tuesday 1 – finishing off work and preparing for the move, ordered the bed for friday and after speaking with katie, going to move in early with mum in the spare room, me on a campbed until the correct bed arrives on friday – that way she gets 4 nights with someone staying with her, katie was worried she might get frightened in the night

collecting stuff together, crockery, cutlery, food etc, temporary furniture

initial plan:

to take from #57 / check all would fit appropriately:
bed – check
glass cupboard
mum’s glasses
pans/crockery/cutlery – check
bedside cabinet
tv stand
pictures and mementos

to buy:
mattress
decent chair
table and 4 or better 5 chairs – small with foldouts to accommodate more
stool
tv (and tv license to get)

to remove/dismantle:
shelving

to move out of #11:
sideboard/dresser

wednesday 2 – the big move, made spare bed up with jamie, just in time for carers to arrive, then travel back to #57 to pick up mum who goes once more to the toilet, hugs margaret on her way out and shuffles out of her home for the last 50 years, bit tearful for us all, katie mentions later that, maybe mum wanted to have stayed there for as long as feasibly possible, but could not make it clear due to articulating something which was unpleasant and would displease people, am really in the dark with mum how to interpret her wishes

we meet up with some of the other residents, sheila who had a fall and broke her back, was told she would never walk again, spent 5 months recuperating then 2x 3 week spells to recuperate, has been in from 1st august
also roger and jane from hellifield

thursday 3 – waking up for first morning and mum had christened the loo overnight, on a 5/10 on the york scale
2 thoughts struck my mind as i returned to find her eating with the long, forked serving spoon and given there’s a table of blue-rinsed women all prim and proper:
“the rain in spain falls mainly …”
“think josh at the savoy ordering beans”
wondering how I’m going to get her in 3 meals up to the standard of the rest of them

friday 4 – heard an owl twit-twooing (hooting as katie corrects me) in the night having left the window open
left abbeyfield at just after 7am, spoke briefly with gail about my 2 concerns: cleanups after the loo – less a case of incontinence, she is making it, just a case of wiping and table decorum; she seemed positive

got back to doing some work at #11, then steve turns up at 11 o’ clock, he assists in taking some stuff up to mum’s and doing most of the 6 chairs, after a salmon lunch and after i got collared into a meeting with jeanette to talk about developing a care package for mum – we decided to stick with S&S for the mornings and use abbeyfield carers for a pre-dinner check-up, a teatime visit and the evening put to bed visit

went out round town, meeting up at the castle at 6.30pm with steve and we bumped into micky eliot, not changed much, puffing away in the bar, on his electric cigarette, mind you he has given up since christmas
after castle, went to albion as it had been done up and mick recommended it, had a late breakfast, which i needed, as running low on energy and was delicious

wandered back up raikes with steve hiccoughing all the time and looking a bit wobbly, good job we called it a day at 9.30pm

saturday 5 – feeling a bit worse for wear, made up the tables and waxed them a little once more as extra protection
took mum for lunch after we’d gone to b&m and morisons to check out a few things, eve’s pudding for dessert
carrying on working at mum’s, getting rid of packaging with james, taking chair back and camping stuff

all went out for meal at bull at broughton, helped josh choose, saying that eve would choose chicken burger and sabby would choose cumberland sausage and mash – he went for this one, although the sausages were chipolata style not in a ring, he skipped the veg and was a little put out that the didn’t have beans, similarly margaret miffed that they had no smirnoff ice or WKD!
mum had fish, chips and mushy, i had a home made (in its own dish) cheese and onion pie, with jacket spud and small red onion salad, delicious

we skipped the carer, margaret and celine helping mum to toilet and get ready for bed

