Fortunately a family friend of Mrs M was on hand this evening to explain to Theo and I exactly what furniture needed moving and where, so that sufficient space could be cleared in the living room to allow Mrs M to be discharged from hospital.

We started with the sofa and after a bit of huffing and puffing we had it partway up the narrow staircase, and then got very stuck...an extra inch of space was all that was needed to get the sofa over the bannister and through into the bedroom but we couldn't manoeuvre it in any direction to free it. Past similar sofa shifting experience proved invaluable at this point, as I reached into my bag for a screwdriver and removed the four feet, giving us the essential two extra inches of clearance we needed to finally get it to its final resting space.

After gathering our breath, we were able to then move a couple of cabinets and a folding table up the stairs, up another set of stairs and park them in the spare bedroom/laundry room, and our task was complete for the evening.

As I walked to Mr R's to do his weekly shop this afternoon, I came across an elderly lady on the pavement standing stationary over her walking frame. I asked if she was okay, and she said she needed help hailing a cab and that they usually come past this particular stretch fairly frequently. With a bit of time in hand, I was happy to try and help, and fortunately an empty taxi appeared at the end of the road, and following some frantic waving, pulled over to stop - as the elderly lady shuffled her way slowly to the open door, the driver also got out, and between us we got the lady and her walking frame into the back of the cab..."you are my lucky star" she said with a smile as I shut the door and wished her well.

On the basis that one good deed deserves another, it was then on to Mr R's to do his weekly shop - assisted again by some visual clues (old packaging...), I managed to get everything he needed this week and was soon back to have another chat with him about the challenges he's dealing with of getting confident on his daily walks...it's really no fun getting old.