After a relatively good week last week, this week really wasn't so good. OH got a phone call early on Monday morning, to say that his brother's health was deteriorating and he'd been discharged home from hospital. We can't say it came as a surprise, but it's not a pleasant thing to hear.
OH and I decided to pack and head up north to stay with OH's mum for a few days and visit him at home and see if there was anything we could do to offer support. We visited daily whilst we were there and stayed an extra night, because we didn't want to leave too early. Sadly, he passed away peacefully in the early hours on the day we were due to come home.
We eventually set off back to London mid afternoon. Everyone had disbanded and his partner had gone to stay with her family. The journey back was strange. He was the first sibling in our generation to die. It had felt like it had been a long week, with everyone on tenterhooks. I was glad for OH, that he had been able to be there, sad though it was.
Once back home, on Friday, I had to head out of town and do some grocery shopping. I'd only done a very basic shop on Monday morning, locally, to ensure LB had food to eat whilst we were away and by the time we got home, there wasn't much left in the fridge. With a Bank Holiday weekend looming, I needed to stock up, so that we didn't need to worry about shopping over the long weekend.
It was busy on the roads, but not really in the shops. I got what we needed, including a few things for us to have a BBQ over the weekend. I did also drop into the charity shop and bought what I felt was a nice, loose, cool top to wear in the hot weather, as the weather was scorchio, reaching 27 degrees centigrade. The top I bought was in fact a short dress, but I've cut it down to make a top. It cost £3.
When I got back, I did my laundry from our time away and was able to hang it out in the garden on our new line for the first time in probably a couple of years. Very satisfying.
On Saturday morning, I had a nice lie in reading my current book. Eventually, I got up and ready and headed out into the garden.
It was a hot day, somewhere around 30 degrees centigrade, but it didn't put me off. After being away for 4 days, it was just lovely to spend some time out there. I ended up working in the garden for the entire afternoon, washing plant pots, potting on a few plants, moving things around a little, tidying the greenhouse and sweeping up the decking.
I was shattered by the time I'd finished, but it was very satisfying to get it done. There will be more pots to wash in a couple of months when all the plants OH has grown for the allotment get put in, but by far the majority got done today and I enjoyed doing it.
LB came in from work later and told us that there had been a big fire two streets away. The whole of our local high street was closed to traffic. Apparently, 60 firefighters were needed to get it under control and her bus was diverted to avoid the scene. Not good. Luckily, I don't think anyone was hurt.
On Sunday morning, OH and I headed out to a car boot sale. I've made a separate post about this. LB was working all day and later we had a visitor in the guise of next door's dog, who was staying overnight with us.
Later on Sunday, we took a stroll down to the allotment. I hadn't been there for a while. I just wanted to see how things were growing and plant out a dahlia that I had in the garden at home. OH wanted to plant out some courgettes and cucumbers. When it cooled off later, we had a BBQ in the garden, which was nice. A relaxing way to end a pretty awful week really.
No comments:
Post a Comment