In the Beginning - Daily Trials with Mother (and others)

Daily Trials with Mother and Others…..

8^th of June …….. As I start my first official Blog, I feel I should explain what has led up to this conversation.  On Monday 23^rd of March – some of you reading will know - the whole of the UK went in to ‘Lock Down’ due to the spread of the world wide Covid Pandemic.  This meant from that day virtually everywhere was shut down!  Nobody (other than frontline and medical workers) could go to work; most people had to work from home, wherever they could.    All the national entertainment venues closed even in Blackpool, the Tower, and Blackpool Pleasure Peach, the Piers, the Winter Gardens, various cabaret bars and all the Hotels.  Places that even during the 2^nd World War had remained open.  Even worse still, the whole country was asked to stay at home and if they did have to go out for essential food shopping or medical supplies, they were asked to keep at least a two metre distance from each other.  Schools closed, children had to stay home and be home schooled by their parents or taught by school teachers online or through the new method of ‘Zoom sessions’.  Great for some but I am sure a major pain for some, especially the parents trying to work from home too.

Many people said it was ‘just like the times in the war’ but sadly I must disagree with that.  I have never found the restrictions of being unable to embrace a loved one, to give a close one comfort or even kiss my own grandchild, such a fierce unforgiving rule. Especially as my lovely husband, Gary (who I love dearly) was adamant that we stick to the rules as the Covid Pandemic began to rage through the country.  I have to admit in those early days I was a rebel – (even my husband laughed at that line and said I nearly drove him round the twist with worry.)  As I had one aunt who was in a Care Home and I was in the throes of helping another aunt out with the sale of the Care Home aunt’s house, we had important documents which were due to be posted, so some tasks could not simply come to a halt!  Something Gary found hard to accept, but I won the battle and went ahead with my tasks whilst taking precautions of wearing latex gloves and mask as per government instruction! 

However one thing that gradually became hard to bear at times was dealing with my Mother, who had been told by her Doctor that she could not go out of her house for 12 weeks and shield from the virus. Mum had already not been out for almost six weeks due to having Pleurisy and other issues, telling her to stay in for at least twelve weeks was like handing her a Life Sentence!   On a normal day it is hard to find my Mum home in her new sheltered housing bungalow for twelve hours!!  Mum moved there at the end of December, so she had only been there less than three months when the Pandemic took hold. My sister, who also lives in Blackpool, has a Heart condition so she also had to stay home, to ‘stay safe’ like my Mum who has respiratory health issues.  My nieces, who also live in Blackpool, one has young twins who also needed to be shielded from contracting the virus and my other niece was working on the frontline so it fell to me to make sure that Mum had enough food to eat and medication ordered.  Although there were offers of help but none that Mum accepted.

Hmm I expect that sounds a simple task but I think I should add that nothing is ever simple where my Mum is concerned.  In all these years, I have never known my Mum accept shopping, tickets for a show or a Birthday gift without making some derogatory comment or even giving the item back!!  So as you might imagine at times normal life has been very trying but in ‘Lockdown’ it has felt impossible!!  So I began writing on Facebook telling people of my ‘Daily Trials with Mother’ not to gain sympathy, some people thought my writing was comical while some episodes they found sad.  However for some people it also showed them they were not alone in their trials and tribulations of ‘Lock Down’ as they too could relate to the daily events that I had to contend with. 

I might also add that while some people thought that Mum was like that due to her living with Alzheimer’s.  However I can tell you that Mum does not have Alzheimer’s, she has been the same in all the years I have lived and known her - just that some days are worse than others!  So much so that as I have had to have therapy for health reasons myself, at really bad times I have had to think of the most extreme funny situations, to try and take my mind off how bad the day was!  Some may say that maybe the Covid Virus has made me lose my mind and at times I have really felt I have lost it!  Especially when our day has consisted of numerous requests from Mum which I couldn’t fulfil but thanks to Gary and my Facebook friends support I made it through each day until Saturday 6^th of June…..