It was Meg's birthday yesterday but I waited until she was fully awake, up and dressed and seated in our Music Lounge before we started to open the birthday cards she had received (but today's post may bring some more) It is our shopping day today and the 'sit' carer is arriving quite bright and early so I may be able to make a fast start to the shopping today. The shopping was done quite easily done this morning and the store seemed pretty quiet, perhaps because I was there a little earlier than usual. Then it was case of getting it home and the carer and I unpacked things and put everything away before it was time for her to leave. I felt pretty tired by this stage and, having made myself a cup of coffee, promptly fell fast asleep in my chair which is not an uncommon occurrence these days. I was awoken by the mid-day carer coming on her own - I had been sent a text to see if I could assist her which I was happy to do.
We had a simple lunch of ham, baked potato and fine beans followed by some flavoured yogurt. Just before lunch, a doctor that we knew quite well from the practice visited and gave both Meg and myself a COVID jab in the left arm and a normal flu jab in the right arm. Two weeks ago, we had both received the new RSV vaccine so we should well protected for the winter months. I must say the doctor was efficiency personified and the new needles that are used are so incredibly sharp and fine so that both Meg and I scarcely felt a thing. My son had given me some advice to swing my arm around immediately after the jab to increase the blood supply and this I forgot to do but I imagine that tomorrow I might have one (or two) slightly sore arms. The doctor is one we have seen before and is cognizant of Meg's diagnosis and prognosis so I took the opportunity to ask her advice whether the prescription and administration of a sleep-inducing antihistamine would prove beneficial. She seemed quite relaxed about this and , in effect, give it a trial so we now have the medication attached to Meg's prescription list. After lunch, we idly scanned up through the TV channels to find anything with watching and caught the interesting last few minutes about the last days of the Holocaust. I only got some of the story but I think in at least one of the camps, the German guards realised that their misdeeds would be evident to the invading Allied forces and tried to destroy some of their evidence which mean destroying some of the gas ovens and other ghastly reminders of their misdeeds. In this they were not completely successful but some of the 'inmates' actually effected an escape from the camps although they were shot before making good their escape entirely. We remained on the PBS (Public Services Broadcasting of America) and straight into a Mary Beard program entitled 'Who were the Romans?' Mary Beard had as an artefact for the program a skull of Roman origins excavated in York but the contents of the grave were interesting Firstly, there were several high status amulets and bracelets from which we could infer that the skeleton was that of a high a status Roman female. Modern DNA analysis and the shape of the skull indicated that her racial origins were probably from Northern Africa and not Italy as you might imagine. By collating quite a mass of evidence, Beard surmised that Roman citizenship was not confined to one ethnic group and Roman society in that respect seems to have been quite a pluralistic one. One does not have to be excessively romantic about all of this as the Romans utilised the barbaric practice of crucifixion quite widely and children were often put to work as though they were young adults. But in some respects, Roman society still seems to have some lessons from which we can learn. It was a beautiful afternoon so I took the plunge and got the front lawns mowed which they badly needed. I managed to get this done and the mower cleaned up and put away before the carers turned up for Meg's teatime call. So it was a case of taking the advantage of the fine weather and I still have the back lawns to mow but this only takes half the time and is therefore easier to fit it. I calculate that there are two more mowing days before the mower gets put to bed for the winter season on a date very early in November. I must confess that after this busy day and perhaps as a result of the jabs on top of everything, I might treat myself to an earlier night tonight.
In the afternoon, we opened the door to our carers and received a pleasant surprise. There on the doorstep was a carrier bag containing some files of (medical) information which I had loaned to our Irish friends down the road. More to the point, there was a birthday card and a fabulous box of chocolates for Meg to enjoy which she did quite enormously. Then, in the evening, we had a delightful pair of young carers, one of whom is an Asian male and quite experienced in the care business and the other still at sixth form college. Now these two form a most magnificent 'duo' and work very well with each other. When they arrived to put Meg to bed at 7.00pm this evening, we got from them a birthday card, a bunch of flowers and another large box of chocolates. The young female carer was quite excited to tell me her news as she has passed her driving test, at the first attempt, only two days ago. So when they left with Meg safely tucked up in bed, the young female carer received two big hugs (one being congratulations at having passed her test, the other one a big 'Thank You' from Meg and myself for the presents). The male carer was the recipient of a hearty handshake and it was a perfect end to the day. Having said that, I happen to know that these two young people love coming here and it is one of their favourite calls. For my part, I love having the two of them as Meg always seems quite settled and reassured in their presence so there is an evident mutuality of interests.