So, what’s my Pauline been up to today?
- Thread starter Agzy
- Start date
I must admit that The Banjoman was the musician, not me. It wasn’t until I met him that I did anything musical apart from singing along with my own records on the record player at home or with the radio or in church. Beforehand everything was pitched too high for me but he played in keys that I could sing in so that I could sound passable, especially when he put in a harmony behind me.
It was fun and we did several charity evenings. I do miss it sometimes and I have been asked why I no longer do the music but I did it with him because we enjoyed doing it together. Because of the type of events we ended up performing at I know that singing with me widened the range of music he played although Bluegrass remained his favourite.
Pauline was born out of wedlock as they called it back then, and deserted by her mother at 2 months and so brought up by her grandmother as a sister to her 8 other children including Paulines wayward mother. She didnt find the truth until aged 11 when her mother returned and Pauline found her Mam was her Granny and sisters and brothers were uncles and aunts. to this day she still refers to her Nan as Mam and used her mothers given name and never mother. Pauline in turn became an unmarried mother aged 16 to a baby boy and has often told of ‘them’ wanting to take the baby away but her Mam refusing and so keeping him. I tell this as earlier this morning there was a BBC piece on mothers who had their babies taken off them and very often sent to Canada, Australia and New Zealand and since watching it she has been repeating her experience over and over, so emotional to see her distress over it.
what they did then was shocking. pauline was lucky that she kept her son and her grandmother raised her. thank goodness times have moved on and its more accepted. my son was born out of wedlock and my granddaughter was born out of wedlock to my daughter who was also 16 when she got pregnant. now its the norm as people dont get married as much any more and contraception is widely available.
I can only imagine the trauma she went through and fear of him being taken away and I know it haunts her and is oft repeated. I too got my then 16 year old girlfriend pregnant but it meant a Shotgun wedding and our daughter being born on my new wife’s 17th birthday. Marriage didn’t last but thankfully avoided such upset and possible loss of a child to the colonies!
Today we have the decorators in and they have started on hall, landing and stairs and so confusing as she keeps asking me what is he doing and even turned off the TV to sort of concentrate on the noises from the hall. Given this silence from her I asked Alexa to play Boom Light radio and she is transformed hearing songs from teen years and earlier. Asked her did she want the tele back on she replied no I am really enjoying this, just lovely moments.
Amazed at the patience of the decorator as Pauline constantly wandered away from her Armchair to question and chat to him and both of use guiding her away from wet paint and it turned out his dad had dementia so he understood. The most upsetting issue for her is that I have had to take the curtains and vertical blinds down and so we can be seen by passers by but today, as he will be working in the lounge we are off for a morning on a Mersey ferry boat tour stopping off at the Liverpool waterfront for an hour as well. After lunch we are due at a singing for the mind session which she really loves but we do need a dry day.
i havent got dementia but i hate the disruption of decorating. i feel for pauline. my son says for me to supervise as far away as possible!!!
My neighbour who Is a retired teacher (no dementia) micromanages anyone who does work for him. He wants to know everything they are doing & why it’s being done that way & sometimes gets into a bit of a debate about things. I can tell some of the workmen get a bit fed up after a while! In my head I’m shouting “leave him alone J…, let him get on with it”. I think they’ve had some poor tradesmen in the past!
All done and now in process of returning some things back to usual speck but having a mini clear out as well!
After a week or two of being reluctant to join me on a walk around the block, this morning she asked me to join her for a walk; problem was it was only 7.30 and a bit nippy outside. Notwithstanding the chill I agreed and shared the 15 minute walk made longer when she spotted loads of sparrows in a hedge and so paused for quite a while watching the ‘baby’ birds having breakfast (her words). Back home and Tv back on and yet another repeat recording being watched as I listen to Boom radio through my phone and via a neck loop for my hearing aids so a peaceful day hopefully.
