Today, on an overcast and slightly drizzly day, we went to the London City Airport to collect our rental car.
The Ford Focus they offered us had a 1 Litre, 3 cylider engine but he said it had twin turbos and 123hp. Mick turned his nose up at that as he imagined it would resemble a sewing machine to drive so the man said he could do a VW Golf diesel for an extra £1 a day. Lyn said we have a lot of luggage and it may not fit so we ended up with Peugeot 308 diesel SW Estate Car (station wagon). Black of course - the Brits love their dark coloured cars.
It has SatNav for free but even the staff couldn't show us how to put an address into it.
On the Woolwich Ferry our Peugeot 308 SW Diesel front view.
On the Woolwich Ferry our Peugeot 308 SW Diesel rear view
We then headed off to Weybourne Nursing home in Abbey Wood to visit Zara (Mick's cousin) who we stayed with 3 years ago when we visited London. Zara has a form of Alzheimer's called Frontal Lobe Dysplasia and cannot verbally express herself. She was showing symptoms of this during our visit 3 years previously.
The nursing home was on the other side of the River Thames so we had to cross the river on the Woolwich Ferry.
We arrived at about 1pm and since we had phoned the day before to tell them we were coming, Zara had been advised of that. The manager said that he had probably made a mistake telling her we were coming as she had been waiting by the window all day and was so excited to see us. She grabbed Mick and starting touching his face affectionately so she certainly recognised us. She jumped up and down with excitement.
We spent about 2 hours there and we had a cuppa, biscuits and cake we had taken which Zara seemed to enjoy. We did most of the talking as we weren't able to understand anything she said. We generally nodded when she was "talking" and she would occasionally start crying. Most of the words she spoke appeared to have been made up.
We had a long chat with Terry, the 76 year old manager. He said she had been admitted on 1st March as she had been going out from her home and getting lost. The police had to return her home several times.
The nursing home has 40 beds and is being replaced with a new one in Plumstead which will have an 80 bed capacity. When that occurs Terry will retire. He was a very likeable chap and we chatted with him for quite some time.He appeared to have a lot of time for Zara and she responded to his kindness.
Zara has 3 daughters and Terry said that the two that lived nearby visited once or twice a week. Zara's third daughter lives in Scotland.
Lyn and Mick left the nursing home quite depressed to see Mick's cousin, who was previously a vibrant active person and a brilliant musician, in such a condition. There but for the grace of God..........................
We leave here tomorrow heading Northeast.
Weybourne Nursing Home in a fairly quiet traffic area
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