sunday 6 – left mum’s at 6am walking down woodlands drive looking south at orion in the sky with a planet high to the east
got some work done at number 11, until the shops opened, saw mrs etty at 10.15 walking down to church as i was walking to #57 – a gorgeous sunny day, could have been summer still (and last day of oktoberfest in munich)
went up to see pete’s folks for 20 minutes – compared to last visit, his mum seemed brighter but dad less with it mentally, all in all better than expected, chatted about the airedale experience and the nursing staff that they were so many and no continuity, he mentioned also that the carer visiting were not quite so punctual, although early, meaning he had to get up and about for them. both came out into the sunshine to see me off.
chased around the shops to get tea and clothes hangers for mum’s flat, packed bags and cleared up at #11, then said my goodbyes at #57, before sprinting off up castle street, waving at josh who i’d missed
when i got to mum’s there was a mess to clear up, 7/10 i guess and a bit of a rush to get down to lunch, which we were late for
had lunch of lamb, mint sauce and gravy, followed by decent sweet; said my goodbyes and jamie took me down to the station

we sat on a table in the far corner and mum is settling into a similar seat which is good, away from the posher tables; david (s)horrocks a grammar school lad in craven had moved in and he was sitting with us, after 30 years in devon, he returned to barlick in 2004, only to be diagnosed with parkinsons’ disease, curious why it coincided with the big change – he is mentally fit, but very poor motor coordination

got train to airport, changing at shipley for a leeds train to bradford, 20mins at leeds station, enough to go to M&S, then train to airport, greggs for a chicken madras curry slice, good

waiting around for flight, got pasta for eve and a jacky wilson book

good flight and on time

review / summary of suppliers used for mum’s flat:

skipton bed centre
main bed and mattress – skipton bed centre, london bed and new coniston mattress
spare bed – b&m with old mattress which was on the london bed at #57

boyles:
wipes and cleaning equipment – skin, carpet, surfaces (dettol on is good)
shower caps . turqoize blue and peach to match the towels, one of each colour for a pound
kettle and toaster (swan), poppy design
nighties
dressing gowns
towels – turqouize blue to contrast with peach, easier to change the whole set
white soap dish
white teeth holder

tescos/fiascos
poppy crockery set
cutlery set (havanna, nice and chunky)

b&m
all sorts of TEA at low prices!
dining table and 6 chairs
nest of 2 tables

morrisons/moribobs as margaret’s family call it!
clothes hangers – these are a good fit on the rails, which are tight at the top, 10 plastic for 1.50 and 4 wooden for 1.50
stationery

to get from germany:
shower sheet to stand on after climbing out of bath – maybe 2 white, certainly one for the guest room

to plan for november – pre-order or book van hire after checking availability and reserving if possible:
ikea:
get sofa/bed like saby’s to act as spare bed
bookcase – either harrisons with squared off edges or ikea billy
2 extra floor protectors

skipton bed centre
furniture in mum’s room, eg. dressing table and mirror free standing – harrisons, squared off edges
maybe a new coniston mattress for our bed frame when we send it home

to get when back again:
floor mop and bucket
2 spare pillows
another set of clothes hangers – trousers and normal grey ones and get it all standardised
wipes top-up
flask for hot liquids or jug for cold liquids – focus on ease of use
set of pans after measuring up
another larger pyrex dish

monday 7 – article on the radio 4 today program news this morning and in the papers about 15 minute elderly care visits – journalism is a joke these days, they never go very deeply below the headlines – my Mum will be getting 15 minute visits (and I was wanting them to come for 5mins, but they wouldn’t do that!) – but is getting an hour and a half a day:
30 mins morning
15 mins lunchtime
15 mins tea time
30 mins evening
It’s so easy to pick one aspect and ignore the big picture, they mentioned, that councils are paying (overlooking that also many are paying privately) – but what’s the answer, if they all had to be 30mins, we’d end up paying 1000 pounds a year extra for not much benefit – as it is one 15 mins visit costs say, 2 hours per week, 25 pounds or 500 per year.

