Second Helpings

It Never Rains But...

We survived day one with the grandkids. Whipped them off to the supermarket where the world and his wife had also decided to shop for England, seeing as there are only four days left to THE day and the shops will be closed for twenty-four hours. A happy afternoon removing fingers from video slots, singing nursery rhymes, wiping faces, hands, bums, sticky surfaces and preventing sibling rivalry murder followed, but finally it was time for ducks in the bath and bedtime stories. I'm too old for all this lark.

The relief was short lived. At two in the morning Dylan was wide awake and wailing for reasons still unknown. At five the scenario was repeated and at exactly the same time the telephone blasted out into the freezing cold night air. Have you guessed yet? I did.

It was the lifeline company informing us my Dad had fallen and pressed his alarm. They suggested sending for an ambulance, but with no wish to have him loitering on hospital wards for no reason for the next month I declined and said we'd sort him out. I'm not sure why or when he fell but he's spent the rest of the day under the duvet while we've rushed round like blue-arsed flies trying to keep the kids occupied, sorting out problems with his alarm and propping our eyelids open.

Peace reigns for the moment, yet what may happen during the night I don't want to think about. Temperatures have dropped dramatically, roads are frozen and people are being advised not to drive unless absolutely necessary. All we need now is a phone call from the son and wife to tell us they can't get back from Newcastle and can we keep the kids over Humbug?

No one ever said life was easy, but no one ever told me it could be this damned difficult and inconvenient either. But you know me...never one to complain except when there's an R in the month...or an A...or a J...