on 9th September that I realised that it was the same date as the Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. It seemed to me that it would be a fun idea also to go to this very famous and traditional evening. However I then found out that all of the tickets had been sold out months previously. The very pleasant lady at the box office suggested to me that I try for “returns” a week or two before the concert, so I made a note in my diary and when the time was right I started phoning the box office daily. There were still no tickets to be had, and with two days to go I had almost given up hope, when suddenly two tickets became available in the choir stalls. I was delighted and booked them straight away.

So off we set for London and it turned out that the Royal Albert Hall is only five minutes walk from the V & A, where we were going to our exhibition - how convenient! Pink Floyd is really James’ taste rather than mine, however I was very happy to go along to the “Their Mortal Remains” exhibition and I really enjoyed it. Before we went in we had time for coffee and a scone sitting outside in the sunshine in the V & A’s charming courtyard area. The exhibition charted the fifty years since the group released their first single, using photos, films, design and art installations. We moved through the exhibition in chronological order, from album to album. It was tremendously popular so was very busy, and there was plenty to see as well as listening to music and commentary on headphones as we went round. In the last room you could lie on the floor to watch and listen to Pink Floyd’s music videos.

We then strolled the short distance to the Royal Albert Hall. We had booked a pre-theatre meal in the Elgar Room so that we would be very handy for the concert, and the food was very good. The setting was tremendous with views of the hall’s dome and nearby buildings from the window, all lit up orange by the late afternoon sun. 

Our seats for the concert were behind the orchestra - I hadn’t had any choice of seats when booking but these turned out to be excellent; we could see over the orchestra to watch the prommers milling about happily, and the conductor was facing us! The soloists were of course facing away from us but it didn’t matter as we could also see them on large screens. The evening was great fun. There was a fantastic celebratory atmosphere as all the famous traditions were carried out, including two prommers putting a wreath on the bust of Sir Henry Wood, and lots of flag-waving with many countries represented. There had been a pro-European demonstration earlier in the day and lots of people were waving EU flags as well as Union Jacks. Of course the best thing of all was the music. One of my favourite parts was Sibelius’ Finlandia Hymn, which is so beautiful. The conductor was Sakari Oramo and he presided over the evening with warmth and humour.

Sir Henry Wood’s “Fantasia on British Sea Songs” was wonderful to hear and to be part of. The prommers pretended to weep during Tom Bowling, we stamped our feet faster and faster during Jack’s the Lad which was also accompanied by horns honking, and sang along to Rule Britannia. The soloist for this was the brilliant Nina Stemme who appeared wearing a Wagnerian helmet which looked magnificent. We finished with Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance, Jerusalem, and the National Anthem. All powerful stuff and very moving. It was a truly memorable day. 

The British Museum

On Tuesday morning Cat and I went for breakfast to a restaurant called Vinoteca near her office, which is in the excellent up and coming area at Granary Square that I visited yesterday. Vinoteca is in St Pancras Square and it was great having breakfast looking out at all the people walking past and at Jacques Rival's giant birdcage installation in Battle Bridge Place. The bars are wide enough for people to walk in and in the centre of it is a swing! Needless to say we had a quick swing there after breakfast which was great fun! Then it was time to say goodbye to Cat as she headed in to work. It really has been grand seeing her.
My next destination was the British Museum, where I was meeting Jennifer. I asked to meet her there because it's handy for St Pancras Station (only half an hour's walk) and also I have never been there before and I fancied having a look round. We met at the front gates and had a lovely time wandering around the exhibits and chatting. Of course we had coffee and cake in the 3rd floor café which had an elegant and relaxed atmosphere. I would love to return there and delve deeper into the exhibits so I bought a guide book for future reference. But on Tuesday I was more interested in chatting with Jennifer and it was a beautiful setting as we strolled round cracking jokes about Grecian urns.
Then we headed to St Pancras Station where Jennifer treated me to a delicious lunch in the little Fortnum and Mason's shop there, which has a café in it. It was quite quiet which was great; I think that a lot of people in the bustling station outside don't realise that the café is there. Coincidentally (since I saw it last Saturday), music from La Traviata was playing in the background.
After we said our farewells, I took the train (and shuttle bus) back to Luton Airport in plenty of time for my 6 p.m. flight to Edinburgh. I was home by about quarter past eight where I found James and Alasdair wholesomely watching a Ray Mears television programme about American Pioneers. 

London with Cat

On my arrival in St Pancras station on Monday I had several hours to myself before meeting up with Cat. As readers will know, this is never a problem because I am always happy to amuse myself. So I went for a wee walk to nearby Granary Square, which has dancing fountains in the centre and is situated right beside Regent’s Canal. There is a lot of renovation work taking place on the old buildings around the area - as James often says, “It’ll be nice when it’s finished!” - it’s shaping up to be very attractive and trendy indeed.
I nipped into the friendly Lighterman pub and had a tasty lunch overlooking the canal towpath, which was very picturesque. I then walked along the canal for a bit admiring the barges including one that is a bookshop!
It was so great to see Cat. She looked gorgeous and very professional in her work clothes and we went for a drink before dinner and caught up with each other’s news. Cat then treated me to dinner in a French restaurant called the Brasserie Zédel, which was only about eight minutes walk from the Noel Coward Theatre. The food was classic traditional French in a magnificent Art Deco dining room; I had the boeuf bourguinon which was delicious - much more tender than the one I made last week - I must keep trying! After coffee and petit fours we made our way to the theatre, where our seats were in the front row of the circle, affording us an excellent view of the stage.
The play was Labour of Love by James Graham and starred Martin Freeman and Tamsin Greig. It is a political comedy about a Labour MP and his constituency manager over a period of 27 years, recounting the many changes in the Labour Party over that time. If that sounds a bit dreary - it’s not! It’s actually both thoughtful and hilariously funny. The dialogue is very sharp and both of the lead actors were amazing - the supporting actors were good too, especially Rachael Stirling as the MP’s wife. It had an interesting time line; starting in the present day then going back in time, scene by scene to about 1990 - and then moving forward along the same time line to the present day again. So each scene is further developed as it comes round again. Cat and I both enjoyed it very much. At the end we went round to the stage door where a small crowd were waiting to see members of the cast leaving; however the security man came out to say that Martin Freeman and Tamsin Greig had already left - no doubt they had both slipped out through a different door! However, to our surprise David Walliams came out of the door instead - and he isn’t even in the cast! I presume that he had also been in the audience and had gone backstage to visit his actor pals. We took the tube back to our hotel; it was a lovely evening with much chat and laughter.

Reflections on a journey

On Monday I found myself on a train from Luton Airport to St Pancras, on my way for a two day mini break during which I met up with both Cat and Jennifer. It was a beautiful Autumn day, a bit warmer than the frosty morning I had left behind me in Scotland - the first frost of the season! I love travelling through places and imagining what it would be like to live there. After all there are so many other lives, and my undoubted fondness for Glasgow and Lanarkshire is nevertheless founded on the choices of my forebears. James and I have never broken away from our roots - in fact on Sunday I walked in a reflective mood past my very first house. It’s only two streets away from where I live now - and the driveway laid by my Dad at the beginning of the 1960s is still there with the pattern he imprinted on it. James’ first house is only five minutes drive away and in fact he spent most of his childhood living five doors along from our current house (we have lived here for twenty-eight years!) - and his Mum still lives there.
So it this a good thing? After all our children have had continuity and security as they grew up. And we live in a pleasant leafy suburb with easy access to both city and countryside. However should we spread our wings?