A further update about my Mum. She is making slow progress and she is now breathing off the ventilator but with oxygen. She recognised my sister and asked about each of us which is great news. She still has some way to go but hopefully she is over the main obstacles. I travelled down to Colchester in appalling weather and I could not believe the traffic, absolute madness with roadworks, heavy traffic and delays. A four hour journey took me five hours to complete in torrential rain. I then discovered that the only relative allowed in to see Mum was my sister! I understand why as the risk of any infection and the critical care unit is very busy so the one same visitor and a strict one hour time limit only. Disappointing but I understand why. We are getting daily updates and I have plans to make regular trips down once she is back home.

I made my usual stop at ‘Beers of Europe’ on my return journey and bought the above beers for the weeks ahead. All of them beers not available in the supermarkets and the Belgian beers in particular can only be purchased at specialist shops. A much needed and welcome treat as this past week has been an emotional rollercoaster after some late evening talks with my sister I am giving a lot of thought about the future. We had a trawl through old family photos and documents and we have agreed a future trip to Ireland to do some further genealogical research. Surprisingly she too has been looking at camper vans and how that might help with trips abroad. We are entitled to Irish passports and apparently are regarded as Irish citizens and my sister and her husband are considering a possible move to Ireland at some point. 

After a better journey home I have spent today resting and catching up with stuff here at home. Hopefully I will sleep better tonight but all of us have been struggling with sleep, anticipating a phone call and worrying. I am going to crack open one of those beers, they are mainly stouts and porters and some of them have to be treated with respect at 10% abv, put my feet up and watch some old British comedies. ‘Allo Allo’ is on and as a mild somewhat silly comedy it is just what the doctor ordered. I hope all is well with you folks and hug your loved ones.

TTFN.