Unbelievable!

'It would try the patience of Angels.'  (Eddi Reader)Wednesday........midweek, the second day back at school, after Christmas, for those in the UK but for those of us at 7 Celtis St, chuckling about the school life we left behind.....it is just another 'shower' day.Our day is leisurely but no plans can be made until after the shower and who knows when that will be, though it is usually before lunch.But not today.............no.My dealings with Blue Care, thus far, have given me a 'sick' sense and I now know when something is not right.I was feeling dread at 11.30 am but by 1.00 pm alarm bells were positively clanging.Will made the phone call.....the direct line number that Lizzie gave us was not answered...."No reply," he said.I grabbed the phone off him, dialled the main number and handed it back to him.Eventually it was answered."Oh, hello Marina, I'm just wondering if someone is coming to do Dulcie Rodger's shower today? No one has called as yet."(Pause)"Oh, right, Thanks Marina," and he put the phone down. "She's on Joy's list and Joy will ring about 30 minutes before she comes."It sounded plausible.....but my 'sick' sense was not placated and bells were still ringing.Sometime later Will went out to Bunnings, he has duck potatoes to plant and millions of water lily seeds and I waited for Joy.At 2.45 pm I grabbed the Blue Care folder and came downstairs ready to rant down the phone but decided to wait until I had calmed down a bit. In the meantime Will came back, saw the folder and said"Are you going to ring them again?""I think you better," I said.It was 3.00 pm.Trish answered."Oh, Hi Trish," said Will, "No one has been for Mum's shower today. We rang earlier and were told Joy was coming but no one has been yet........(pause)..........yes, that would be Nick you spoke to........(pause).........right, right........er, just a minute, I'll consult with Nick, her carer." He covered the phone."Do we want Trish to come on her way home to give her a shower?"Did we?.......I baulked for a moment....(How could she have been missed off the list again?! Trish offering to come herself was an admission of guilt.)"She needs her shower!" I said.Enter Trish.I took a deep breath on the back steps before stepping into the house to meet her.She was younger than expected, rounder than expected, smaller than expected but as hard faced as expected.She gave no apology or any explanation of what had happened today."I've made sure she is properly on the rota now.""Well, thanks Trish," I said smiling like a crocodile trying to hide my desire to rip her head off!I said that we just wanted showers every Monday , Wednesday and Friday. I said that when holidays fall on a Monday that it is quite difficult...."....because she doesn't get a shower after Friday until Wednesday," she interrupted."Exactly," I said. "We are just concerned about hygiene especially in this hot weather.""I'll speak to someone about public holidays, " she said.I didn't believe her.The shower was done.There was another opportunity for an apology as she left......none came except..."Bye, hope to see you again sometime.""Well, actually no!....you small, round, disorganised, hard-faced bitch! We hope you never darken our doorstep again!"......is what I was shouting in my head.My 'sick' sense bells have stopped clanging and my blood pressure has lowered but I am not sure how much longer I can keep on trying to be reasonable about all this.

A new metaphor.

