Oh dear ..

I awoke to triple-bad news. D, with whom I was due to go on holiday, is still in hospital. Has kidney failure, stage 1, and possible kidney stones. He's had kidney problems ever since catchig CoVid in the first wave of 2020. He's not really capable of understanding the health implications of having dodgy kidneys, unfortunately. He will not now be going on holiday with me.

The next news concerned my niece's rabbit, Ted. My sister TMLHereandthere has written about Ted's encounter with a spaniel. The last I heard, Ted was still alive, but not looking good.

Saddest of all, our mother, who has been going down to another sister's croft every day on 'day release' from her retirement flat, had taken to crying every night when she is returned to the flat. She has dementia, and maybe she thinks she's being returned to boarding school, or prison (though she's never been an inmate of the latter). Our sister are again looking at re-housing options. Our brother has, as it happens, just bought a family sized house in Old Aberdeen, but he is currently living in NZ, and Aberdeenshire is definitely not the West Highlands, where our mother's heart appears to lie. It's a very sad situation.

I got up and made my way to town to meet a friend for coffee. We conversed, and then pottered around town picking up bits and pieces. I found that my sunglasses had broken (the leg suddenly snapped off) but managed to get an identical pair. Considered getting a bus to LIDL because it was Italian food week, but no buses were due to go that way. It was too hot to walk.

Caught a bus home, started packing for my solo holiday to Eire (which will be fine)! Then D's stepdaughter kindly dropped off the Euros that D had got for our spending money. Had a long chat with her, then S came back from the market, and we drove to LIDL. When we came out, our bags filled with Italian delicacies, the ground was wet. Clearly, it had rained. We had a few fat drops earlier, causing the parched ground to release a rich tropical aroma. None of can remember when it last rained. Maybe a month ago. Was it King Charles' Coronation weekend?
Later I heard that there had been a cracking thunderstorm too. We heard nothing in supermarket-world.

When we got back, I finished packing and got some supper together. Now S is watching Man City vs AC Milano on YouTube, and I am wondering what time I need to go to bed in order to wake up in time for my 4.30 am start.