Back to Newcastle

I photographed the bridges over the Tyne on my journey from York to Newcastle this morning. As is usual for me on a Thursday, I spent most of the day with Mummy hazelh, this time with her in her new nursing home.

It was an interesting day for me because I was able to draw comparisons between the new home and the old one. The new environment is much better for Mummy hazelh because she is not the only resident who exhibits strange behaviour - and I certainly witnessed my fair share of that today! She made animal noises, screeched, screamed, wept, wailed, refused to walk/eat, and made rude remarks about the staff/food/décor. The food is also far superior here and visitors can dine with their family members for £2 a meal. I very much enjoyed my chicken kebabs, rice, salad, and chocolate pudding at lunchtime. It's easier for the residents to navigate their way around the home because it is purpose built. However, it has a more institutional feel (the old one felt more like a residence for gentlefolk) and it's noisier because all the residents are 'challenging' dementia patients. I haven't yet had time to get to know the staff at the new home, but I hope that I will enjoy the same kind of relationships with them as I did with the staff in the old one. It's a bit of pain that I can't walk to the new home, but a bus on the outward journey and a taxi back into town to catch my return train to Edinburgh seems the best way to handle this.

In other news, my not-so-little sister has been hospitalised! Yesterday her 20 year-old cat sunk her teeth into my sister's wrist. My sister immediately took herself off to A&E to be checked over, and was given an X ray appointment for this morning. Overnight her wrist had swollen up and the X ray appointment was extended into an afternoon in theatre for an operation to treat an infected wound. My sister is now wearing an enormous bandage on her hand and has to stay in hospital overnight. Goodness knows when she will be able to drive again.

As soon as I returned to Edinburgh this evening, I started packing again. We're off to Biggar for the weekend and one of the highlights of the summer season.

Exercise today: walking (~13k steps).