Offers of Umbrellas

16th August 2012 Thursday

This morning in Marks and Specer’s every top I try on the sleeves are too tight. Did my arms suddenly get fatter?

This afternoon I meet a dear friend and her bright-eyed, elegant mother for a proper tea at the Welcome Inn on the Quay. We sit in the walled garden surrounded by tubs of geraniums and trailing lobelia and tuck into fat cheese scones with homemade chutney. We are half way through warm apple and frangipan tart with a dollop of vanilla icecream, yellow as butter, when the sky suddenly turns steely grey and in seconds we and our tarts are drenched in a spattery cold downpour. We are rescued by the lovely staff with open umbrellas and dry out inside with another pot of fresh tea. 

This evening I make another attempt to squirt a syringeful of diluted superfood (a grey green powder) and krill oil ( orange, fishy smelling drops) into the pussy cat’s mouth. Yesterday my sister held him swaddled in a soft purple fleece while I tried to insert the plastic syringe between his canines. Most of it landed on her arm and the blanket and straight out of the other side of his mouth. He didn’t seem too distressed though.

This time my husband holds him in the fleece and most of the liquid dribbles out of his mouth,and sticks to his chin.  He escapes into the garden and sits in the rain licking his fur and looks at me reproachfully. Now he smells like an old deep sea fishing boat. I’m going to buy a bigger syringe tomorrow. I wish I could tell him it’s to make him feel better.

Tonight we reach another scary stage in this journey as my husband’s word loss bites into a big area I’ve been avoiding - our money. The bank where we have our mortgage calls him. He doesn’t recognise the name, thinks it might be a scam, says he hasn’t got an account with them. I tell him who they are. He rings them back but tomorrow he needs to take ID into the bank to prove he is who he says or they won’t let him access the account.

One step at a time. This one feels like wading into the rapids......waterfall ahead ......but I'm praying for offers of umbrellas.