Rose

Margret sent me a lovely bouquet as my Christmas present. This is one of the roses. There are six and I have my fingers crossed that they will open up properly.

I did some shopping on my way in to see Margret. She looks much better as the 'flu subsides, although she still has a nasty cough.

The consultant saw her today and said that preparations for discharge may start now. The plan is for her to go into a nursing home in the first instance. We are hoping that a place comes up in her first choice.

She was off to see a film of A Christmas Carol in the day room with other patients. Earlier, children from a local primary school came and sang to patients.

Liz called for emergency help with a parcel that needed to go off today. The post office van had run out of supplies of padded envelopes. If they had had them, they would sell only packs of 5! My back up supply of envelopes for recycling came in handy.

Liz drove to Wark - it said they were open on the internet - but they had closed at 1pm, so she had to drive to Hexham and wait in a long queue there. Such is the joy of Christmas!

My shopping was rather exciting. The price wars are on. Tesco is selling bags of potatoes, carrots etc for 15p each, but in Aldi they were only 8p. I bought sprouts, broccoli, carrots, parsnips and potatoes with a view to making soup!