I went in to see Isobel at mid-day. She was sound asleep and it took ten minutes to wake her and a further five minutes before she could give one or two word replies to questions. After this she was cheerful but spoke very little, mainly giving one or two word replies, sometimes so quietly that I could not hear them. Her mid morning tea had not been drunk, she drank a small amount of squash as soon as she was awake.

Dinner arrived and I fed Isobel. She had egg, cheese and minced beef flan with boiled potatoes, green beans and carrots. For afters she had jelly with cream, accompanied by a mug of tea. Eating dinner took about twenty minutes, with a further five minutes to finish the mug of tea after. She clearly had some congestion on her chest as this could be heard while she was eating.

After eating dinner Isobel seemed much more alert. Her speech improved, but only to the extent that she attempted some longer sentences. I could make out about half of these, words were often spoken quietly or slurred. I had a word with the nurse, he will get the doctor in to check Isobels's lungs this afternoon or tomorrow morning. I went home at a quarter past one. After her brief period of activity Isobel was showing signs of tiredness again. On the way out I passed two men shoveling a very generous amount grit onto the long sloping entrance drive.

I came back in to see Isobel at teatime, just after five o'clock. One of the carers had just woken her for her tea and I took over the feeding. The carer confirmed that for the past two days there had been the sort of difficulty rousing Isobel that I had experienced at lunchtime - it takes some time but eventually is fairly successful. For tea Isobel had two rounds of cheese and ham sandwiches followed by fruit salad and ice cream. The feeding again took about twenty minutes. During the meal Isobel had half a beaker of tea, she drank the rest fairly quickly after she had finished the food.

Isobel's speech was again very poor at the start of the meal, she did no more than give one or two word replies, and these were often mumbled or slurred. By the time Isobel had finished eating and drinking she seemed more alert. We chatted, but it was difficult to make out what she was saying and I often had to ask her to repeat what she had said. After about a quarter of an hour Isobel had some grapes and a banana, I fed these to her but she ate them quickly, more or less at the usual speed of the past month. Despite the speech problems, after the meal Isobel was cheerful and more alert. We discussed the snow forecast for overnight, Isobel understands that if the promised 60cm arrives I may not be able to get in to see her tomorrow, although at that time there did not seem much chance of anything like that depth of snow falling. For the second evening running I left shortly after half six, leaving Isobel watching Michael Portillo travel around Britain by train on television. Although she was wide awake when I left, I expect she was asleep within half an hour.

I believe that part (if not all) of Isobel's tiredness is due to a minor chest infection. I can hear that she has phlegm on her chest. On the way out I spoke to the nurse, he confirmed the doctor will see Isobel tomorrow, he is confident the Centre will not be cut off by snow!

Once I got home I went to the shops and stocked up on the basis of being cut off for three days, this should ensure it will not happen. At about half ten the temperature rose and some ice crystals on the roof of my car melted. Just before 11pm it began to snow and by 11.20pm it was snowing heavily. At 11.30 the snow stopped falling, but begun again ten minutes later, less heavily. As I write this just before midnight there is an inch of wet snow lying. When I lived in Wales I was once cut off by seventeen foot deep drifts so today's snow is a bit pathetic but will probably manage to cause chaos across southern England tomorrow.