Preparedness for when

[Deleted User]

ivyleaf I have pm`d too. Please look

ivyleaf

Thank you so much Lyn and kittie, I've replied. Bless you both xx

mardatha

Nice sunny morning here but still hellish windy. I am sure that future preps need to take account of worsening weather.

Doveling

Hurrah! Computer can stay unwrapped.:D
I really should be cleaning up brick and plaster dust but everyone should take a proper lunch break.

Interesting discussions , as always.

MTSTM- hope your mum continues to improve.
Daz - have a great holiday
Nuatha - is your MIL ok now?

Ivyleaf - could you go on the train? Would that be do-able for you? If you travelled overnight on a sleeper, perhaps? Do you have any kind of railcard?
Another option may be to enquire about a weekend city break, they are usually cheaper if inclusive and that would give you a couple of days there. Can't think what else to suggest for you.:(

Just had a look at lastminute and there are some good deals but you would need to find out how close the hotels are to the hospital. That is if this is a possibility for you.
Hope I haven't caused offence by suggesting things you've probably thought of yourself but I know the feelings of helplessness when a brother is in hospital.
Distance must magnify them. Take care x

moneyistooshorttomention

thriftwizard wrote: »

Was puzzled last night - I think I'm less than 50 miles from MrsLW & Greenbee and it was calm & dry here, just a gentle breeze! However it's not unknown for us to be sitting in our very own climate anomaly; on the rare occasions that it snows down here, we can see it on the hills all around us, but never a flake falls here. That picture of the whole UK blanketed in white from a few years back? We're the little brown bit at the bottom. And we can set off for the beach 4 miles away in blistering sunshine, only to find it under a blanket of grey fog when we find a parking space!

There can be very different microclimates sometimes in the same area.

In this area I've had the typical rain/wind of West Wales, but someone from not that faraway had feet of snow.

In reverse - when I cant stand the weather here any longer - I know I can get on a bus and head to an area not that far from here where the weather is a bit more "what I'm used to". Its amazing how much it helps just to see the reasonably blue skies I'm used to - instead of grey ones. Just knowing I can do so if I get particularly fed-up with the weather helps.

moneyistooshorttomention

ivyleaf wrote: »

moneyistooshort I'm so glad you were able to visit your mother and that she was better when you left her

I'm in an agony of indecision atm - my brother is in hospital in Germany and it sounds as though he's, how shall I put it, not at all well, though managing to text. As he's been transferred from a local hospital to one in Munich (I don't think the local doc knew what to do with him, so passed him on) it might be possible to go over for a day to see him. I couldn't manage alone, but DS would come with me. We both speak a little German.

They are waiting for test results at present.

OH is saying "If you want to go, we'll find the money" but I don't think we can afford it atm really. And I've no idea how far the hospital is from the airport and how much taxis each way would cost, or how I could possibly find out.

If I tell brother we want to come, he'll tell me not to be silly, it's much too expensive, etc (much as I know he'd be thrilled to see me, as it's difficult for his wife to visit.)

I suppose it would be best to wait until we know how bad things are, though if he turns out to be dying I suspect he won't tell me and will instruct his wife not to tell me (because I'm his little sister and he doesn't want me to worry *rolls eyes*).

AAAARRRGH!!!!

Sorry, just needed to vent .

Thank you. Actually, all three of us (ie my mother, father and myself) thought she was going to die. But she has "come back" from that and now seems to be the badly-ill she has been for last few years - rather than terribly terminally ill (which is how things stood a few weeks back) iyswim. I was concerned to let her know she "has my permission" to do whatever she herself decided to do - whether it was to stay or go so to say. I think she knows that now and appreciates I cared enough to make it plain. She's a stubborn wotname and its possible my visiting gave her enough oomph to decide she was going to stay here a while longer...

Hope things go well for your brother. It sounds as if you are a good deal closer to him than I am to mine (you'll note the comment I made of "all 3 of us thought" - as I have no idea what my brother thought - as we are barely in touch with each other).

Some people are very close to their brothers and one of my friends lost her brother last year and described him as being her "best friend".

As it looks like you have a rather "warmer" relationship with yours - then I would tend to think it would be best for you to go and visit him if you can find a way. It may not be as dear as you fear. You could ask on the travel sub-forum for peoples advice on this and check out what the facts are about transport options from A to B.

ivyleaf

Thank you so much doveling/B] and moneyistooshort I had a call from my sister-in-law a little while ago and she has been to visit him this afternoon, and suggests it's too far to go just for a day, better to wait until he's back at home later and then arrange to go to theirs for a weekend.

It sounds as if it's something they've discussed together, so I will respect their wishes and hope he does eventually get home, even if that turns out to be only for a while IYSWIM. I'd just have liked to give him a hug!

Yes, we are quite close - he's quite a lot older than me, but we haven't any other siblings and our parents both died in the 1970s. We've usually lived a long way away from each other but always kept in contact. My children are very fond of him too. I will be very sad when the time does come to say goodbye.

In other news - OH has a terrible cold. I seem to be getting a sore throat and have told him it's all his fault

ETA doveling Thank you for your ideas. I hadn't thought of a weekend city break, I must admit, just a day trip from London City Airport, but if the need does arise, a city break definitely sounds the way to go. I think I'd get too tired going by train as I'd get shaken about so much. Thanks again.

[Deleted User]

Had some hail/sleet earlier, and now it's raining, with the occasional flash of lightning, followed by a, long delayed roll of thunder.

thriftwizard

thought I would come to let you know that the place I work land of pooond has started to get in all its seeds/bulbs and shrubs etc..

Craigywv, thank you for the heads-up, was in a town with a £land earlier & invested £10, which bought us pink & yellow roses, escallonia, white buddleia, 2 blueberries, a blackcurrant, a Tayberry, 2 x Hypericums (Hypericae?) which will fill any gaps in our beds magnificently!

nuatha

Doveling wrote: »

Nuatha - is your MIL ok now?

Thank you for asking.
She's probably made as much of a recovery as is likely now. Which means she'll never be fully independent again. She's reluctantly come to the realisation that she'll never drive again and has asked us to sell her car. But she has some quality of life that she can enjoy, even if there's a lot of frustration at not waking up one day cured.

It just shows that life can change drastically at any time - "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans." John Lennon.