Not so much a hiccup as an enormous belch

Though I would much rather not talk about yesterday I feel that perhaps an explanation is in order so I will be as brief as possible.
My son left for is holiday at nine o clock and at ten past Pa suffered a collapse. He was incoherent and could not stand up. In attempting to do so he had two bad falls and I was at my wits end. Pa was due at the doctors surgery at ten thirty and had a snowflakes chance in hell of getting there so I rang the surgery and asked for a home visit. While I was congratulating myself that at least my son was safely on his way he rang to say that all the trains through Reading had been cancelled as there was a power out in Reading,when he asked me if Pa had got up in tome for his appointment I lied and said yes. Fortunately the doctor came quickly and was very reassuring, she promised to look in to the amount of medication which his seven consultants are prescribing and mentioned that he seemed to be given more than the legal limit of one of the drugs. She also talked him into allowing the house to be assessed by social services so that we can get a grant for a stair life and a modification to the bath, I have been trying to persuade him to ask for help for ages as we both have trouble with the stairs and getting in and out of the bath is a nightmare these days. The stubborn old ****** took it like a lamb, I could have cried with relief. By late afternoon Pa was much better and I have decided not to mention any of this to my son as I know he will worry and he does enough of that already poor darling .The doctor also tore the old boy off a strip for leading me such a dance and not going to bed until three in the morning, wonder of wonders, last night he had bathed and was in bed by eleven thirty and this morning was awake and alert a nine, I hope it lasts, if it does not I shall grass him up to his formidable lady doctor, I should hate to have her on my case if you will pardon the expression.
I heard from my son this morning, he slept well and had a lovely breakfast before setting off for Avebury so that is alright. Pa and I had boiled eggs and bread and butter for our breakfast and then I set about making some red tomato chutney a sticky job but worth the trouble I think
RED TOMATO CHUTNEY
2 pounds of ripe tomatoes
2 onions
1 apples
6 ounces of raisins
3 ounces of dates
8 ounces of sugar
half a pint on malt vinegar
3 ounces of whole pickling spices...choose the sort with whole chillies then if you do not like it too hot you can take them out.
Skin the tomatoes, peel and chop the apples and onions and put them in a large pan with the dates ,raisins and vinegar, tie the spices in a bit of muslin and add to the pan.
Bring to the boil and simmer until the fruit is soft, about thirty to forty minutes then add the sugar. Bring to the boil the reduce heat and simmer slowly until the mixture thickens a little.
Remove from the heat and pour into warm sterile jars.
This recipe is perfect with cheese , ham or pork pie and makes a lovely gift nicely presented..
For dinner tonight I cooked some whole plaice stuffed with anchovies and herbs wrapped in foil and baked for fifteen minutes served with new potatoes sliced runner beans mashed summer turnip and a buttery parsley sauce. Pa and I love fish. We had iced cream for afters..........perfect.
I need an early night as I am still tired from yesterday so now I am off for a bath, oh yes, last night,s blog, as you will have noticed I made two attempts to publish a short blog both of which turned out to be very short indeed, in fact none existent ,to say that I was preoccupied would be an understatement and I must have pressed the wrong key both times. God knows where the blogs went I only know that they did not publish and are not on my computer either, they have vanished into a black hole perhaps.