Bear is being very good in hospital although he doesn't like the food and finds the bed uncomfortable.

Yesterday he actually said, "I know I'm in the best place here".

And, yes, he is in his right mind!

While I was there yesterday afternoon they took us to another part of the hospital for a hearing test. They wanted me to be there to explain the procedure to him but it was very straightforward and I think he quite enjoyed the change of scenery. It involved being pushed through the building site (they are in the process of rebuilding the entire hospital) and in and out of lifts as we went down, up then down again.

After the test we went to speak to the doctor, who explained that his hearing loss was no worse than could be expected at his age. When we were  in the corridor waiting to be taken back to his room, Bear explained that that was the same doctor who 'threw me from side to side and then made me look him in the eye for a whole minute' when he went  to see him the day before.

They still haven't come up with any explanation other than concussion but it's good they are checking out all possibilities.

The good news is that he can now sit up without going dizzy, he can get to the toilet  with assistance and using his drip stand as a walking stick, (the new rooms have en suite shower and toilet facilities) and he is tucking into fruit salad and chocolate eclairs - not to mention a large piece of birthday cake - which I take in every day. I left him clementines, bananas and grapes on Wednesday but he hadn't eaten them because they were out of reach!

One other disadvantage of not speaking much French was that on Wednesday evening he rang me to say they had put his wee bottle out of reach and he needed a bedpan but didn't know how to ask. (He has his own private phone - prepaid at 10 euros an hour -  for anywhere in Europe)

I had to ring the ward and explain his problems and they went to his aid promptly.

He seems resigned to staying in over the weekend even though there is a big improvement and, I must admit I feel he is safer under surveillance as he might try to do something he shouldn't if he were here.

However, the bedroom downstairs is just about finished - at last - so he will have a comfortable and secure place to sleep when he does come home.

Update: he's coming home tomorrow.

Yes, last night was pretty eventful.

We went to bed in the guestroom (upstairs) at about 11p.m. Bear just made it up the stairs and then collapsed on the bed, diagonally.

I got his trousers off and pushed him as best I could into a reasonable position. He complained of being uncomfortable but seemed to doze off.

At one o'clock the alarm went off.

"I need a wee" he muttered. But when he tried to sit up he keeled over and I had to rush to his aid. Somehow we got the the loo, which is fortunately next door to the bedroom, and he tried to sit down without lowering his pants. Once that little problem was sorted he could hardly keep upright. I imagined him falling off the loo. What would we do then?

Somehow, we struggled back to bed and he felt sick.

"Pleeese. Don't be sick" I begged silently. That's something I cannot cope with. I managed to deal with my own children when they were small and I have hardened myself to cleaning up after the cats, but vomit - just don't go there.

He started coughing and spitting and I handed him a large towel. Fortunately it wasn't a full scale throwing up.

He lay down again and started talking about animals walking across the ceiling.

"Did you do your blood sugar?" I asked.

"Yes, normal" he replied.

Eventually he slept fitfully until the 3a.m. alarm. This time he was much worse. He tried to sit up, completely lost control and just missed bumping his head on the (metal) foot of the bedstead. He was sick, dizzy and hallucinating. I fetched a bucket and more towels.

We spent the next hour with poor Bear alternating between being sick, wanting to pee and complaining that his head was spinning and he hurt all over.

At about four o'clock things calmed down and I set the alarm for six.

But it didn't have time to go off before things went from bad to worse. Just trying to lift his head brought on sickness and dizziness and he was seeing black slugs on the walls now.  He wanted to wee but couldn't perform in the beheaded mineral water bottle that I held in position.

As soon as this little crisis was over I showered to try to wake myself up and went downstairs to phone the doctor. Surgery opens at 7.30 and she was already there.

"Could you get him to casualty?" she asked when I'd explained the symptoms.

"Not really. I don't think we'd even get him out of bed, let alone down the stairs."

"I'd better come and see him."

Ten minutes later she arrived and went up to look at the invalid.

"Hospital for you," she decided after a quick examination.

She rang a few private ambulances but once she had described the problem -   a heavy invalid who needed carrying downstairs and was also liable to be sick -  they were unavailable.

So she called SAMU and three pompiers turned up in a huge red van with blue lights flashing. It took the three of them plus the doctor to carry Bear to the ambulance cocooned in an inflatable stretcher. I was not allowed to go with him so Jay took me to the hospital in the car.

We needn't have rushed because, once I'd done the paperwork, they made me wait for nearly an hour before allowing me through to see him.

There he was, all forlorn, on an uncomfortable looking bed with a drip and a kidney bowl. They had done bloodtests and an ECG but couldn't do a scan because the scanner was being repaired.

"We may not be able to do the scan till this afternoon." announced the doctor but he has a drip to prevent nausea and we'll give him something for the pain and to help him sleep.

I waited beside him, providing moral support and urine bottles until he dozed off, then took advanatage of the chance to escape to find a toilet (and a sandwich as I'd had nothing to eat or drink and it was nearly 11.30.)

When I got back his room was empty. They had taken him for the scan.

A few minutes later they wheeled him back.

"There's no haemorrhage." announced the doctor.

"Does that mean he can come home today? If so, I'll have to go home and make up a bed downstairs"

"We don't know yet, but it might be a good idea if you do that."

The young doctor gave me a direct number to ring casualty at 2 o'clock to see what was happening so I contacted Jay for a lift home. It was difficult to explain things to Bear as he was still very sleepy.

Once back home we tackled the  cleaning and furniture moving in the newly decorated bedroom and made the beds.

At two they said he had gone for more tests and to ring back in an hour.

I've just telephoned and they are admitting him.

Looks as though I'll be spending a few hours hospital visiting tomorrow and Bear probably won't be back to enjoy the curry evening we have planned for my birthday.

Next Spring the postponed (due to Presidential election) voting for all the Mayors in France will take place.

The French maire plays a much more important role than his English counterpart. Even the smallest village elects its own mayor who enjoys considerable power. Apart from his obvious role in marrying people (a civil ceremony is compulsory, followed by optional church service) he and his council make decisions regarding planning permission, law and order and how to spend the income of the community.

Now that's where our present Maire has become unpopular. There are major roadworks at the entrance to the village which were supposed to be finished by Christmas but look like going on for several more months. It was rumoured that they were going to put in a roundabout - a sensible option - but now we can see that they are, in fact,  narrowing  the road  and increasing the pavement area so the new road system with its inevitable 'priorité a droite' will be no safer than the original layout.

Add to this the complete replacement of the pavement the whole length of the main road,with parking bays alternating with flowerbeds, which resulted in several houses having their gas or water pipes broken and you can understand why lots of local inhabitants are pretty pissed off. To add insult to injury, those who complained to the mayor were not well received.

Of course, the local tax bill (taxe d'habitation) has risen considerably for the coming year so everyone feels they are paying for the mayor's folly.

He has also installed a ridiculous set of traffic lights outside the village hall which are always at red until a car approaches. I've already seen several drivers go through without waiting for them to turn green. An accident waiting to happen?

According to the local paper he is planning to stand again next year and isn't aware of any opposition, but I've heard that someone else is prepared to enter the arena against him. We know this potential candidate quite well and, now that he has retired, he should have plenty of time and energy to devote to the village. However, the present Maire has always been very pleasant to us and we like him too.

It's going to be a difficult decision when the time comes to vote.