Expect the Unexpected

My Dad has been in hospital for the last several days. Nothing life threatening, but enough to cause my parents to start thinking about the wisdom of living several hundred miles away from us all – or even several miles from the nearest town or village.

They live on the south coast – near a place we spent many summers when I was young. Two hundred and fifty miles away. Five hours in a car, four hours in a train and a taxi.

Given that my Dad will need time to recover, and my Mum isn’t strong enough to help him around the house, my brother has travelled down today and will work from their house this week. I will travel down at the end of the week, and spend the next week with them. I’ll be ordering groceries, cooking meals, tidying up – just helping really. Being there.

I’ve offered to take our eldest daughter with me – she’s a pretty good cook, and is great at getting chores done. She hasn’t made her mind up yet.

I’m not sure if it will be a holiday yet – I may well take my work laptop with me, and continue with several ongoing projects while I’m there. Plans may have to change. We’ll see.

Fingers crossed the next week goes well, and he at least returns home from hospital.