Thursday

Picked up Saffy. Sandra , Saffy’s owner who is 84 and suffers from a few health issues and is on medication, told us that the GP called her and said that following blood tests she has chronic kidney disease . She then proceeded to talk about giving Saffy to one of the dog walkers , Asha, who has said that she would take her anytime, and she would rather do that than put her to sleep and also that she was hoping to outlive Saffy (who is 11). Also that she had all her affairs in order and is going to see the consultant next week and her daughter will come with her. After all, I am 84 she said. I was quite shocked at all this and said to her that the fact that she got a phone call perhaps meant it wasn’t as serious as imminent death (didn’t use these words. Hopefully not, although she said she has been in quite a lot of pain these last few weeks.

We went a walk and popped into Dobbies . At the check out started speaking to an elderly man who was being served as I was putting stuff into my rucksack. We walked out to the car park with him. We had a good chat.first to the dogs and he told us about his collie who had been dead a couple of years and he missed him. He then told us that his wife had died a few years ago and that last year he also died! He then Proceeded to tell us the story. He drove up to Aberdeen to visit his son, arrived there walked in the door and collapsed. His Daughter in law performed CPR, his son got a defibrillator which was situated nearby and also had called for an ambulance. The paramedics arrived and rushed him to hospital where he was for two weeks and he now has ‘a bit of mental at his chest’ (pointing to the area) that keeps him alive by regulating his heart. I said it was fortunate that he didn’t have the heart attack whilst driving . I also asked if when he was ‘dead’ that he remembers seeing anything, like a bright light he was going towards or of any feeling but he just dismissed that . The rain came on heavy and he asked us if we wanted a lift home in his car which was nice but we told him that Saffy wasn’t our dog and we needed to get her home. He was a nice old guy, didn’t have many teeth and the ones he had were quite dark brown due to him smoking his pipe, which he only does in his shed he said. Everyone has a story …..

We marched up the road and said to Sandra we would see her in two weeks

Later had a walk with Lucca. S was at his club. For some reason I felt really weepy and thought a lot about Mum and how much I miss her. Before I went out I was listening to a video she had recorded from a New Year Party in the lounge of the complex in 2016. They were all taking it in turns to sing a song and she had her iPad with her and had recorded a session with Stan singing a song then Mum. I will treasure this .i don’t think grief ever stops.