I am cutting down my time on the computer; just an hour or so a day now because my brain seems to have difficulty with the crystal-clear vision in my left eye that is the result of the last vitrectomy.
On Monday afternoon we went to Southampton General to visit my father-in-law. He is on the coronary care ward. He is skeletally thin and very confused. We got him to drink a mocha-flavoured Fortisips drink and some sweet tea. The staff nurse talked to us, asking about his state of mind. I asked her if, should he be placed in permanent residential care, would there be a choice or would he just be placed where there is a vacancy. She did not know. This is the province of social services. Dan's sister and her husband came and they spoke to me; sometimes the husband does not. I think that Teresa wants her father to stay at home but I do not think that such a think is possible. He is ninety-six and very frail, physically and mentally. We shall visit next Monday. The eldest of the three sisters visited earlier in the day. The youngest sister is a nurse and I am think probably that the hospital staff would be more forthcoming with her. Teresa told us that David, their stepbrother, has lung cancer. This is so sad; I think he is younger than Dan and me. Margaret, his sister was our age. She died some years ago of liver cancer. She had lupus and suffered greatly with rheumatoid arthritis. I last saw David and his wife at Elizabeth's funeral. She was a wonderful person and gave Paddy, my father-in-law, twenty years of happiness and companionship. He met her through me, in an indirect way. My Aunt Marjorie liked Paddy and persuaded him to join the Over-Sixties club. That is how he met Elizabeth and they married a little over a year later. I am glad that I helped bring happiness into his life.
I have to visit the nursing home; I did not feel well yesterday. I hope that my vision; well, not that exactly because my vision is fine; eye muscles adjust and the stiff neck and shoulder and headache leave me. It may be a virus. Both my friend Adele and my co-worker in the charity shop, Ethel, have had a virus that seems to cause fainting. I do get bad headaches. I am also seeing the doctor tomorrow about my ears. The eczema in the left one is making itself felt and there has been a little pain in the right one. We shall see. I hope that I have not let my husband pay thousands of pounds to exchange one problem for another. We shall see.
I have to go to buy a cake for the old man. I must not resent him. None of what has happened is his fault. I had to forgive him for the way he treated me after the egregious, God-bothering Estalls visited him at Steep House told him that I had sold his house behind his back. They had been very kind to my aunt and uncle and done a lot for them. I suppose that it was obvious that he would believe them. I managed to keep my temper when Geoff Estall phoned me to tell me what he had done. That was a good thing because he died of a stroke about a week later. I told Bill about this and bought and wrote a card to Greta, the widow. I did not take any more phone calls from her. When she phoned on the landline or on my cell phone I refused the call. When he finally dies I shall put a death announcement in the Southend Echo but shall not include funeral details. I doubt that she could get there or would even want to, but I would not risk it. I do not really owe her anything; I expressed my gratitude many times, gave her a bowl of bulbs and a china ornament as a memento of my aunt. Geoff Estall also kept on about a large key safe; we did not know how expensive these things were and gave it to him for his daughter, supposedly a nurse. I ascertained a while later that this woman had been killed in a motorcycle accident. So, Greta had lost two members of her family in a short time.
I am tired; the shop was not busy but the headache does not help. Time to go.
