Some good suggestions

 The lady from the Alzheimer's Society came yesterday afternoon, Carol - she was very nice.  Her main purpose seemed to be to signpost us to all the various groups for dementia sufferers and their carers in the Minehead area.  There are quite a few, more than I knew about, different focuses and activities for each one.  Some, like Singing for the Brain, husband shut down immediately, he wouldn't go for that at all and made that very clear to Carol.  She was clearly disappointed, probably because she herself runs that particular group and is very passionate about singing helping the brain.  There are a couple that husband said he might be interested in, one is a lunch club held in the same hotel where husband's gym is located, they offer an informal lunch and friendly chat twice a week, he said he might be willing to give that a go (there's food involved!).  Another is called Amble not Ramble, a walking group that meets once a month for a gentle stroll of about an hour, in different locations - husband said he liked the sound of that, although it would depend on the weather (I agree with that, I don't do walking in bad weather!).  There's also an informal group specifically for carers, they meet once a month in the same seafront hotel as the lunch club, a chance to chat with fellow carers with tea/coffee and biscuits on offer.  I think I'll try that out.

Carol said that regular exercise, even just walking, alternating between slow strolls and short bursts of faster walking, is helpful, as is making sure we keep hydrated.  Both things I repeatedly suggest to husband but he doesn't take a lot of notice of me, perhaps he will from someone else!  She also had a good practical suggestion which I'll put into practice - write on a whiteboard every morning, things like what day it is, what's for dinner, if we have any appointments that day, and put it in a prominent place (she suggested by the TV!) where husband can see it.  Although he's dyslexic, he can read things which are written quite large and clearly, and not joined up writing, which I've always done throughout our marriage.  Oh, she also said it's important to chat to people on a regular basis, especially people we don't know well - husband has no trouble doing that, the problem is more trying to stop him going on forever!

She said that once we have a diagnosis from the dementia tests, she'll be happy to come back and see us again to talk things through and offer more specific insights into whatever type of dementia he may have been diagnosed with - if he is!  All in all, it was an interesting and quite helpful meeting - oh, and she said there are actually around a hundred different types of dementia - I thought there were about a dozen, who knew?!?!

We're off into town this morning, husband wants some bits from the Proper Job diy shop and I want to investigate a few hairdressers and hopefully make an appointment - exciting!  It rained overnight but has stopped now, sun is forecast but it is noticeably colder and quite windy.  Well, it is the middle of October after all and we've had a lovely summer, so no complaints.