The ancient Chinese curse that you ‘may live in interesting times’ seems to have been visited upon me quite a lot of late.
Yesterday morning my wife and I paid a visit to my father. He seemed more settled, and actually laughed a couple of times, which is something he has not done for some time. We left him at lunchtime, and after eating lunch nearby, we went home.
We had been trying to speak to my father-in-law for the past couple of days to check up on how he was coping with life in general, and to find out if he needed us to do any shopping for him, but we had been unable to contact him by telephone. It was about 3.00pm when we got home after lunch, and after settling down for a quiet afternoon (and in my case, some wargaming-related activity!), we finally managed to make contact with my father-in-law … only to discover that he had been in hospital overnight after having had a car accident.
My wife and I immediately set off to see him in Herne Bay to find out if there was anything that we could do to help him. Once we got there he told us what had happened. On Friday morning he had set off in his car to do some shopping, and had somehow got lost during the drive home. The police had come to his aid, and given him directions so that he could get home, but on the drive back he managed to hit a brick that had fallen into the road. This punctured his car's two off-side tyres and had caused damage to the underneath of the car which resulted in his clutch and gearbox failing. Some different police officers then arrived on the scene, and because he appeared confused and a little dazed by what had happened, they insisted that he go to hospital for a complete check-up. He was also very strongly advised to stop driving. The hospital kept him in overnight, and brought him home by ambulance only a couple of minutes before we had telephoned him on Saturday afternoon.
As his car is probably a write-off, it is now quite a strong possibility that he will finally stop driving (he is, after all, 95 years old!) … but it now means that my wife and I will have to drive from London to Herne Bay at least once a week to take him shopping. As we are also committed to going to Hornchurch to see my father at least once a week for the foreseeable future, it looks doubtful if I am going to have much free time for some time to come.
With the Ofsted inspection still looming on the horizon, I certainly feel as if I am ‘living in interesting times’!
Yesterday morning my wife and I paid a visit to my father. He seemed more settled, and actually laughed a couple of times, which is something he has not done for some time. We left him at lunchtime, and after eating lunch nearby, we went home.
We had been trying to speak to my father-in-law for the past couple of days to check up on how he was coping with life in general, and to find out if he needed us to do any shopping for him, but we had been unable to contact him by telephone. It was about 3.00pm when we got home after lunch, and after settling down for a quiet afternoon (and in my case, some wargaming-related activity!), we finally managed to make contact with my father-in-law … only to discover that he had been in hospital overnight after having had a car accident.
My wife and I immediately set off to see him in Herne Bay to find out if there was anything that we could do to help him. Once we got there he told us what had happened. On Friday morning he had set off in his car to do some shopping, and had somehow got lost during the drive home. The police had come to his aid, and given him directions so that he could get home, but on the drive back he managed to hit a brick that had fallen into the road. This punctured his car's two off-side tyres and had caused damage to the underneath of the car which resulted in his clutch and gearbox failing. Some different police officers then arrived on the scene, and because he appeared confused and a little dazed by what had happened, they insisted that he go to hospital for a complete check-up. He was also very strongly advised to stop driving. The hospital kept him in overnight, and brought him home by ambulance only a couple of minutes before we had telephoned him on Saturday afternoon.
As his car is probably a write-off, it is now quite a strong possibility that he will finally stop driving (he is, after all, 95 years old!) … but it now means that my wife and I will have to drive from London to Herne Bay at least once a week to take him shopping. As we are also committed to going to Hornchurch to see my father at least once a week for the foreseeable future, it looks doubtful if I am going to have much free time for some time to come.
With the Ofsted inspection still looming on the horizon, I certainly feel as if I am ‘living in interesting times’!
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Hard luck old chum. Duty is a mountain.
ReplyDeleteConrad Kinch,
ReplyDeleteIt certainly is ... and it seems to get steeper and steeper the further you climb.
All the best,
Bob