The Lockdown Gang - Indomitable Lobstars ?⭐️

Aw poor MrMamissimo I don't believe he is opting out of the big move. I hope he isn't in too much pain and I hope you are keeping your spirits up. This no hospital visiting is so rubbish.
I'm glad your greenhouse is clean!

I spent wasted a lot of time searching for missing documents, again. Didn't turn up.

I need a secretary. I did finish and post the wee cardigan plus a few other things for the DGC. I wish I could see them.
School and nursery seem to be going well though DGD feet grew 3 sizes since she last needed plimsolls, which is what they have to wear at school.

As ever - love to the Panaches
♡ ♥?❤♡ ♥?❤♡ ♥?❤

Good evening.....
It's been a strange day.....but I got the greenhouse washed. ?

Mr M was too poorly to have the MRI scan this morning so they're hoping to do it in the morning. They have to be in possession of the exact location of the stones for the operation. He's not a well boy and on fluids only but not milk just water and drugs. I don't think he will be home for a few more days. There's no visiting and he's not communicating but the ward sister was helpful today.

I think he didn't want to help DS move on Saturday....he's a big softie really.

Hope everyone else is as well as can be expected!

Thinking of you both panache. Love and a hug xx

Panache I am very sorry you are walking the same road I was until 3 months ago.
I wish I could comfort you. I hope that the helpers are kind and thoughtful.
We had a very good team who were sensitive enough to say they would come back later if it was not a good time.
For us being at home was important though the equipment took up a lot of space..
Hugs xxxx

Dearest Panache nothing anyone can do or say, will ease this terrible time for you - I wish so much we could all hug you and be there to help carry this burden.

Of course we can be here on GN; always we'll listen and send you cwtches and loving thoughts.

Take advantage of absolutely every single avenue of help; from practical health and home care, to grief counselling.

If at some future time in the future, you'd like a list of people dedicated to helping others through and after bereavement, let me know and I'll PM it to you.

Our fondest love to you and your darling.

I have two arms Panache and if I could embrace you for real with them both I would xx

Panache we are all here with you and will stay with you through the weeks to come. My hope is that MrP is kept comfortable and pain free and you have time to be on your own when the care workers have gone.
I hope you do get the help and support you need plus the privacy too.
I wish I could offer more help but can only join with the others and give you a big hug. x

Bring it in Panache - our airborn hugs are all around you. X

Oh Panache there are no words of comfort I can offer you jus gentle loving hugs.

Dear friends I am in dire need of some solace this night.
Today will certainly go down as one of my very worst days.
In fact we have both been in quite a state.

A visit from our Palliative Nurse started off with her having to tell us some home truths and that was telling my dearest he has less than 2 months to live.
We had been asked earlier how we wanted to proceed with his Nursing care and we had always said home is best.
So in comes the Hospital bed and mounds of nursing equipment,adding to what we already have.
They say my man will be bed bound in a week.
So there will be all manner of nursing help,at least during the week,but as for the weekends I think there will be a huge void.........even for G.P`S.
Already my worried levels are through the roof.
Quite frankly we are now in an utter case of cannot begin to think straight......but I know the burden is going to be enormous.
We did home nurse my crippled foster mother through her terminal illness.
Many of you will sadly already have been through such times.

With our sitting room doubling up as a Hospital ward there is much disruption naturally,but what worries me now is the fact there will be a build up of staff in this small flat,of course we loose our beloved peace and privacy.............but worse in my mind.............. is the after event.
When at some point all will be gone again,I alone shall have to pick up the pieces and try rebuild a hom e...............and I can never envisage my home without my dearest.
He is and always was the centrepiece.

This will be a long running nightmare.

Our dear friends would happily be in the midst of all that is going on..............but for the fact the husband leaves for an abdominal operation tomorrow morning.

I do not think there will be any sleep tonight,but thankfully,mercifully my darling has dropped off into a drug enhanced sleep,and if anything like yesterday,he slept for some 12 hours.

Thinking of you all.
I so need companionship ,perhaps a loving arm around my shoulders tonight.

Kaimoana snap! ? .......he will of course deny it!

I'm getting the silent treatment tonight......

Mamisimo you've painted such a detailed picture of your DH in the past, it wouldn't surprise me if, when you were having treatment, he thought To hell with the skimmed milk diet, if I just do a little collapse right here and moan a lot, they'll whip out the gall bladder and bingo - job done!
And it worked.

Doodle I'm sure rice pudding sustained you just as well It's years since I had Ambrosia !
Yes, it's serious but look how long it's taken to get me and I'm not planning to go anywhere just yet

Grammaretto not sleeping does make you dozy the next day but as you've no one to please but yourself, you can always take a granny-nap. Don't come out of hibernation until you're good 'n' ready.

