When did Gail ever look like a pixie?

Denise went back to work today so Mum and I had the day to ourselves. I did ask Denise if she’d like to come to tea but her response came before I’d had time to send the question. I figured she’d like to sit around and laugh at various things our family has done over the years and unload about work over Dijon smeared pork cutlets.

While Denise was slugging it out at work, Mum and I had a very slow and gradual morning before heading up to the shops to buy the really urgent wrapping paper and card we hadn’t bought yesterday. Or the day before. We also bought essential white wine, sherry and extra pork.

That was about it for our morning. We had the usual Gaz Salad for lunch (really loving the Queensland cheese) then cleared the table ahead of our visit with Tom, the OT.

Tom originally interviewed Mum just after her operation and had been back a few times to determine how she is coping. Today was the final interview, for him to ascertain her fitness for self maintenance. He asked her questions and she answered them, ably assisted by me, when I knew the answers.

Of course, it’s important that Mum answers the questions but I did correct things when they started drifting away from the facts. He’s a lovely chap (Mum described him as being like an extra grandson) and the time he was here was spent in joyful invention and reflection until it was time for him to leave.

The rest of the day was basically spent not doing very much at all. Actually that’s not entirely true. Mum did the washing and drying and I managed to knock off a few WW1 dead but, essentially it was quiet. And hot. Though the latter only bothered me.

At one stage I asked mum where the hard-drive was that I bought them years ago so we could set it up to record the royal wedding this Saturday. (If we hadn’t been going out with a few bits of family to the RSL, we’d be watching it the entire day.) To make a long search short, we didn’t find it. I am going to have to record it on a VCR. I felt like a technology museum curator trying to get a Difference Engine working.

Then, almost out of nowhere, Mum discovered the tiny TV box that Telstra had given her ages ago. She told me that it had never been out of the box. I opened it up, set it up on the TV and, suddenly she had access to all that lovely non-broadcast delight that lives just the other side of every Smart TV.

She suddenly had all the replay channels, Youtube, Netflix and more. What a find, I said. I can’t be trying to make that work, said she.

Anyway, in order to show her how brilliant it is, I went across to Youtube and we watched two hilarious episodes of Bewitched. She was in hysterics, as was I. I now have to create some very accurate instructions for her to use it properly.

Eventually Denise arrived, I finished cooking and we sat down to eat. Mum then dragged out a big envelope of photographs telling us the story of how, when she was 16, she was asked to pose for a bronze statue to be placed in Southall Town Hall. She was posed in a ballet pose that was actually wrong which really annoyed Blanche, her teacher.

It also annoyed Jackie because she should have been chosen. I suggested it was because the space it was to be placed in was quite small and Jackie was about three feet taller than mum.

The strangest thing is that this is the first time Mum has told any of us about this event. The fact that a ballet posed statue of our Mum could be standing in Southall Town Hall seems to have never been of much importance to Mum. I am trying to contact the council in an attempt to find out if I can get, at least, a picture of it.

A very odd piece of previously unknown family history.

MUM UPDATE

Mum had a terrible fall last night. She was getting up to go to the loo when she fell forward, into the bathroom and almost knocked herself out. She bashed her head and both knees. She didn’t call me because she didn’t want to wake me up.

She struggled to get herself back to bed by dragging herself beyond the bed to the wardrobe. Eventually she made it.

This morning she had a big lump on her forehead.