The last day of the holidays

Rise at a quarter to eight, after a restless night, Norman is still fast asleeps in his basket, obviously glad to be home, as I slide into my slippers, make my way to the kitchen and put the kettle on for a pot of ambition. Outside, the day is breaking, and it is a mild day, the sky has a washed out water colour feel to it, but the first week of 2013 has been, so far, mainly dry. The sausages, black pudding, tomatoes and bacon are frying gently, as Normy is eased from his slumbers and deposited on the garden path for morning ablutions in the garden, he wanders back indoors as I turn the various items in the skillet, in order to ensure even cooking. Breakfast, perfectly cooked, is served around eight fifteen and afterwards, I take my coffee into the Garden Room and work my way through yesterday's Observer until nine and then shower and dress. Before setting out for Cherry Burton, I ring Sam to warn her of Louis' injury and to advise that we may have to change my itinerary with Laura and Rebecca for this afternoon and then ring Hahne, in response to her text, to advise that I should be OK to chauffeur people to the cinema on Thursday, with the caveat that, this assumes Louis will be OK for school. After yesterday's insight at the Epiphany Mass, I have decided to see what work The Lord puts my way and that he would like me to take care of, and pending revelation, drive to Pip's with Norman to collect Teddy and Dolly. The dogs are delighted to see each other and quite pleased to see me as well and can't wait to get out of the car and into the woods, when I park up down Newbald Road. The paths have started to dry, but are still a little claggy, so we keep to the edges, letting Teddy and Norman off their leads first. As we emerge into "Telly Tubby Land", we encounter Jan Morrison and her dachshund, Toffee, he and Norman are friends and stop to give each other a sniff, tails wagging furiously. Seconds later a text arrives from Sarah, to say Louis has a green stick fracture of the right toe, which is being strapped at the hospital. I ring her back and she asks if I will look after him from twelve until four, when Alice arrives home from high school, I agree and say I will take him to the cinema with Laura and Rebecca to see "The Rise Of The Guardians", at Cineworld. On the common we encounter yet another miniature dachshund, a Black and Tan, smooth haired puppy of seven months, called Dexter, and stop to say hello. The breed is not too common in Beverley and I think I know the owners of all of the other five dogs. Teddy and Dolly are swapped on the lead and we make our way towards Black Mill, the dogs slipping effortlessly back into our pre Christmas routine. It is now eleven o'clock and we need to finish our walk, return the dogs to Cherry and Tickton and collect Louis from North Bar for Noon, so we turn round at Black Mill and return to the car. There is just time to change my trousers and shoes and to pick up a bottle of water and some sweets for the children, before leaving home. (The rations are necessary in order to avoid the rip off prices charged at the cinema for drinks and confections.) Christmas can be an expensive time for grandparents, but today is the last day of the school holidays and I would like to end it on a high note for my grandchildren. Sarah has made Louis wear a pair of Crocs, to accommodate the strapping on his right foot, the doctor says he needs to take it easy for two to three weeks, until it heals, but when we arrive at Sam's he runs from the car to their house, apparently oblivious to his injury. Rebecca is still in bed, complaining of an aching shoulder and doesn't want to come to the cinema, perhaps the unaccustomed exertion of the kick about yesterday has affected her, so we load Laura into the seat of honour, in the front passenger seat and Louis in the back and then drive to Kingswood. We arrive fifteen minutes before show time and take our seats in screen 2, Louis picking the centre of the back row and running up the steps to get to them. The time for the show to start passes and the audience, which is entirely made up of kids, with parents or grandparents, starts to get restless, after ten minutes someone appears, apologises and promises to get things started in the next five minutes. Louis and Laura are delighted when I say we should change the name from Cineworld to Silly World, as they have a bad reputation for this kind of cock up, but, true to their word, the show stars in a couple of minutes. After twenty minutes of adverts and trailers, the main feature begins. It is a Dreamworks production and starts off well enough, but soon drifts into the usual Hollywood animation Kids cliches, the lack of any proper characterisation and narrative, replaced by CGI. My inner seven year old is deeply unimpressed, and Louis' actual five year old is soon pretty bored with it too and he becomes restless and fidgety. We last it out to the finish, aided largely by the threat of withdrawing his trip to see Hull City v Sheffield Wednesday next Saturday and emerge into the daylight around three o'clock, Laura says she quite liked it, so perhaps it was just a boy thing, but she is deeply immersed in Disney TV culture and has been duly Americanised. When we return to Sam's, Rebecca is up, but soon retreats to her bedroom in the face of Louis' boisterous enthusiasm, so he plays with Laura while I drink tea with Sam. Sam is undecided as to whether Rebecca will stay the course if she comes to the football on Saturday, so I book tickets online for Louis and myself and Sam says she will see how Rebecca is in the morning and book tickets for the two of them adjacent to us, if she thinks Bex is well enough. Every day is an exercise in patience and judgement when you are looking after a disabled child. Louis and I leave at four and drive back to North Bar, where I pass him into Alice's care until Sarah returns from work. A light rain is falling as I drive home, Norman is eagerly awaiting dinner, but has to wait, while I construct a tossed salad and then carve up the remaining chicken for us both. There is also a single slice of smoked salmon left in the fridge, so I serve that with salad, as a starter and then have more salad, with chicken and the rest of yesterday's baguette as a main course. After dinner, I break up the remains of the carcase and put it in the slow cooker with some chicken stock, a trilogy of garlic, chile and ginger, dried onions, soup mix vegetables, and mixed peppers and peas from the freezer. A chicken casserole should result by tomorrow evening, though I probably won't eat it until Wednesday. Later, around seven fifteen, I phone Felicity to see how she is progressing, and discover that she has had another anal bleed and that her daughter, Melissa, is with her and has taken the rest of the week off work to look after her. The bleeding has now stopped and she has to see the doctor again on Thursday, very gently I raise the possibility of some respite care, and she says Melissa is already looking into a care home in Molescroft, but not the one Leslie is using, as that is too expensive. I offer to pick her up and take her to see her friends at the Poppy Seed on Wednesday and to bring her back in the car, as seeing them lifts her spirits for days. We agree to review it tomorrow, after a night's sleep. Then it is time to phone Leslie's daughter, Margaret, to see how he is getting on and to explain that because of Louis' accident, I wasn't able to see my old friend this afternoon. The news is not good, Leslie apparently, is complaining about everything and won't come out of his room, but on a more positive note, the amatriptolene tablets seem to have worked and he has slept through the last three consecutive nights. I tell Margaret that I will call in to see him tomorrow and then take Norman for his trip round the village. It is colder tonight and the skies are clearing to reveal the starry heavens, Normy is not very enthusiastic and in the light of a good run out with the terriers this morning, I let him off lightly and return home after ten minutes. Sam has texted to thank me for the help with the girls over the weekend and I text back to say it has been a pleasure, which it has and that Louis and Alice have enjoyed seeing their cousins as well. One of the functions of grandparents is keeping families in touch. Before turning in, I clean my muddy shoes from yesterday's football with Louis and my muddy boots from walking the dogs today and then sort my dirty linen into coloureds and whites, adding today's discards, as I don my pyjamas, and then put the whites on to wash overnight. It has been a busy, eventful and happy Christmas period but has left a back log of housework, but that can be done anytime. The New Year looks like it may be the last for Leslie and possibly for Felicity, I shall try to help in whatever way I can, perhaps that might be the work The Lord sends me tomorrow, I will just have to wait and see. To bed for nine.