I spend a few days a week with my mother, and I was crossing from island to mainland first thing this morning when I got a text to say that the carers (there's a word - in my experience it's a fair job description in some cases, a joke in others) who help mum with rising, showering and dressing, had found her to be 'unresponsive' and after fifteen minutes at the house, had left her in bed. I have a great deal to say about that kind of thing, but it will keep. The immediate issue was how to concertina the forty-five minutes it would normally take to tie up the boat and drive to mum's; and all I can say is, I couldn't have done it legally. When I got there, mum was unsettled but bright, and the two of us set about the routine she normally follows with the carers. Apart from inadvertently enjoying mum's shower, but with all my clothes on, I managed fine - there isn't much we haven't tackled together since she had her stroke.
But as the day progressed I became increasingly perplexed, because I heard not one peep from the agency charged with mum's package of care. I hadn't expected a call to say they would send someone to help, or indeed that for one reason or another they couldn't - that's par for the course. I did, however, expect a call at some point during the day to ask if everything was ok. Ah well..
The other minor crisis was that back on Islandmore, Lynn couldn't get the generator to start this evening, and had flattened the battery trying. The only recourse when that happens is to use the pull-start, but that's almost impossible unless you can put some weight behind it - so I told mum (back in bed, this time by choice) what was happening, and made the second mad dash of the day. I didn't tell Lynn I was coming, because I knew she would tell me, in no uncertain terms, not to bother.
The sun was setting across Ringhaddy Sound by the time I left the island, the genny having started on the fifth pull, and by way of compensation it was truly a beautiful night to be on the water - fragrant, still and enwrapping.
All well now.