At night, when I'm settling down, I like a 'fluffy,' undemanding book and currently it's a Jenny Colgan.
She wrote about a girl who lived in a city attic with masses of books. She started a bookshop in Scotland.

Oh Mamissimo clearly Mr M's body couldn't wait. What a day you've both had. You go to the hospital for your treatment and instead of coming home together you have to leave him there! I hope they've made him comfortable for tonight and that the surgery goes well in the morning. A warm gentle cwtch from me.

Crikey Missedout that was one heck of a moving home experience! You may have really had very little but it sounds like an epic experience, one you unsurprisingly remember very clearly. A very vivid account, I was sharing in your angst and frustration. Don't apologise for your trip down memory lane, it's good to share.

Despite you saying that the news you received on your visit to the Dr's I don't like the sound of the facts that tests have revealed something you need serious medication for. I won't pry, it's up to you what you tell us, but if you need such medication it can't be good news and I find that worrying because I care. I'm sending you one of my big cwtches and no you can't run away and hide from it - there is absolutely no escape from my bigcwtches!
I've had things stolen when I've moved home too Kaimoana. It's horrible. When I was quite young I had virtually all my belongings stolen ?

Grammaretto, I read on the morning thread that you'd listened to other people's stories about funeral experiences in lockdown on "You and Yours" and that you were thinking of writing in to tell your story. I say, if you are or have been, thinking about it then you should go ahead and do it. I would. Sometimes these things are a very cathartic experience too. It's hardly been any time at all since your DH, and his father too, died. Us gangsters know you are still very much grieving. If you've thought of writing your experience down and sharing it it's likely to be the case that it will help you and therefore makes sense to do it ?

The weather's been lovely here today, so much so it's felt like the first day of Spring. We had to go out because I had a blood pressure check booked and we really had (no choice) to visit the post office. The trip to the post office presented a welcome opportunity for a stroll along the sea front at high tide. It was bliss. Weirdly, the sun was shining, the sky was blue and the moon was in the sky. It was in fact visible all day today, odd. My blood pressure was, according to the nurse, excellent ?

Wrong link in previous post. It’s not a very good quality.
www.dailymotion.com/video/x38pky

missedout your ‘moving’ story really made me laugh. ?
Never be sorry for a trip down memory lane. It is lovely to hear others tales.
When we moved, before the children were born, my mum and dad came to help us. Mum brought some soup and bread as she thought it would be an easy lunch to give us sustenance. Only problem was, the tin had lost its wrapper and instead of soup it was rice pudding ?.
I expect your DS will build memories of his move including the fact that he had his big bed in your hall for a long time ?
kaimoana glad you get on with your GP. Always a help. Hope what’re is wrong is not serious even though it requires serious medication.
What a shame your lovely cradle was broken apart. Some people have no regard for others property.
All these ‘moving’ posts suddenly reminded me of Some Mother’s do av em sketch when they moved
I’ve put a link below if anyone has missed it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=__9VuYMLSxM

Lovely quote by the way.
Grammaretto have your really lived in your home 40 years? That is a long time.
It’s amazing how much stuff you can have in 2 rooms. How long did your DM live with you? My grandmother lived with my mum and dad from the time they got married until her last year of life (her husband was the black sheep of the family and gambled all his money away)
Mamissimo what a horrendous story. I hope your treatment went well but what a fiasco indeed. I take it he became poorly while you were having your treatment.
Good job he’s having his gall bladder done tomorrow, assuming that was the reason for him being in A&E.
Hope all goes well and he’s ok. What a day you’ve had.
Panache hope things are peaceful for you and MrP

Hello gang.....Mr M drove me to the hospital for my treatment....when I came out I got a message to say he was in A&E.......I rang him....no reply......I rang A&E who said they didn't have him....so I tried him again....he just groaned and hung up.....so I told A&E they did have him!!!

This fiasco has gone on all day. I eventually gave up, sent him a message to say I was going home and wishing him well....walked in the door...he rang to say please could I pack him a bag and drive it the thirty miles back to the hospital....to A &E.

Yup, you guessed right.....A&E said that they no longer had him.....he'd been moved to C3......yomp to C3.....they don't have him.....they tell me he's in A &E.....

Reader I am ashamed to say I rang him and bellowed where the F... are you.....he replied I DONT KNOW.

I had a minor meltdown......

He's having his gall bladder out in the morning .....as long as they can find it! ?

Morning Lobstars,
I hope you had a good night better than mine
The problem with not sleeping well is it puts the next day out of kilter. However I read your posts in the middle of the night which were very funny and poignant Missedout and Kaimoana. The joys of a house move.

Our last one was 40 years ago and a blurr but I do recall the Scottish removals company who moved my DM from London to join us. He had been told she lived in an attic flat and had a lot of books but only 2 rooms so no prior inspection. When the van finally arrived the Scotsman said he couldn't believe so much stuff could fit in 2 small rooms. He then proceeded to collapse in a chair with a sore back and my DB, DH and I did most of the work at this end.

