Please mind the step

I went to visit Dave today in his new flat. It's small but well located, on the other side of Cheltenham from his former home. Seeing as he took no part in getting things ready for the move, his stepdaughter and her husband bundled everything into suitcases without sorting it, and now there are cases and crates of books and CDs and clothes everywhere, and only one chair in the living room. I managed to persuade him to sort out a suitcase of books to take to a charity shop, and we got rid of those, and two bags of clothing, in the Bath road. Then we had lunch in the delightful Curio Cafe, pictured above.

We had a pleasant meal, and then bought some new kitchen items for Dave in the delightfully-named Bloodworth shop. Dave hasn't actually cooked a meal for himself yet in the new flat. I hope he will soon, the 'kitchenette' looks well-appointed.

After we'd driven back, I picked up my bag and walked back to the Bath road shops. Threw some old reel-to-reel tapes in a bin as I passed Cheltenham College. This experience reminds me so much of dealing with my mother's clutter, because she ceased being able to deal with it years ago. Perhaps I'd better start throwing out my own stuff too, a bag a day, because I have no children or stepchildren, and even if I did, I wouldn't want them to have to deal with it.

Dave has been ill again with kidney problems, and is even slower than ever now. He shuffles rather than walks. It's a sorry sight. I want to encourage him to use the buses, as they pass right by his new flat, in order to avoid paying parking charges. I doubt if he will.

We are going on holiday together to Scarborough in twelve days' time. Somehow I don't think it'll be the holiday he had hoped for, because he's so wobbly. He's made me promise I'll stay in the bar with him during the evening 'entertainment' (mother-in-law jokes, according to a reliable friend) even though I don't drink. He'd forgotten that part. I've said that staying in the bar is never a problem, though in truth it's not the part of the holiday I'm most looking forward to.