Dad fell in the night. Mum didn’t tell any of us until the afternoon. She said he was being strange. Drowsy. Not eating or drinking. She didn’t want help…until it became an emergency. Signified by finding his supper, a toasted sandwich, was in the bin. My brother took on the comms challenge from Toronto. Thank goodness for him. Told me to get drive thru McD coffee and litres of water as I made my way over. I did!

Stoic or brave ? In denial ? Whatever , that unleashed me driving over. Pushing their emergency alarm ( she refuses to use) and Dad spending the next 20 hours on a trolley. In A and E.

The ambulance crew were hilariously pragmatic, efficient, cracking jokes and sorting everything.

Aand E was crazy. People everywhere. Propped in chairs, trolleys and the floor. Linked to drips and monitors. Wheeled away to X-ray. CT. etc etc. Police strolled about with their charges. A hungry homeless man was wheeled in. The paramedics had given him their sandwiches. He protested loudly for anyone came near thinking he’d lose them. He professed to have lost a girlfriend to Paul McCartney.

The nurses were good at initial assessments and things like pee bottles. But , being only a curtain away spent the rest of the time discussing their bank shifts. Or staring at their phones. Warm water jugs appeared with breakfast at 8 but not before.

A blood spattered woman ran the gauntlet of 27 bays and escaped to the car park. They let her go. ‘ happens every day’ apparently. Nothing to be done. Blood splatters could not be mopped until the day shift. Obviously (?)

I found some coffee in a far flung staff canteen. Dad was so pleased. Except that meant I’d missed the on call doctor and he was thenceforth unavailable.

I decided that I better check on my mum so left Dad for a bit. You should’ve seen me breaking in to their house at 4:00 am. The key safe keys didn’t work. She’d got keys inside in all the locks. Didn’t hear the doorbell. Didn’t hear her phone. Didn’t hear me eventually break in. A lifetime of travelling round the world keeps her security regime at code red !

My siblings have begun to assemble a rota and I’ve had a chance to shower sleep and eat.

The hospital no longer tests for covid!

The system is good for the emergency moments, buggered for the rest of it.

Dunno what the next step is for Dad but hopefully he’ll be safe. He was more worried about me than his own situation. Black and blue with bruises, fever, cough and the shakes. But still he could tell jokes and grin our combined retelling of our crazy adventures! He remembered the airport lights at the end of our garden in Tel Aviv. He and Mini me watched as they were extinguished signifying the start of war. He reminded me that he and I had to take Norman the dog to meet his maker. And so we chatted on… not forgetting his shredder jamming when the Tehran building was besieged by the mob outside. Ever seen the film Argo? Well he was there!