Ploughman’s platter

Another day of it being hot, and mum informing me every few minutes that it’s hot, as if I wasn’t aware.

The heat affects mum worst in aggravating her existing health conditions, leaving me listening to a loop of complaints about all the parts of her that hurt. I would be more patient if she didn’t so stubbornly refuse any of my suggestions to cool her down or relieve her symptoms.

About the hundredth time she complained about the heat, I lost what little (metaphorical) cool I had, and snapped that I would help her if she just stopped saying “no” to everything I suggested. “No I don’t,” she said, rather proving my point.

She reluctantly agreed to run her wrists under the cold tap and splash cold water on her face. “Oh, that’s lovely, that’s so nice,” she said, and I struggled to not reply “yes, I know, that’s why I’ve been suggesting it for the past three days”.

While all this was happening, I took the opportunity to buy myself a birthday present for tomorrow: a set of three chef’s knives in pretty-coloured steel. Not bad for under £15.

With all this heat going on, I wasn’t in the mood for cooking dinner, so we each served ourselves from the range of cold tasty things that were delivered earlier in the day. Mum took two Scotch eggs, but decided almost immediately she only wanted one. Not a problem: I kept the box they came in, expecting this would happen.

After dinner, I told mum to put the leftover Scotch egg away in its box. She said “what box?” I told her where it was (literally right in front of her). She said “what box?” I went out and gave the box to her.

A few minutes later I went into the kitchen and found the egg on the side and the box in the bin. 🤦‍♂️

It’s one of those moments when the reality of Alzheimer’s really hits home: it’s not just memory loss, but a total confusion of all matters of logic and common sense. And, in mum’s case, a lot of complaining.

Anyway, the heatwave is meant to break tonight in some dramatic thunderstorms. If it stops the never-ending complaints, or even reduces it by a few percentage points, it will be a welcome change.