I adore that epitaph and sent it to our DC at the time.
DS's tortoise came out of hibernation today so maybe I should?

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202102/medium-826498-workman.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202102/medium-493230-honest.jpg

Remember the workmen who descended on my house a wee while ago? They did an excellent job, so this is just a bit of fun.

This is taken through my security door. The other man was just out of sight - they jabbered on for 20 minutes about their social lives, before I managed to kick get them to do some actual work

And this poem to share from the incomparable Rabbie Burns. I though particularly of Grammaretto's DH when I read this but anyone would be proud to have it as an epitaph.

Missedout Your ramble down Memory Lane was delightful, I'm glad I came with you

My doctor is a love.
First she told me how nice I looked, 'very bright and summery', then she cooed over Gubbins' photo (she has a baby a little older whom I cooed over 6 months ago).

Mostly the news thereafter was good but tests show I have something which now needs serious medication.

I've always listened to my body, as it were and that, with a few supplements, has served me well for 74 healthy years.

I tried not to listen when it gave me this news but it's confirmed, so there you are. It is what it is.

I love the hilarious house move stories.
Moving for me has been frequent but rather boring, probably because I own very little . Despite that, I've had quite a bit stolen and damaged.

When we came out to NZ, one of the things Pickford's brought was a wooden cradle, hand-made by my husband for our first baby. It was quite small and we'd packed it with clothing and tablecloths etc., to save space and protect it.

When it arrived, someone had crowbarred it apart beyond repair. The contents, worth a few pounds at most, had all gone. I couldn't see the logic behind such destruction.

Telling this story to a friend many years later, he topped it. Going to the depot of his removal contractors to enquire about much-delayed furniture, he saw it all displayed outside the warehouse with men lounging on it playing cards in great comfort

Thinking, as always, about all our missing friends, including Mr & Mrs Panache and hoping for a little quiet togetherness in between all the brouhaha of medical care.

Your 'moving' stories reminded me of the time, not long after DH and I were first married and we moved to our new house together from a rented flat.

Firstly, we opened the front door to look around our new house and unloaded the first car load. Then we left to go back to the flat for more bits and pieces, DH shut the front door behind us. The front door had a Yale lock, the key was inside, we weren't! DH ended up smashing a little window to get back in. So then we had to board up the window.

We returned to the flat, picking up a rented van on the way and some second-hand chairs bought for practically nothing from a work colleague who wanted to get rid of them. Next, on to the flat where my father was waiting to help load up. We bought a kitchen table and chairs in a sale (transporting them to the flat in my car- one of the chair legs tore the car's roof lining) and had arranged for a new bed and fridge to be delivered straight to the new house. I stayed at the house arranging things, hanging sheets at the window (what curtains!) and waiting for deliveries while DH and my father made a couple round trips between our flat and the house (40 miles round trip each time). We'd also had 'fun' picking up a second hand cooker a few days previously. Our friends, who had an estate car, helped move it. I lay in the back of the car holding onto the cooker, trying to stop it from flying out through the tailgate when we went round corners.

After 2 trips the 'bulk' had been moved (we really had very little) and my father sat back in one of our two armchairs with a sigh. DH said they needed to pick up just a few more things of his from his garage (in the flat where we had lived).
I'm glad I didn't go with them. DH said that he thought he may have upset my father (an understatement) because he started laying out all the parts of his old car on the drive ready to move. That took another 2 trips. Poor Dad.

Mum stayed in the flat most of the time, it had to be left in a reasonable state - Mum always liked housework, she thought me unnatural, I thought she was mad!

We went to the local pub for an evening meal that night - I still maintain it was the best meal out I ever had.

Needless to say, the bed and fridge were not delivered that day either, Mum and Dad slept on Z beds and DH and I slept (sort of) on garden chairs with footrests. The fridge only had 3 legs when it arrived.

We didn't have any carpets, we painted the floor boards but the dust blew up between the boards when it was windy outside and settled in little lines along the edges of the boards. We bought an old treadle sewing machine for £5 and I made curtains. It was our first home, those early days were very special.

I'm sorry about the trip down memory lane here. I wish we could help our DS and his family and build memories with them. I hope you will all forgive my ramble (again).

I don't mean this in any flippant way but what's that saying "bad news comes in threes". First Kaimoana loses her friend and now an old friend of yours has died Grammaretto and your second cousin Doodle. Group hug is called for I think ?. Please no more bad news for any of the gang ?

Despite your bad news Grammaretto two things brought a smile to my face. Your logic that because you had run out of tonic the gin was extra strength . Well,(this is the pedant in me sneaking out) no the gin was the strength it's always been - it just tasted stronger without the mixer. Like I say it made me ?. What put an even bigger smile on my face was that a friend left you a delicious shepherdess' pie ?

