After the team engagement meeting  Christmas lunch on Friday, one of my colleagues has come down with CV - first time! How did that happen?

We're on high alert cos we cant be seen to be gadding aboot spreading it hither and yon; but I copped for JC's work - she's notorious for her unusual routing. Anyway; it wasn't that bad; I managed to drop a couple of calendars off on my travels so it's an ill wind. 

By lunchtime I was back home; and She deigned to have brunch with me before I headed back out to do battle with N Embra Part II (the Muirhouse / Barnton / Silverknowes end) 56 km later, I was home and in need of tea and toast to warm me up and revive my flagging spirits. 

She said she'd better head back and tend to Her lass; leaving me and the hound to fend for ourselves ( we coped!) 

A quiet and uneventful evening at home; I dozed / ate / wrote and eventually dragged myself off to bed.

It's a month since She committed Herself to a programme of detox. She's been off work since mid September; there's a variety of reasons - work is part of it; Her lass, an overload of stuff She's never properly dealt with and an unhealthy reliance on alcohol. Until a year or so ago, She largely kept the work and drink apart, but as She moved towards trying to kick it, the balance of work / non work toppled over sometimes and a 12 hours on / 12 hours off thing became a few days off  / a few days on.

It's kind of hard to explain without going into a 40,000 word backstory; I know it and it's my journal so this is more for me than anything else. 

From 7 November, there was a tough week; Her getting the intial treatment; me doing more than I usually do in terms of holding down the dog / catering / practicalities. 

And as things progressed, there was a slow move back towards the gym, healthy eating, supplements galore and re engagement with a few close friends. Sure there was a fair amount of sniping and snarling, but it was to be expected. 

Annoyingly the programme seemed disjointed; the team that do the detox side of it do their thing, but the support lot lagged behind, and as for the MH support? There's a three month waiting list for that. So it's almost like you're pushing people to fail, because you've not got the follow up support in place but you push on with your part anyway. 

And so on day 26 - my team's lunch it all unravelled. I met at 3; I said I'd be 3 drinks and home around 7. I stuck to my 3 drinks, but my old boss showed at 7 and then another former colleague showed up at 7.30, so it was 8 by the time I said my goodnights and walked the 15 minutes to Her's. 

I'd texted Her at 7.30 to update Her; no response. I texted at 8 as I left; no response. I called Her halfway home. No answer. Oh dear. 

As I walked up Her street she responded 'I'm very tired, I need to sleep, can you not just go straight home...?'

I let myself in and so started the next 4 days. She seemd annoyed and amazed that I knew what was going on; annoyed that She'd been rumbled before I even got there, amazed at my Spidey sense. It's a skill I wish I didn't have to have.

I left Her to it; and returned next day; She seemed brighter. My Spidey sense isn't that great as it took me til well into the afternoon to cotton on to the unusually high number of toilet visits and the feigned ditzyness. 

Sunday I'd arranged to meet Her out; but with no contact and a committment already made on my part, I got to Her's early afternoon. Already way too late to do much. So I walked the dog, did the dishes, and generally got on with it. 

Monday I had work to do; I'd already planned a day out so couldn't really keep an eye on Her; suffice to say I got there in the evening and it wasn't much different than Friday evening. 

We talked and I ate and talked some more. Somehow - I'm not sure how - She had contacted the Royal Edinburgh Hospital (for non Embra folks  - the local psych ward) and decided She wanted to go and speak to them. 

So at 10pm She called an Uber and went off. I cycled home.

They refused to speak to her until the alcohol limit came down (she was reading 1.24). Eventually at 4am they said She was going to be hours sobering up and She'd be better going home; She already has a worker assigned to Her and they wouldn't intervene unless they thought they needed to section Her (they didn't). 

I got up on Tuesday; couldn't raise Her on the phone; She sent one text message saying 'good morning' but no location / update on anything. Last call I'd got was I've arrived, I'll keep you up to date with progress'.

Mid afternoon She called to tell me She'd been home since 4am and had slept.  

She made it to day 26. 

She's now on day 3. 

There's obviously been a long slow build up to this past month but 7 Nov to 7 Dec has been a bit of a journey in what is already an epic jaunt. Here's hoping the 7th Jan 23 has another 26 day stretch and that the potential pitfalls of Christmas and New Year can be avoided.