Well, it took 6 months but finally the love told lady who I visit, Maureen, is in the 'right' care home (the one of her choice, not the shitty cheap one that Wandsworth Council's lazy gits dumped her in), and even better – her friends and I are now allowed to take her out if we wish to. Can you believe out – she was actually a prisoner in the previous one, not able to leave it for many, many months as we were not family. Well what do you do when someone doesn't;t have any family?!
The answer – try everything to change it. And after some legwork on my part – getting her GP involved, battling with the care home, Social Services etc – finally there was a massive chink of light when I wrote to Maureen's MP for a second time and BOOM. Within a few weeks she had been moved and things are hugely looking up.
Which meant that on Monday this week, I was able to collect Maureen (via a ton of tennis traffic) for a birthday lunch of fish & chips at Dora. Janine & I recently went to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibit at the Natural History Museum, where I bought Maureen a penguin to replace the one that Social Services 'lost' (along with most of her personal belongings, grrrrr). She loved Peter, as he is now called, and her penguin card.
Which gave rise to my favourite compliment from her – a gentle punch on the arm and her saying 'oh, you chump', as only an old lady can!
We followed up with some cake and a spot of tennis on the TV – a pretty good birthday and definitely a massive improvement on the past 6 months. Onwards and upwards! x