another link to put the scares up me:
http://worldnewsviews.com/2013/08/20/small-debts-enough-for-uk-lenders-to-force-borrowers-to-sell-property/

started the cooking course at the VHS, salad with croutons, gemüsesoup, kartoffelauflauf and quarkcreme, see below for infredients

tuesday 8, stuttgart – late up, listened to end of shipping forecast, prayer for today – talked about “imagine” by john lennon as a religious song, the no religion he sung about meaning forms of authoritarian/fundamental religions which divide and bring disharmony – chat with katie, we’re back at non-religious singers/songwriters creating the most spiritual songs

leave the flat at 7.10am eve giving me one or two extra kisses to travel to stuttgart

at the Wasen tonight with the DT crew – missed the Oktoberfest completely this year, didn’t even go once or even see the tents – all I saw was the lights in the sky when I was walking back on Sunday night and the roar from the beer tents

met up with the usual crew, klaus, georg, wolfgang, frank, armin with his nikon, etc managed to stay reasonably ok, only one beer, the rest radlers plus a couple of willis, all in all ok, made the hotel via u-bahn, seeing also wolfgang staggering back

wednesday 9 – worked out of stuttgart office then took train back, falling asleep half the time, so tired

friday 11 – went for jog since rains had eased

saturday 12 – went for gentle jog for one lap around the lake, then had breakfast at tiro’s round the corner, broke another filling on the bottom of left side at the back!
relaxing in the bath to saturday live on radio 4, article on the popularity of germans to visit cornwall, partly based on the novels of rosamund pilcher
picked up number for tomorrow’s half-marathon then went to peacechurch to pick up the girls from “lesenacht”

went shopping to edeka am harras to pick up the groceries (i actually now understood the layout much better and also what i was doing/looking for, all very easy)
made the evening meal with katie who made the salad (with celery, carrots and radish) as well as giving me useful tips throughout – it was a really enjoyable evening, here the shopping list:

salad dressing – equal quantities of olive oil, water and balsamico vinegar, small or half an onion/schalotte plus kräuter – chop finely and mix in the dressing
used petersilie and salbei, not a great mix, instead of vinegar used the juice of half a lemon (the lemon used for the dessert) – not a strong enough flavour, since lacking the punch which vinegar brings

croutons for salad topping – fry/brown 1cm cubes of bread/semmel or sunflower/kurbis seeds or walnuts in 3 tbps of olive oil
used salatkern mix with some pistachios, too much oil used, katie dried off some of the oil on kitchen paper

kartoffelauflauf – estimated ingredients for 4:
750g pots – OR: split into 500g pots and 250g brocolli or cauliflower – used 650g new pots (princess variety) and 200g broccoli – worked ok, although the dish was too big and it didn’t quite hold all together visually so well
200g smoked ham to dice or cut into strips – got a tirol speck and a very lean bauernschinken, as katie said, this is only to flavour the dish, we used around 150g in the end (katie and eve are not big eaters)
150ml milk
150-200ml sauerrahm – used edeka bio
2 tbps flour
nutmeg – got 3 nuts in a bag for grating
butter to line the dish, salt n pepper

topfencreme/quarkcreme – estimated ingredients for 4:
200g topfen/quark – andechser bio
200ml saurrahm – ditto
half lemon – used other half in the salad dressing
honey – gebirgsblüte
puderzucker
vanillezucker – got this in small beutel
200-300g mixed berries – frozen are ok, contain lots of vitamins (better than flown-in ones) – used heidelbeeren and brombeeren – not quite as smooth and uniform as in class, suspect the heidelbeeren had not quite blended in

great fun and the girls complimented me which made it rewarding too, sabs (the meat lover!) liked the auflauf and was full on one portion which was good
eve loved the dessert and there was even some left over dessert for sunday!

