Jungle fever

Shit. It was hot yesterday.

Can't do much more of this.
And, nor can Okaasan.

About 2.30 pm her room gets steamy. She isn't helping much because she tries to keep the insect screens closed, and the door to the kitchen closed, and there are clothes hanging in the door between her two rooms...and she is wearing long-johns and two shirts.

I have a strong image of my friend's mother-in-law dieing in her underwear on the living room floor of her Osaka apartment a month ago. For all my whingeing about Okaasan, I of course don't wish that end on her.

The jungle of suburban Sapporo. At 2.30 yesterday I was throwing open doors and windows, giving Okaasan iced water in the kitchen and hosing down the concrete steps outside her windows - steps which probably concentrate the sun's heat even more.

And we went to see the musical Lion King! I bought the tickets ages ago, as a post-Olympic something-to-look-forward-to AND as a Happy Family Trip Out. Tickets cost me Y9,000 each. Bit of a  splurge. It is the final week of the show's 2-year run In Sapporo. Both Okaasan and I had seen it before, but Yujiro never.

Thought it would be nice.

At 2.45 pm Okaasan is trying to back out of going: I don't feel like going out, I've seen it before, it's hot......
I ran around like a nutter trying to cool her surroundings down and get her in a positive frame of mind. But it WAS hot. Hard to think about getting ready to go out at 4 pm for us too. At 9,000 a ticket I wasn't going to let her get out of it and I knew once we got her to a cool place, with fun music and songs - she would enjoy it all.

Going out with Okaasan in public, to something that involves a lot of sitting...with a long time to the next toilet break. Bit stressful really.
Overall she enjoyed the show. We enjoyed it, from our seats just 5 rows from the stage - the elephant walked right next to us!!!
But I never really relaxed, always on Care Duty. Rushing Okaasan to the toilet in the intermission, pushing aside other people to get her to the head of the queue etc...trying to be reassuring to her about the embarrassing wet patch on the theater seat....taking her off to the toilet again....grasping her hands through the crowds....sitting chatting while Yujiro got the car.
All a lot of work really.

A 3 hour show isn't very suitable for an old lady with bladder control issues. I should learn this.
Next time, I'll just get tickets for us and leave her quietly at home with some takeout sushi.