The Ornament.

Dulcie is tired and getting weaker.As Will was helping her from her chair to bed, tonight after tea, she sighed,"I'm just an ornament.""A priceless ornament," he said, " A Fabergé egg."

'Ballah, Hi!'

Will and I were ready at 9.30 am for our first respite with Kin Care. We were expecting them about then but they did not turn up until 10.30.The lady who came was African and said her name was Ballah. I felt a bit for Dulcie waking up to a smiling African face with a mane of black hair peering at her. It is not in her usual morning routine.......the hair I mean.Ballah was lovely but Will and I both felt a bit guilty leaving Dulcie behind and heading out for four whole hours!.......and a bit.We went for a wander in the city. We saw some goat pies for lunch from 'The Goat Pie Guy' at a pop up food market but when we got them they were not heated up......so we have saved them for tea and went and had something Japanese instead.We walked over 10 kms in all and even popped into the Gallery of Modern Art, with our goat pies, on our way back.We got back about 2 50 pm.It was just as well as Ballah got a phone call just after we arrived and had to dash off. Her daughter had gone missing from school or something dramatic like that.She is back for the shower tomorrow so we will hopefully hear what happened then and that it all turned out well.Update:All is well with Ballah's daughter. The person who was picking her up from school had been waiting in the wrong place and when no one collected her the P.E teacher held on to her in a different part of the school campus but all worked out in the end and Ballah found her.

'Hello Kin Care!'

I mentally prepared myself for everything to go wrong with the switch over to Kin Care this morning.....I did not expect them to arrive at the appointed time or turn up at all......but I got everything ready just in case.We were expecting them at 9.30 am but a car pulled up at 9.20.It was Daniela from Slovenia. She hadn't actually come all the way from from Slovenia today, she lives here now but she is from there originally. She sounded Russian to me.....but that's Eastern Europe for you.I ran through all the important background information with her and drew her attention to the flaws in the bathroom before introducing her to Dulcie.Dulcie was reluctant to get up but Daniela was very good with her and I could hear them chatting away in the bathroom."You sound English," she said when they came out. "I've never been to England. Have you been to Slovenia?"I hadn't."Do you like Mountain climbing?" I had a sudden vision of myself hanging by one muscular arm off a sheer cliff face. How nice of her to think I was capable even when encumbered with 'Elaine' as I am."Well, perhaps not climbing but I like walking in the mountains," I said."Will it be you we see tomorrow?" I asked her."What? Are they coming everyday?" Asked Dulcie incredulously."Yes," I smiled, "Remember?"Daniela said that it wouldn't be her tomorrow but explained that we had a time window' from 9.30 until 10.00 and that meant that whoever was coming could arrive anytime between 9.15 and 10.15. If no one had turned up by 10.15 we were to ring the office.First impressions of Kin Care are good.........long may it continue.

'Bye bye Blue Care!'

So..........today is our last day with Blue Care for tomorrow we start with Kin Care.Will rang Blue Care on Friday to give them the news but reminded them that Kin Care was starting on Tuesday and that we still needed Blue Care to shower Dulcie on Monday.In many ways I am glad to see the back of Blue Care and hope that Kin Care will be an improvement but I am reserving judgement on that for a while. My only regret with Kin Care starting on Tuesday was that we would not see Rhiona again to say 'goodbye and thank you.' Rhiona has been the best of a bad bunch and to be honest seems so out of place with the rest of the motley crew.......and she loved my biscuits!Normally on a Monday it is Rani who comes for the shower but when it reached 10.30 and Rani still had not rung I began to think think that it would be a fitting end to our partnership with them not turning up at all even though Will had specifically reminded them that we needed them today.I got Dulcie up but we just put a flannelette shirt over her nighty for breakfast and then she settled in her chair to watch tennis on Fox.At 11.45 the phone rang.......it was Rhiona! She was coming to do the last shower! I think it is the first time that Blue Care did something right......and it was the only 'other' fitting end to our partnership.Rhiona is the only bit of Blue Care we will miss.I gave her the recipes for Dulcie's Biscuits. She was delighted.She got teary eyed at saying goodbye and nearly set me off when she said "You guys are doing an amazing job.""You are always welcome here, dear," said Dulcie."Can you not move to Kin Care?" I asked hopefully.It is always best to end with a laugh.

Not Cilla!

Noooooooooooo!............I can't believe it!I was just going to bed when I saw the news on my phone.When you spend the days with someone who is 92 but says they are 93 it makes you realise that 72 is not old!I hope it is not true and that she comes riding over some Spanish hill, on a donkey crying "Surprise, surprise!"