sat down together to watched 3 episodes of downton abbey with eve and kats, munching thru peppies, like frazzles

sunday 13 – reading the munich marathon literature and came across this good link:
http://kuehlschrankberatung.de

took part in the half-marathon with a reasonable time overall, 1:53:43 came in 107th in the age group, out of 287.
time was helped tremendously by Peter who ran like a demon for the first 10km, then i found a second wind, not sure where it came from, was handed half a banana and had a gel at about 17km, sailed through the last km’s with ease and savouring the moment coming into the stadium and round the bend for the finish splits were:
Split Tageszeit Zeit Diff min/km km/h
8,9 km 14:58:30 00:46:45 46:45 05:16 11.42
10,4 km 15:08:50 00:57:05 10:20 06:53 8.72
19 km 15:54:39 01:42:54 45:49 05:20 11.26
Netto 16:05:28 01:53:43 10:49 05:10 11.61

Put the good result down to Peter’s pace setting during the first half, the magnesium tablets (legs felt good throughout) and taking a gel for the last third, whilst hydrating a little at more or less every feeding station.

Dreadful journey back, also Sabs delayed from Trappentreustr, since the #53 bus wasn’t stopping there. Had beans, bacon and eggs for tea, enjoying the bad stuff as part of the recovery!

sat with eve and kats to watch another episode of downton.

monday 14, heidelberg – up at 4.30am to get to Heidelberg for the training I’m delivering.

tuesday 15 and wednesday 16, heidelberg – further training days

friday 18 – went to dr pring’s with mum and reviewed medication, changing as follows:
amlodipine 5mg (calcium channel blocker) – widens blood vessels and improves flow – imagine she was diagnosed with hypertension or high blood pressure – continue this
losartan potassium 60mg (inhibits blood vessels narrowing, generally lowers pressure and improves flow) – imagine again this was diagnosed to treat high blood pressure (hypertension) and lower the risk of stroke – stop
lanzorprasole 30mg – decreases acid produced in the stomach – imagine this was for the stomach ulcers which she had at one point – half dose (when exisitng supply runs out) and monitor
furosemide 20mg (treats fluid retention) – stop – was taking this for swollen ankles, if the condition re-occurs, restart

measured mum’s BP and it was as follows:
13th july: 124/78
currently: 118/59

(healthy is: <140 / <90) --> follow up on 15th november telephone call

discussion with pete about various ops, he mentioned about the drugs used for a colonoscopy and so when i got back i dug out my notes:
propofol 130 ml (reduces anxiety and tension, and promotes relaxation and sleep or loss of consciousness)
midazolam 1.7mg (sedative)
given 2l/minute of oxygen

just going through the notes again, they found and removed a polyp (which they had mentioned this) and looking at the details (together with gory pictures), which was 7mm diameter about 35cm in (from my reading); they also mention scattered diverticulosis.

saturday 19 –

sunday 20 – looking at some books at the airport, this thread:
http://youarenotsosmart.com/
from David McRaney, which is actually similar to:
http://psychologyofwellbeing.com/201207/youre-not-as-smart-as-you-think-you-are.html
also:
http://www.innovationexcellence.com/blog/2012/12/03/5-signs-youre-not-as-smart-as-you-think/

monday 21 – very tired due to workload

tuesday 22 – mentioned to katie about my fleeting thoughts and frustrations about wanting to hit ot which had happened 2-3 times in last couple of weeks,
bought set of small potted plants, to return to find she had picked up a big stray plant which someone was “verschenking” – funny we’d had the same ideas, plants: life and requiring care, bit like our tender selves sometimes

wednesday 23 – helping eve with her electricity homework, about insulators and conductors, then we sat down to watch downton abbey, the christmas edition, very emotional

thursday 24 – up in duesseldorf testing, coming back from burger king to the motel one hotel and tripped badly on a step trying to get across with the lights on yellow – very tired and stressed from work
accident happened at 8pm roughtly, a couple going to a halloween party and a chap crossing before me stopped to help and see i was ok
after breathing slowly, managed to walk slowly back to hotel
settled for a few hours sleep, very uncomfortable, get up 3.30am and check out of hotel to find a hospital which i did via the reception and taxi to the nearest hospital which had an emergency service

