Yes, again!

 Every time we go to the caravan, or come back from it, we get people (neighbours, friends, even family) saying "Going on holiday AGAIN?!/Had another holiday - AGAIN?!".  Every time.  My answer is Yep, aren't we lucky?  We have to pay our annual site fees every June, regardless of whether we use the van or not, so we may as well use it as much as we can and get our money's worth.  Having two weeks at the van costs approximately what it would cost us to have a fortnight's holiday in a hired holiday cottage...in site fees, I mean.  So any time we spend there over and above the two weeks is, essentially, free.  Last year we spent 12 and a bit weeks there, this year so far I think we've spent about 3 and a half weeks there, so we've already covered our costs.  I think we'll probably stay there this year even more than we did last year.

With husband's heart failure, he can no longer drive long distances, he just gets far too tired and his concentration is affected.  We used to like holidaying in Cornwall, but it's too far for him to drive now.  Neither of us wanted to stop having holidays, so when he got his unexpected pension windfall we thought the ideal solution was for us to buy a static caravan on a small friendly site within a reasonable driving distance for him.  It's worked out so well, I've said it before and will say it again - it's one of the best things we ever did.

And I need it for my general health and wellbeing.  I have so much to do at home, over and above the normal housework and cooking we all do.  Husband is doing (or able to do) less and less, which means I have to do more and more.  Hoovering for the last few years has been his job - he took it on voluntarily when he could see how awkward and painful I found it because of my back, hips and knees.  He can't do it as much as he used to now though, he gets too breathless, which means I have to do some of it.  His failing memory and concentration means he forgets to do other jobs too, such as bin emptying and putting the refuse/recycling out.  So I sometimes have to do that too.  He's always dealt with all car stuff before - arranging MOT, any repair work, tax and insurance renewal.  Last year he got in such a muddle when trying to get quotes and renew the insurance that I had to do it for him in the end, no doubt I will this year too...well, every year from now on.  It's a full time job keeping track of his medications (he takes about 14 tabs a day), making sure he takes the right ones at the right time and reordering when necessary, and helping to find them when he drops them on the floor (a regular occurrence, and I don't want the dog finding and eating them!).

In the week before we went to the caravan, he buggered up both his paypal and bank accounts - entered the wrong password details too many times on his bank account online, meaning he was temporarily locked out of it.  What he did with his paypal account I've no idea, but he somehow altered the settings and then couldn't use it to pay for something he'd ordered.  He did something to his new (very basic) mobile phone too and couldn't get back to the home screen.  He regularly gets himself in a muddle on his computer, or gets frequent error messages on it.  Technology is most definitely not my strong point, but in the absence of an available techy friend - or a nearby 10 year old! - I have to somehow sort it out for him.

He'd ordered something for Betty from ebay, which should have arrived before we went away - it hadn't, and he hadn't had email notification of posting or an expected delivery date either.  When I checked for him, it transpired he hadn't actually completed the order, he'd not paid for the stuff, so no wonder it hadn't come!

Keeping up with his medical appointments for all his various health problems and making sure he doesn't double-book himself (another regular occurrence) is another thing which takes up quite a lot of time.

His rudeness and constant backchatting when I ask him to do something is escalating again.  He claims the rudeness is just banter - however, telling an 87 year old man (in front of his shocked 78 y.o. wife) to 'piss off' is not really what I'd call banter!  Especially when all his 'banter' is delivered with a poker face and no hint of a twinkle in the eye, nor a laugh and quick apology afterwards.  He's rude and argumentative with me quite often, but I'm used to it now, it's water off a duck's back to me, I generally just ignore it.  I do need to have a word with him and get him to put a sock in it every so often though, or it just gets out of hand.

So it's no wonder I'm stressed quite often.  I do relax quite a lot at the caravan, because of having a lot less to do and it being a slower pace of life, with good friends to chat to.  Just as well as I've already been busy since we arrived back yesterday, and have a long list of jobs and stuff that needs doing over the next week or so.

Still no results letter or appointment date for further tests from the Memory Assessment team, it's been nearly 3 weeks now since he had the phone call from the psychologist.  I'll have to ring them on Monday.

Following shopping this morning, I've started on the batch cooking to fill the freezer up again - I've made turkey and sage meatballs, a turkey mince pasta bake and a couple of fruit cakes.  Tomorrow, as I'll have the oven on again for a roast chicken dinner, I'll also do a trayful of jacket potatoes to freeze.