As The Nights Draw In

A carer puts my mother to bed. They normally arrive between 6 and 7. She then has her gin and tonic (though she rarely drinks all of it) and sits there with the TV on until she's had enough. Then she calls us in and we supervise a trip to the bathroom and I give her a pill, take her hearing aids out and settle her down.

As the nights draw in so that final call comes earlier and earlier. She isn't living by clock time anymore. This evening she had us in shortly before 8.