A new normal

Over lunch, Susan asked me what the last time was that I had lived together with other people. That must have been in my students days. My early student days, even. I'm not used to it! But now I suddenly had a crippled man in my house, and it wasn't clear when that was going to change. In order for that to happen, I first needed to be on his car insurance, and second, he needed to have someone else to look after him. He is absolutely not allowed to put weight on this leg for weeks to come! And that means he always has to use crutches, and if you use crutches, you can't carry anything. So just making bowl of spaghetti is difficult. How do you get the cooking pot onto the hob, especially with water in it? So he wasn't going anywhere for now. And that meant my life changed.

We soon found a new normal. In the morning I wake up and come downstairs. If I have to go to work quite early and/or he is awake, I say hello, and then go downstairs to make breakfast. If he isn't awake yet and I don’t have to go anywhere I'll let him sleep. I know he struggles to sleep with his sore leg! So if he is actually sleeping I will not disturb him.

Breakfast for two

Sooner or later he's awake, and then we have breakfast together. The cat loves it; she gets to lick out two breakfast bowls! And on a workday, I then go downstairs again, and make packed lunch for both of us. And then I leave. He is fine to look after himself otherwise. He even manages to shower independently! It takes him a while, but that's okay; there is no hurry there. So during the day we just each do our thing until I come home.

Sorting out food is just a question of checking what next needs eating from the stash we retrieved from his house. The recipes are getting increasingly imaginative! And for two days, we had crumble for dessert, as that crumble never got eaten after our run! And then at some point he goes to bed. He tends to be the first to turn in, again for reasons of not sleeping well with a sore leg, so being quite tired. And the cat still sleeps with me.

I'm not used to having someone in my house, but this is going quite frictionlessly! I'm glad it is. For now there wasn’t much of an alternative, so the situation would be a bit bleak if we would get fed up already. Watch this space to see how it all pans out!