When Mum passed away, we later returned to Chapel House to deal with her clothes and possessions.

Upon opening her clothes drawer we were bemused and puzzled at the amount of salt and pepper sprinkled liberally over and amongst the clothing.  Then a rather distinctive cruet set in fine white china, with salt and pepper pots that meshed together in Yin & Yang togetherness, emerged.

Returning the cruet to the Chapel House dining room proved a quandary as the salt and pepper set “… definitely did not belong there.”   Hmmm … mysteriously odd.

I recalled however on a recent trip out with Mum for afternoon tea she had been fascinated by such a cruet set on the tea room table.  We were not exactly sure at which establishment, so embarked on a series of expeditions to find the source (or is that sauce?) of the Yin & Yang Cruet.

With friend Eileen in tow we first tried the Garden Restaurant at Twigworth.  No joy there.  Salt & pepper definitely only ever dispensed via tiny paper sachets.  (The hot chocolate and coffee was good though!)

So the following week the three of us took to the road again to try out the ‘Touching Souls’ Tea Room adjacent to Tewkesbury Abbey.  Bingo!  Backed up by photographs of a rather delicious looking lunchtime repast posted by an impressed customer a few months previously on Trip Advisor (so it does have its uses after all), could be seen nestled between the steaming bowl of vegetable soup and a side plate with tasty looking sandwiches, an exact replica cruet set to ours; perhaps even the very same!

The lady proprietor was extremely grateful to be reunited with her Yin & Yang condiments set, although sadly upon perusal of the tables (now loudly occupied by the ladies of a local choir in robust mood) showed us that here too the hygienic, hermetically sealed paper sachet had replaced their collection of stylish and traditional cruet sets.

Now Mother was certainly no light-fingered lady nor was she accustomed to purloining various condiment sets and cutlery from the many eateries she frequented in her life (which would have made her house clearance a very perplexing saga!)

Some twenty years previous, Tewkesbury Abbey and the tea rooms there were oft a place of midweek pilgrimage as Mum dragged Dad to the regular deanery services with the promise of a sumptuous lunch afterwards!  

The cruel disease which was corrupting and destroying her memories also manifests itself through mood swings and character changes, causing the sufferer to grab and hold onto a sound, a sight, a smell, a colour, a physical item - whatever it is that can sustain a solid link with the happy and certain memory that is fast becoming so fearfully and increasingly elusive.

So I fancy it was with Mum.  The abbey visit and tea room sustenance recalled to her those happy trips to Tewkesbury with Dad.  Fearful of losing them, she took to herself something that would help her fix those memories again.  Something distinctive; something pleasing to the eye; something on which she could hang her memories; the white china Yin & Yang cruet set.

No one can for sure truly imagine what this abhorrent disease does to someone.  Although some of the stories Mum came out with during our visits and trips out were comedy of the highest degree, the underlying frustration and anger were there for all to see.

Mum is at peace now; the fancy cruet set back in its place at the 'Touching Souls' Tea Room.