8th December

Where has the time gone?
FIL is currently still an in-patient on the psychogeriatric unit. I haven't seen him for over a week now as I had flu and didn't want to share it with him or the others on the ward but he is apparently still not sleeping at night and confused during the day. He started asking to go home as well which is tough on whoever is visiting when they come to leave. We are still waiting for a date to discuss discharge with him.
I felt so rough with the flu that I had to stay off work and cancel my Beaver and Cub meetings. I could probably have just about managed but I had to work at the hospice for the weekend so needed to conserve my energy for that. I managed to get the downstairs of the house tidy - for at least 2 days -so I was proud of myself although a weekend at home has put paid to that now.
Mum came up for the weekend. Supposedly to collect her Christmas cards but really just to visit which was lovely. She and I went into Horsham to get some Christmas presents - mainly a watch for Con- but we had a good mooch around the shops and chat at the same time. This morning she and I have helped out in year 5 which was fun and now she has gone home. This week I have the keystage 1 nativity to watch on Thursday and next Tuesday is the keystage 2 effort - both boys are kings/dancers. Con will be singing in a trio. He had auditioned for a solo part but didn't get it. I was just impressed with him auditioning. Good man I say.
Having been ill I've not done much in the garden lately. I did get about 1/2 the veggie patch dug over and covered with cardboard or chopped up bike waterproofs but its been so wet since I've done nothing. I did prop up the fence a bit better - I can push the bamboo canes in far more easily since its rained - but that's all. On Sunday I finally found the energy to feed the birds so I've done something for the planets inhabitants at least but they don't seem to want it at the moment.
My sister texted us this morning to say she's arrived in Singapore - she's away until 29th December visiting friends in Oz and New Zealand. The trouble with working out there for a year is that you have good friends a long long way away. I think Liv uses up all my airmiles and I plant the trees for her!