friday 25 – arrived about 4am at the hospital, then the process was:
checked out by notdienst doctor (they run the emergency service, presumably to cover when the normal doctors are closed) – wrote out that i needed 2 x-rays then went thru to the hospital part
waited around attended by nurse, then doctor, then taken for x-rays, 4 to ankle, 2 to chest, then back to see doctor and dressed and bandaged by nurse, all in all it was more like the marie-celeste – hardly anyone around; took taxi back to hotel and was having breakfast at 7am.
http://www.evk-duesseldorf.de/

here the diagnose:
Rippenprellung links
OSG-Distortion (Oberes Schwung Gelenk) rechts

Was asked 3 times if the injury was sustained in the course of work, it had to be clearly work-related, eg. coming back from work, although which this accident was clearly not of course.

work was a bit difficult but managed thru on 4x 500mg paracetemol a day, horrible train journey home and daft decision to change train which cost me an hour, got back home
explained the story to them all – told katie I’d hit someone in duesseldorf and that person was me – eve was very supportive and for sabbie it was a case of “too much detail” – TMD!
then eve explained about her 1 in german a 20 minute test which she had taken the effort to look at the night before the exam on the off-chance, seemingly the only one in the class who had – the other grades were terrible she said, she was top!
also she mentioned about the french exam where she was 2nd only to a mother-tongue speaker, things are looking up, it is maybe starting to click with her, like it took me a while to get started at grammar school and when it did, first in laguages before the tougher maths and science subjects, who knows

saturday 26 – slept well, all hurts around the ribs but 10x better than yesterday night
listening to saturday live as normal and having a relaxing day generally

preparing to cook the meal tonight – ingredients:

lasagne – for 4
packung lasagneteigblätter
100g hard cheese – eg. parmesan
100g soft cheese – eg. gouda
200g hackfleisch
100g mushrooms
1-2 carrots
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
tin of tomatoes
1 tsp origano
100ml gemüse brühe or wine
salt. pepper and nutmeg, lorbeerblatt
2 tbsp olive oil

sauce:
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
½l flour
salt. pepper and nutmeg

obstsalat – for 4
600-700g fruit of the season – eg. nektarinen, pfirsiche, kiwi, apple, banana
for sabs: NOT kiwi, melon, pineapple,
YES to: strawberry, banana, water melon, grapes, pears, apples, oranges
1 orange and 1 lemon
rumaroma
vanillezuzcker
2 tbsp walnut (for topping) – so could use more
zimt gemahlen (for topping) – tiny amount!

sunday 27 – went to church with girls at the usual 11.10pm so we only just make it in time
came back did a bit more work to catch up then we all go out to watch the film “About Time”, a Richard Curtis film
all the girls enjoyed it, which was nice

monday 28 – eve all full of energy, decide to make a halloween pumpkin with her we go to edeka and choose a couple, then she and i scoop out the middle and cut out eyes, nose and mouth; she decides to call them scream and screech, we’ve done screech – great fun, haven’t enjoyed halloween this much since younger days, when we did it as kids with dad helping to cut out a face from a turnip
eve is still full of energy and restless, watching over my shoulder and telling me she loves me, a really nice evening together

tuesday 29 – caught early train, slept until Frankfurt, into test area for about 10.15am seemed to work ok

wednesday 30 – long day finishing off some testing, went ok

thursday 31 – worked until 12.30pm then off to catch train to get back comfortably for 6.45pm, in time to catch the halloween callers, including one set of boys who were happy to get radisches as säures (they say “süsses oder säures”, getting mostly süsses of course). eve and hannah came back about 8pm and then we sat down for pumpkin soup, then watch first 2 episodes of downton abbey series 3.