Blue Care came for both respite and Dulcie's shower today so hopefully we are now back on track.We made an appointment this afternoon for Dulcie to see Dr Hew today.She has had a sore finger for a few weeks and despite trying various creams it does not seem to be getting any better.As usual we were a little early for the appointment so we all sat in the arcade outside and had a drink. Dulcie had a tea, Will his latte and I had a strawberry, apple and mint frappé.The arcade could be used as a wind tunnel when all the shops are closed...but we didn't mind due to the heat.I popped into the Surgery. I was expecting Marie but it was an Asian lady, I think it was the one that Glad, the receptionist who left, had been training up the first time we went last year.....I gave her Dulcie's Medicare card and pension card."Do you have an appointment?" She asked."Yes, Dulcie Rodgers," I said. "I'm just letting you know that we are here but we are outside having a drink as we are a bit early."She wasn't listening, all her attention was on scanning her computer screen........"Oh, there 3.40.....you are a bit early.""Yes, I know" I said. She gave me the cards back."It might be a little while." She said. There were a few people in the waiting room.I went back out to Will and Dulcie."Did you get my cards back?" Asked Dulcie."I did."Dulcie had already decided she wanted to get a pineapple while here and sat having her tea she decided she wanted some oranges too."Do you want to go get them while I go in the docs with Mum?" Asked Will."No, I think it will be nice for us all to go," I said.....a suggestion I would later come to regret.The surgery was empty when we finally went in. We just all walked passed the desk and sat down as I had already been in to see the receptionist earlier.She popped her head up over the desk...."Could I have her Medicare card please?"I got it out of Dulcie's bag and handed it over and sat down."Did she give it you back?" Asked Dulcie."No, but we'll get it before we go."Almost at once the receptionist was standing there handing the card back.....I took it and put it back in Dulcie's bag."Is my pension card there as well?""Yes," I said.Dr Hew checked her blood pressure which was good and checked her breathing. He gave her some antibiotics for her sore finger and said she was not to get it wet."Banned from washing up then," I said. She wanted to get some gloves so she could still do it but we persuaded her to just leave it to us until her finger was better.We headed out and went to the Fruit shop. it was quite busy.Dulcie spotted some mangoes...."Get three Nick." I did.She spotted the pineapples at the other side of the shop and set off pushing her walker in front of her.You have heard of 'like a bull in a china shop?' Well, now I offer a new metaphor............'like a Dulcie in a fruit shop!'She bumped and bashed and ran over people's toes. A poor woman clutching a water melon stood in her way. Dulcie stopped with her walker resting on the woman's sandal clad foot. The woman stepped back and Dulcie stepped forward again with the walker back on the woman's foot. Clutching her melon she tried to squeeze to one side and Dulcie pushed past."Sorry, " I said as I came after her."S'ok" said the melon woman.After choosing the right pineapple we headed further inside the store......a whole queue at one of the tills had to step out of the way to avoid colliding with Dulcie's walker. It was all quite stressful.When we had everything we handed it all to Will and I said to her"Let's go and wait outside."I reckon that decision saved lives.

Flippin' Fantastic!

Saw this tonight...Cannot recommend it highly enough.

'Back to those 'Blue Care' blues!'

I'm not stupid. I can be organised....and before Christmas I did inform Blue Care of our plans and gave them the dates of our time away.Dulcie's last shower was to be on the 24th and we were back to the normal routine from the 5th Jan.I remember speaking to Trish and telling her.I was not filled with confidence, come this morning, that everything would go to plan but gave it until 11.30 before I rang Blue Care."Hello, Trish speaking.""Oh, Hi Trish, can you tell me if Dulcie Rodgers is down for a shower today?""Er.....no, she isn't. We had an end date but did not know when it would be starting again.""Well, I did ring and inform you before Christmas, and actually I spoke to you, Trish, to give you the dates and I told you that we would be away from the 25th Dec until the 4th Jan, and actually as we gave you plenty of notice we were, actually, able to reiterate to quite a few of the carers who came before we left that we would be away from the 25th until the 4th.""Hmmmm, well, we have it down to start on Wednesday."Well, could you still send someone today? It doesn't take very long.""Well, we are having difficulty due to sick leave and holiday leave... I could try and fit her in tomorrow?""That will have to do," I said. "Oh and Trish, then we will be back to normal, right? Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday?""Yes.""Oh, and Trish Respite will be back to normal too and should be starting tomorrow?""Yes.""Ok. Thanks Trish." I put the phone down.They are utterly hopeless!

'Whose sitting in my seat?'

Will is very kind.He knows I love the window seat when flying.When we got our boarding passes today I saw that my seat was 20E.20E is not a window seat. 20A or 20F are window seats.Going down to Melbourne Will was in seat 40F and I was given 40E but he let me sit in 40F.....'that's kind!'They'd given Will the window seat again!"Do you want your window seat?" I asked him today as we approached the steps of our flight to Brisbane."Yes, it might be nice, I could look out for awhile and then read my book," he said.I made sure I beat him to the steps and was up first.....the window seat was mine!.....Muaahahahahahahahaha!We made our way up the aisle to row 20 and there sat in the window seat, 20F, was an Asian girl.I was miffed.I know these window seats are popular but I was thinking 'don't you think just because you got to the row early you can squeeze into that seat, dear!'"Excuse me," I said, " I think you are sitting in our seat."She looked bemused and looked up at the row number."It's 20 F" I said clearly."Yes," she said, "It's the seat I have."I was clutching the ticket for seat 20E so it was no use showing her that...."Will, your ticket," I ordered as I looked at her sternly."Oh, mine says 40D," said Will.I forced a sudden smile and sank into 40E......"I'm very sorry," I said, turning to her and wishing desperately I was somewhere else."It's fine,' she said magnanimously.Will read his book, 'She' looked out of the window for five minutes before closing the blind and falling asleep. I spent an hour and 50 minutes staring at the back of 19E.2015 has been a big disappointment to me so far!