Despite my carefully laid plans for dad's care whilst M and I were away it all fell apart on the first morning. He refused to get up to go the the day centre. The carers can't force the issue and I use lots of strategies to persuade him when he is being mulish. My favourite is to get the hoover out!

We were away from Friday until Tuesday but dad was going into respite on Monday. Friday, at some point he got dressed and sat himself on the settee and stayed there until Monday morning. No bed, no showers and no clean clothes. Oh well.

We had a great time and it was a bit of a struggle to come home.