Pretty much every Thursday me, Mum and the smelly hound we affectionately call Poppy, go to see my Grandparents down in Milford on Sea.

I am lucky in that:
a.) Both sets of my grandparents are still alive
b.) I live close enough to one set
c.) Both sets are lovely. I.e I don’t have an evil gran with a hairy mole like they have on TV

So, today was a visit to the Grandparents.

Bit of background info: My Mother’s parents, and they used to live about 5 minutes down the road until they moved in 2001/2002 to Milford. Sadly, my Grandad had a stroke late Spring 2002, and since then he’s had limited use of his right leg and his right arm is virtually useless and constantly in pain. He is lucky to have survived it, and he is lucky that while he is disabled, it hasn’t affected in in too many ways. We are forever thankful that we didn’t lose ‘him’ when he survived the stroke.
My Grandad has the cheesiest sense of humour… ever. Honestly, he’ll try and make a joke about everything, and even though his jokes suck I still have to laugh because they are so bad, and he tries to hard. Today was no different, except he didn’t try at all.
See for the past few years, they’ve been trying to move to another flat, which is in the town centre and has literally everything they could ever want on their doorstep. Even a chocolate shop next door
We are keeping our fingers crossed that this is the final time someone will have attempted to buy their flat, and they finally get to move. My Grandad is so optimistic bless him, he said:
“I refuse to get my hair cut until we move. I can’t wait for the day I get to pick up the phone and say “Percy, we’ve moved!”
Suddenly my Nan (who was putting some flowers we bought her in a vase) says:
“Your barber’s name is Colin”
So simple, but I found it so funny, the look on his face was priceless. Fits of laughter followed since we like to mock my Grandad in a fun way, and soon he was laughing too.
My Nan… is amazing, and truely inspiring. She looks after my Grandad so well, and she’s been so incredibly strong throughout the past 5/6 years. She’s put him on a strict diet to stop him from getting another stroke (his diet prior to the stroke was terrible, to be honest cake and salt. Baaad.)… actually got him to enjoy eating fruit… when 10 years ago he’d have laughed at the idea he’d have given up cake and chocolate… all the ‘good stuff’ in favour of a healthier diet. But then I guess, he didn’t except the stroke either.
They’ve not had a holiday in ages, and they are confined to the little bubble that is their flat. They live on the coast which is a plus, but I feel bad for them being so cooped up the way they are. My Grandad can drive, but not for too long. During the summer I drove us all to Hatchets Pond (see my ’stuff’ page for 3 photos I took that day) which they’d not seen in years. They enjoyed it, it was different. We should be going to Exbury in the Spring when it’s not too hot. I love the idea of taking them somewhere different so they’re not missing out too much.

So yeah, my Grandparents rock. I love them to bits, and even though I am pretty much falling asleep in my chair after lunch I do enjoy seeing them every week. I feel kinda bad for not being able to see my other Grandparents who are older and more frail, more often. I should be seeing them at Easter. They did used to live 30 minutes away but moved up north many years ago. It’s important to treasure family when you can

Work tomorrow. Oh yay