Whisky river drifter

 Thursday. Bud is 42 today. Nobody said Happy Birthday all day.

After breakfast we wondered why GDad had a bad tummy. Looking through the fridge, we found eggs BestBeforeEnd 13 Dec, 9 July and ‘unmarked’ ie a present from someone in the village. The crème not-so-Fraiche 2 Dec, pork scraps (green) and pasta with 3 types of mould left over from when GMa was last here 2 weeks ago. The lasagne I had last night was of the same vintage, so maybe the moulds were penicillium not poison-ium. Most of the salad items were eat by last month, only 2 of the 8 unopened packs of butter were still in date and several of the jams were only 6-18 months out. The birds enjoyed the suet (Jan 09) and sadly the compost heap got the opened jars of sauces, jams, pastes etc in a range of ages 5-12 years past due date. GMa has always had a siege mentality and we could indeed have sustained a small army for a month as long as that army was present in about 2005.

We will help somewhat by taking away a lot of what remains, the tins are rusty but we have hopes for their contents.

Broke up the morning by climbing the church tower again. We’re now convinced there are 70 steps to the top: I tried to play the organ but they wouldn’t show me where the on switch was.

When we got to the hospital (Bud drove this time as we couldn’t trust GDad’s driving any more), we found the ward had been closed due to a Clostridium difficile outbreak. Symptoms include vomiting and diarrhoea: wonder if that’s what GDad had. But it meant that he and I could not go in at all so we went to the café while Bud sat with GMa. I played bookworm on the laptop and read Mr Men books while Bud listened to chirruping woman (“Tracey, where are you? Avgav? I’m in pain”) and the 2 wandering patients … well, wandered around. It is not a time of joy but most of this has been kept from me.

When GMa needed her sleep we left and returned home. I completed the December section of my New Bike Project (I have monthly homework from GDad which is coursework points towards a new bike with bigger wheels and gears and everything) with him and may indeed start on January.