I went in to see Isobel at ten past five. She was asleep when I arrived. She had eaten little earlier in the day, not finishing breakfast and missing lunch although she had a single pot of balanced supplement. Dallas and Mike had called in during the afternoon on their way down to Ramsgate, but I have not spoken to them since. When they visited last week they found Isobel asleep throughout the visit.

When tea arrived Isobel was very slow to wake and slow to start eating - the problem of clenched teeth again. However, once she got going she ate the first course of cheesy egg and tomato easily and fairly quickly. The yogurt dessert and a beaker of blackcurrant squash were also finished quickly despite intermittent problems with teeth clenching.

After she had finished eating I began reading to Isobel but she fell asleep almost at once. I let her sleep for just over an hour while I read some manuals I had brought with me for just such circumstances. I then woke Isobel and after a slow start she ate a pot of balanced supplement fairly easily. Once she had finished, she fell soundly asleep at once. I washed her face and adjusted the bed, leaving at ten past nine with a sedum plant which has thrived on her window sill but now gets in the way of the orchids when they are moved so as to get some light.