Your friend sounds like the character I somehow expected her to be Kaimoana. Dementia is such a cruel illness. My favourite aunt died with dementia. She was a jewel of a woman, life sparkled out of her with warmth and wit and wisdom until dementia robbed it away bit by cruel bit. Fortunately I don't think of that when I think of her, I remember her vibrancy, vigour and veracity for life ?
I hope your Drs appointment goes well tomorrow. I too have an appointment at my GP practice but it's with the nurse for a blood pressure check. I just hope it has returned to normal after today's match ?

When it comes to the DCs house moving exploits it sounds to me that your DS has the edge over the other gangsters DCs Doodle. I'm still speechless at his 17 trips back and forth to move his belongings to his new home. It obviously sounded like a good idea at the time. Years ago my WP and me did a similar thing and hired a van not much larger than a transit van but thankfully due to the fact that we weren't exactly flush were penniless at the time we didn't have much to move for more than three trips ?.
Amazing that despite his dementia your DB was able to do the crossword all in one go. It just goes to show that some elements of the person's faculties remain strong for a long time whilst others fade away.

I'm off to bed for an early night, I'm running on sheer bl...dymindedness! Nighty night ?

Cherry as you know, I’ve never been a footie fan (sports of any kind really) but I was with you every step of the way in your match today. It was so exciting just reading how you described it. So glad your team won. ?
Grammaretto I’m glad you’re a little drunk. Not just me then ?. I am sorry to hear about your friend. That was very quick after diagnosis. Must have been a shock for her family.

I heard from my second cousin tonight that her brother has just died. He had been ill since November.

Kaimoana my son is not the most practical person in the world so the small van for moving shouldn’t have been a surprise really.
Many years into his dementia my brother, who hadn’t read anything for ages was given The Times newspaper. He did the whole crossword correctly without a break. I think it is fair to say we were all stunned. Your friend Mata sounds as though she was quite a character.
Hope you get on ok with the doctor and have a good shopping trip.
Grammaretto my son who moved also has a terrible sense of direction. Had he been moving 200 miles away we’d still be waiting for him to come back from the first trip ?
You pie sounds lovely. Nice of your friend to make it for you.
Enjoy your pottery program and don’t forget to tell them what they’re doing wrong. ?
Panache I hope you both have a peaceful night. x

Good luck all you who are off to the doctors....
A kind friend left a shepherdess pie (a veggie shepherd's pie) at my door this evening.It was delicious. I realise I haven't eaten anything so delicious for months.

I can't wait to hear how the Mamissimos will fill their new space!

Great Cherry that your team won!!
DGD is a footballer and dedicated. She adores Lucy Bronze and has her autograph!

Who'd have thought, when I was growing up, that Women's' football would be so popular.

Doodle our DD & DSiL had to move themselves last year and they had several round trips but it was 200miles in their case. His dad broke the rules and helped them and.
They managed.
I'm about to watch the pottery throwdown. See you later.

Cherry far from boring, that's the most exciting description of a game I've ever read - and I don't even like footie. Congratulations on your win.

Before Mata developed dementia, she was indeed sharp as a tack - and very funny, she often had us laughing.
Even when the world no longer made sense to her, she'd respond to music, she loved to dance and had been quite the 'good time girl' in her day .

So glad the care continues for you and your darling, Panache and you are getting time just to be together.

Gosh Mamissimo you won't know yourself once everything and everyone has moved out. I can see you and MrM dancing around your hall, glorying in recovered space.
Is he still on the skimmed milk and Oxo's? Poor soul.
Hope your treatment went well.

Grammareto I'm glad your mind was put at rest a little by seeing mil taking part in the quiz.
It's not just the physical blow when you fall at that age, is it? I wonder how many people, knowing their loved ones are hurting in some way, break the rules and go to them anyway? It must be so tempting.

Oh, Doodle 17 trips in a small van? Your poor DS but, as you say, you only make that mistake once.

My son and I laugh ruefully about his moving days. He's very organised but the one thing he can't control is the weather and without exception every single time he's had to move, the heavens have opened, even in high summer!

I'm off to see the wizard doctor too, this morning; the re-organised appointment-that-never-was.

Now we are out of lockdown again, Karen will collect me from the clinic and we'll go pick up pre-ordered groceries and vegetables.
How on earth I cope with such a wildly exhilarating life I really don't know.

Keep smiling everyone - nothing lasts forever and this vaccine is making a difference.

Hello lovely indomitables.
I'm a little drunk.
Hence the awful typing. I had run out of tonic so the gin was extra strength.
I heard that an old friend has died . She was my age which of course isn't old but was diagnosed just last week with liver cancer, (she wasn't a drinker) she was a weaver and a lovely lovely person.