Helen's Tea Party at the Rehab. Centre!

Helen, Sandra, Jenny and I met through volunteering for the first Neighbourhood Watch program to be set up in Eltham about 20 years ago. I was elected Area co-ordinator, Jenny was assistant co-ordinator, Sandra was the secretary and Helen was editor of the monthly newsletter. We met often for official NHW stuff, but became good friends outside of that, as we are all about the same age group (give or take a few years).

Helen and I see more of each other because we only live a few streets from each other, while Sandra is in the next suburb, and Jenny moved years ago to a suburb about 15 minutes drive away from us. We manage to get together for a 'girls night out' dinner two or three times a year, and last night we were scheduled to go to Helen's place for tea. But as I said in a previous post, that was not to be, so we 'took the mountain to Mohammed'...is that the right phrase? (Isabelle - correct me if I'm wrong!)


I took several photos, and a friendly visitor at a nearby table offered to take one of the four of us. From left: Sandra, Jenny, Gina, with Helen sitting.


I took this pic, showing as much as possible of our table with the goodies (smoked salmon and avocado sandwiches, selection of cream pastries, and a small cheese and biscuit platter. You can also see the nice china and pretty cloth and matching napkins, if you look closely.

Our evening was a success in all ways. When we arrived at about 6.45 pm, Helen was sitting in her wheelchair beside her bed, looking hopefully through the door. She had some makeup on and her hair had been brushed. Her face lit up when she saw us, and there were hugs (and a few brief tears) all round. She instructed me where to go - a room where there were separate tables and chairs, which was just perfect. We set up our table, poured tea and settled back to chat. Helen still has minor speech difficulties, so she was happy to let us ramble on, and commented when she wanted to. Visiting hours officially finish at 8 pm, but nobody came to tell us to go, so we stayed until about 8.30, then took her back to the ward. The nurses at the desk looked up with a smile and said "Oh there you are! Been out raging, have you?"

I passed on all the good wishes from Blogland (Sandra's daughter in England has a blog, but Jenny had to know all about this!), and Helen sends thanks and hugs to all.