Maybe it was a waste of a day of freedom, but yesterday I did very little. Call it laziness or tiredness, but I really couldn't be bothered to do any gardening, despite the ideal weather and I only did the minimum indoors, in other words, necessary chores and meals.

Apart from that I watched TV, amused myself on the computer or dozed - except when the Whale wanted something.

Don't get me wrong, he isn't that bad, but he does call me more when there's no-one else about and then he'll interrupt my thoughts/writing/reading with a typical Whale-like request:

"Can I borrow your foot?"  This means putting weight on the walking frame and treading on his foot at the same time so he can raise himself without sliding forward.

"Will you get me a bottle of water please." He has a fear of being without water and even carries a plastic mug everywhere he goes. As soon as his bottle of springwater gets down to a third he asks for another one as though his life depended on it. 

"How would you say  . . . . . . . . in French?"  I think he spends a lot of time rehearsing conversations with the doctor or nurse as most of these requests are for things medical. Unfortunately they all regard him as bit of a hypochondriac (which he is) and are visibly fed up when he keeps asking questions.

He tends to get a bee in his bonnet about certain things. Recently it has been insects. There have been two or three little black beetles crawling across the floor and he has convinced himself they are cockroaches. I sprayed one with my universal bug killer but it does smell  dreadful so I trod on the next two. I've only seen pictures of cockroaches but I'm convinced these do not fit the description, poor things.

Then there are the 'mosquitoes'. He found insect bites on his arm and asked for an insect repellent before turning in last night. I mistakenly handed him the spray and he went mad with it. I could hardly breathe when I went into his room to get him ready for bed - the citronella pong was overwhelming. It was still noticeable this morning. Any sensible flying creature would avoid going anywhere near for a week I should think.

This week we must get on with wallpaper stripping, gardening and a certain amount of entertaining. Must make the most of Bear's absence to invite friends in.