Thread by @JohnWMacPherson

Your occasional Brexit Diversion thread.

'The Last Month Turned'

My mum had been confused for a year or two, but had coped well enough with some friend and family support.

But she fell and broke her hip a couple of Christmases past.

1/1

The ambulance men took her to hospital. It became obvious that she was suffering badly from dementia, and it only required the effects of the fall, and hospitalisation, to reveal the extent of her confusion. She had coped only because of the familiarity of ‘home’.

2/2

Social Work assessment was ordered, and the decision made that she would not be allowed to return home.

Ever.

She was 83 years old, a good age to have reached on your own.

3/3

It fell to me to close her flat, remove some of her belongings that would fit in the small room in her sheltered placement – her new ‘home’, and to dispose of the remaining items.

4/4

Mum in her confusion refused to sign anything, to stop her rent, her phone, her electricity and told me, angrily, to sort it out myself.

That was not easy. Mum was stubborn.

5/5

I contacted a local charity about her furniture and other belongings. Two men appeared in a small van one day. One was brawny, scarred, shaven-head, ex-military and scarily tough. The other was somewhat odd.

They started to remove the furniture and boxes of a lifetime.

6/6

The conversation with them went sporadically, in between their removal and delivery of mum’s furniture, and return for more.

Army man said “We moved to the highlands, me and my partner, for a ‘new start’.

7/7

We did a lot of driving around in a small van until we found a place that felt right.” They had fetched up in rural Lochaber (in a remote part, but very ‘right’ in my opinion) “We were living in a tent, then a caravan”

8/8

He didn’t add that this was through two of the coldest winters on record. “The people have been so friendly” he said. “I’m doing this work as a volunteer, I like ‘community’ and being a part of it.

9/9

Too many people don’t value community. I do. This is my contribution. It gets me out and I meet people. I find out about stuff.” he added.

They took the oak display cabinet and boxes of plates.
Then they came back for more.

10/10

We gave the display cabinet and plates to a young Polish immigrant family who have no furniture” he told me on his return “They could not believe how lovely it is, they were so so happy. The woman was quite emotional!”

11/11

They took the large orthopaedic bed and a wardrobe next.
They came back for more.

"A Latvian immigrant family got the bed and wardrobe. A husband and wife and two young children."

12/12

"The two parents were crying when they saw it, they were so happy. They have no furniture. They said to say thank you to your mum.”

13/13

The carpets went next & the large flat screen television & pots and pans.

Before they left, the Army man told me his workmate has a learning difficulty & this volunteer job is therapeutic for him, but he’s fragile and gets depression.

“I have to look after him.” he said 14/14

They came back an hour later. “The young Scottish family who got your mum’s carpets have no furniture and no carpets. They were crying when we carried in your mum’s stuff. They said to say thank you.”

15/15

“And the tv went to a large family who have no television. The young children were so happy they were jumping up and down so much I felt like Father Christmas!”

16/16

He was quiet for a moment, then asked me “What was your mother like? People are asking me to tell them where this lovely stuff has come from. Whose was it.”

I told him. It took a while. He cried a little too.

17/17

They took a microwave, a cooker and a fridge next.
They came back for the rest fairly quickly.

“The young Polish family who got the cooker were delighted. They have no furniture, but now they have a cooker and are really really happy!” he told me.

18/18

When they had cleared everything all that remained was a view of the sea through the trees and a seashell echo of memories. And nothing else.

19/19

Well nothing except the calendar, stuck on January, the month mum fell, and was removed. Six months previously. An event that has in its own way made so many young people cry with happiness.

20/20

The sadness of it all is that mum does not know this.

Even though I told her yesterday.

And last week.

And the week before.

And the one before that.

21/END

There's a postscriot to this thread - mum's funeral seven years later. And with Brexit and the rampant xenophobia it has unleashed, its worth recounting (& RT'ing) the story of my mum's hatred of bigotry, and what she did about it:

duckrabbit.info/blog/2017/05/w…