It's starting to feel like spring

Mac, April 2023

Mac the dog came to stay, just for one night. I found out afterwards that this was his first time away from his regular hosts, which may explain some of his behaviour, and I was warned in advance of a couple of things - his dislike of getting into cars, and his chewing on blankets. Sure enough it took four of us twenty minutes to tempt him into my car to get him home. When it was time to go back to the Centre I didn't bother trying to get him into the car but walked him back instead - luckily it isn't very far. He seemed very stressed and anxious most of the time, and wouldn't even come in the front door of the house without a good deal of persuasion. I was thankful for his sake as well as mine that the stay was only one night.

I am pleased to say that mum is much better now and we have started a new project to try and get a wheelchair ramp installed so dad stands a chance of getting in and out of the house. Not that he wants to... I have been on two retreats, my study group and our weekly meetings continue, as does badminton and the fortnightly pub quiz. 

UJ and I had our second welfare visit to check that everything is still OK - it's been six months since she arrived, although she's been back home in Kyiv for a significant part of that. Now that she has a job (and it took two of us to construct the office chair that her employer provided) she will probably be in the UK more of the time, since there are in-person meetings she has to attend in London. During my first retreat over the Easter Bank Holiday UJ went to see a friend in Amsterdam, and when I came back from the second weekend retreat she reported that she had met up with other Ukrainians locally, celebrated Easter with traditional cake and other foods, and been to a gig. So I'm happy that she doesn't rely on me for all her social activity, which previously was a slight concern.

And I fixed my printer (sort of)! It was reporting a paper jam when there wasn't one, and the Internet showed me what the problem was likely to be, and now it is (intermittently) fixed. I don't print very much, but it is very annoying not to be able to. I don't know how long my fix will last, but the three pages that I wanted are done.