Day 2,042 (back!) in The Nanny June Care Home

The One With The Social Distancing & PPE.

Today I got to visit my mum for the first time in nearly four months. I have never been this long without seeing her in my whole life.

I was not allowed to touch her or give her gifts personally.

I had to answer lots of questions on the phone the day before, arrive early for my allotted slot, wait to be met by a member of staff and answer some more questions, then sign a form, have my temperature taken, dress in some PPE and then... THEN we were good to go.

I followed a member of staff to one of the outside spaces, where a patio and a marquee were waiting with pre arranged plastic seating and boundaries laid out with white picket fences and flower arrangements.

Domesticating the weirdness.

Then out came Nanny June in a wheelchair with a tartan blanket over a legs. A total (non) walking cliche. She got this. She knows what she looks like and hates the oldness of it all.

Anyway.

Her nails were done, her hair was done. She was visitor ready.

She was frustrated and not okay with not being able to touch me or see me up close. Nanny June is partially sighted since her stroke so the PPE was probably sort of visible but not a problem.

We chatted while all the time supervised by a member of staff to make sure we didn't break the social distancing regulations.

We talked. I prompted memories. We listened to the birds. The birds probably listened to us.

I involved the member of staff in our conversations and tried to give some insight into Nanny June's life.

Her best bits.

Her highlight reel.

The celebrities. The Kray Twins. The marriages. The cruises. The bombing. The glamour. The tragedy.

Willing this member of staff to go back inside with someone who wasn't just an old lady in a wheelchair with a tartan blanket on her lap.

This is not just her destiny. How many of us are destined for wheelchairs and tartan blankets and no one to tell our story.

I had a half hour limit which we went over.