A Christmas Journey


At the moment I'm in Yorkshire. I've driven up here to collect Mum to bring her back down to london so that she can spend Christmas with Rich and myself.

This was not our original plan. She had tickets for the train tomorrow, but since her recent illness she has lost the confidence necessary to make the journey, so my Christmas has turned into a bit of a driving marathon. Having driven up here today, tomorrow I'll drive her back to London. If we can get her up. Depression has set in again over the last week and in the mornings all she wants to do is stay in bed. Once she's up she is absolutely fine and enjoys her day but then the next morning we're back to square one. Thanks to her wonderful carers who are my Christmas angels and her friend Pat, she has got up each day by lunchtime but it's proving harder and it raises all sorts of questions for her future care next year - questions I can't and indeed don't really want to answer at the moment.

Suffice it to say we will get her up tomorrow and get her to London. Then after a day with us on Friday, on Saturday we'll drive down to Richards parents in Devon to spend a couple of days. With his 92 year old grandma, my 90 year old Mum, his 72 year old dad, and his Mum - late sixties to be polite - it will be a bit like spending Christmas in a twilight home, but it does mean that Richard will be with his family. Something for many years of the fifteen years we have been together he has oftensacrificed so that I can be with Mum and we can be together.

After a Boxing Day probably spent with his sister and her gorgeous kids, who will give us a much livelier experience, it will then be time for me and Mum to head off on Tuesday for the drive from Devon to Yorkshire - about six hours. A night in Yorkshire to settle Mum back in and then a drive back to London the following day. A day trip to Cambridge on the Friday to take his nephew and sister to the panto to see our friend Andy, will bring my mileage to around 1150 for the Christmas week and probably around 24 hours at the wheel.

Here;s hoping Guy, our trusty car (Yes we have given our car a name!) is as sturdy and reliable as Joseph's donkey or perhaps we will be looking for a stable...or at the very least a Premier Inn.

Happy Christmas to all my readers, friends and followers alike and have yourself a wonderful time, hopefully with the people that matter to you.

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