Memories of Douglas Number 18

COLOURFUL

My late husband Douglas loved bright colours. Even when he had to wear a suit and tie for work the shirt would be bright and the tie would be bright - they might not be colour co-ordinated but Douglas wasn't bothered.

He spent so many working years in suits or in uniform - working in a bank, in The Palestine Police, The Metropolitan Police and finally working for an insurance company that in non- working hours he loved to wear the most casual brightest, colourful clothes he could find.

When shell suits came out he loved them. ( I didn't) He bought quite a few in various colours - purple with red, blue with yellow - all sorts of clashing colours. Then he would team them with red, green or blue shoes and maybe a colourful cap as well. I would never lose him in a crowd.

He certainly didn't dress his age - he wasn't your typical pensioner.

My blip today shows some of Douglas's handkerchiefs. He never used paper tissues always had a proper handkerchief in his pocket. He loved these colourful ones made by a company called " Magnificent Mouchoirs" ( great name eh )

Whilst I have been remembering happy times with Douglas wearing his colourful outfits 10 years ago today holds terrible memories. It was the day Douglas had his first stroke - it happened here at home through the night. It wasn't a bad stroke and Douglas could still talk with some difficulty and he has some loss of movement down one side. He was taken to the local hospital .

Apart from the shock of this situation the main thing I remember from that time was being mistaken for Douglas's daughter - questions such as " What time did you find your Dad like this ", " Is your Dad normally fit and well" etc. I would tell the person I was his wife and then a different person would come along and then it was " your Dad" again.

There was a 23 year age gap between us but I can honestly say it never mattered and we never really thought about it. Obviously when we were out and about together holding hands etc our body language would indicate we were a couple. However with Douglas now in a hospital bed and me outside in the corridor being asked what seemed like hundreds of questions by someone filling in an interminable number of forms it was everyone's first thought that I was his daughter. Can't really blame them but it was just one more thing to stress me out.

Douglas did manage to try and keep his sense of humour and I do remember one thing he said whilst in hospital on that first day. We always went to Asda on Friday mornings to do the big shop. It was a necessary evil for Douglas - he didn't enjoy supermarket shopping. So while I went up and down the aisles he would buy The Daily Telegraph and settle himself down near the tills for a relaxing read. He would glance up now and again to try and spot me in a queue and then give me a hand with the packing up. It was a Friday - Douglas was in hospital and he says " Look what I've had to do to get out of going to Asda "

***** On a lighter note I have heard from son Neil again ( where would I be without Facebook) He was in the middle of a long bus journey to Laos. He has put loads of photos on Facebook and I can see that he has been having a great time - petting tigers, riding elephants and then washing them in the river and boozing ( of course ) There is one photo of him with a massive spider on his arm. Apparently their guide found it in the jungle and Neil was brave enough to let it crawl on him. I never knew he was so fearless - I'm a bit scared of spiders so to me this is fearless.