Grimsby on a Friday!

Today's posting is going to be a little shorter than the previous three days. Today I am a little tired, and so far I have spent at least 3hours writing my blog, so please forgive me if I am a little briefer today.

Also please forgive the lateness of the publishing of my posting yesterday – I had written it by lunchtime, but only had with me my iPad and iPhone and neither would allow me to publish what I had written, so I had to wait until I got back home in the evening.

It was a very good day yesterday. My son Daniel drove, and my granddaughters Abbie and Bethany also came with us. Our first port call was to my younger sister Elizabeth who cooked me bacon and egg (which I fancied) for lunch. Nobody else fancied bacon and egg, except for Elizabeth, so they all went to McDonald's.

As is usually the case when we go to Grimsby, one of the regular calls is to see Elizabeth's husband Paul in the mobile phone shop he owns and runs. Daniel had dropped his iPhone, smashed the glass, and needed a new front and back, and we all purchased new covers for our respective iPhones, and in the case of the granddaughters for their iPods.

After this we went to visit mum. She looked and seemed to be having a good day. We had a photo session and I will put a photograph of her on Facebook so people will know how she looks these days.

It was however a visit which started awkwardly as Mum was sitting with her friend who wouldn't leave to let us have time on our without. Rather she would answer ever question we put to Mum, and initiate all the conversation we were trying to have with Mum. She also took a shine to Daniel, which made us laugh, politely! So the first 20 minutes or so all we were having was a discussion with this lady called Maureen, who we had never seen before.

I have subsequently been very cross with myself, because this lady Maureen greatly annoyed and agitated me. If i had been in "Vicar" mode, I would have coped, and wouldn't have got annoyed as I would have understood what was going on, but I wasn't! After all we were in a residential home for people living with Alzheimer's and suffering from dementia, and I should have known and felt better!

After a little while the carers came and found something for Maureen to be involved with, so at least we had about a quarter an hour with mum on her own. She was clearly pleased to see us, even if she hadn't really a clue who we were. Very interestingly she kept referring to my father – Harry, and this is the first time I have known Her to do this for a long time.

Most of what Mum said didn't make any sense, even if she said it in her usual sweet way which gave it some credibility. Last time I visited Mum she was very agitated and cross with everybody. Yesterday she was much sweeter and more peaceful with herself, and with others.

The home where Mum is staying is called the Fairways in Grimsby, and I can't praise it enough. As I think I mentioned last time on Facebook, it is all very clean, sweet smelling, and with a very caring staff. I couldn't recommend it enough! I feel that I and my two sisters can do no better for our Mother.

Some of you will have known my mother – she really is and has always been a lovely lady. I know that she has taught me so much over my almost 62 years, and I think her caring personality has helped me no end in my ministry as a priest.

Very sadly she wouldn't be able to understand any of this if I told her. It is perhaps a lesson worth noting that we should say to people, particularly those we love and are closest to us, what we feel and how we care about them and how we are so thankful for them while and when we can – leaving it for another day may be too late.

So yesterday was a lovely day with my sister Elizabeth, and her husband Paul, and my nephew with their son Andrew. It's always great fun going to see them – after all my sister is 12 1/2 years younger than me and being the baby of the family she and her family always make me feel young!

I got home yesterday mid-evening just before I posted my blog and then promptly fell fast asleep in my chair. I was woken by Sue, taken to bed and had quite a good night's sleep.

I did however have a brief look out the window for the asteroids flying through the sky but sadly I found nothing.

And when I did wake at around 3am for my trip to the loo, I had a quick look at my twitter account and noticed it had been hacked. Please please will you note that I have no photographs that I would particularly like you to see and I didn't send the messages. I have since changed my password and I am hoping that this has sorted the problem out. I did note that yesterday I got a similar message from one of my followers asking me to do the same. I am assuming the two things are connected.

Well that's it for today – short and sweet, but When I have read through it, longer than I had intended.

Have a great weekend!