THURSDAY 16th JUNE . . .
Thursday gets off to a good start with a message from Bob at 08:15:
Good night. Just finishing breakfast and off to London. No plans, maybe Westminster.
Well, well, well – that’s a great start to the day! Terrific.
Let’s work through that shall we, he said tongue-in-cheek:
Good night
This in itself is cause for celebration. Fantastic news.
Just finishing breakfast
Wow, an early start for both of them, but breakfast is good – & they’re likely to eat well as it appeared they were still at Pilgrims rather than having a McDs Apple Pie again . . .
Off to London. No plans, maybe Westminster
So they’re definitely off to Westminster then – interesting for Bob no doubt, not so sure about Mum, & this ole chestnut springs to mind:
Let people do what they wanna do, so you see what they’d rather do.
That’ll answer all the questions you have.
My gut is telling me if they eat well – both of them, as lack of food affects Bob’s mood & therefore his attitude to Mum too – & if he can be kind to her – well, at least civil – then there’s no reason they can’t pull it off & have a lovely day out, as once again the weather is being very kind, & if Bob actually experiences enjoyable time out with Mum, then, well, maybe that’ll just lead to a brighter future for them both.
Of course it could descend into chaos too, but let’s not jump the gun eh.
My day passes quietly; I guess I’m a little frustrated as I could’ve spent some time with them today & this evening I have a mens group which I invited Bob to – he said he’d play it by ear of course, & hasn’t mentioned it since.
My phone rings at 17:00 on the dot & it’s Mum on a video call. Oooh. Alas the camera isn’t activated but she sounds great – very bright & bouncy – almost too bright, but better that than depressed right. She’s a tad disorientated thinking she has a vehicle so would love to come & see me, but apart from that she chats freely & is upbeat. This is great news. They’ve had a good day together & are clearly back at the room in good time to get dinner before it’s too late – nice.
I remind them I’m out tonight with the fellas & try to make arrangements to scoop them up from their hotel tomorrow as they’ve decided to return here then, with Mum insisting on relaying all information to Bob & the repetition & slight change of every detail resulting in a very long & somewhat surreal conversation, so I suggest popping their tablet down on the bed or table as they’ll be able to both hear & talk together – although Bob didn’t hear this. Sigh.
Eventually I was able to confirm to them both that I’m out tonight with the fellas & that as tomorrow is my busiest day of the week – as per last Friday, if they recall – I wouldn’t be able to collect them until around 16:00 at the very earliest – & even that would be subject to change – plus Lia had a docs appointment first thing so wouldn’t be finishing work at her usual time, but we could work around all & had a couple of options for them: Either pick ’em up at somewhere around 16:00 & confirm the exact time once I knew, or I could leave a house key out for them, they could get a cab & let themselves in whenever they wanted.
Bob bit my hand off for the latter option.
And that was about it; a few further pleasantries & that despite the lure of chip shop fish ’n’ chips, Bob would prefer us BBQing tomorrow evening as it’s due to be a scorcher, so I’d see them at our house at some point in the afternoon. Smashing. Delighted they had a good day today & hoped their evening continued in the same vein.
I messaged him my address, along with exactly where I would leave the front door key & cordially suggested that unless he had the Uber app it would be logistically wise to ask the hotel to call them a cab to Kempston, otherwise they’d need to give a phone number & it could get complicated without one. He didn’t reply. In fact he didn’t even look at the message.
Nite nite Bob, nite nite Mum.
Out of every single word I’ve written today, the only one that really counts is that Mum & Bob had a good day together. That’s what this entire journey is about. More please . . .
I cycled to Man Group – without Bob – which was a walk around Priory Marina followed by a cheeky pint & lots of talking about our walk with the Lord vs our families – & enjoyed the fellowship & fresh air immensely. All of us have issues in our own lives – from first world niggles to downright horrific & heart-wrenching ones – but as always, fellowship shows we’re not alone, we have brothers & iron sharpens iron. Plus it’s good to vent. Marvellous.