Lamb burger, salad, flatbread; strawberry cheesecake and ice cream

After yesterday’s drama, I rather felt that I was owed a day of peace and, miraculously, I got one.

Mum didn’t feel great, but she restrained herself and didn’t wake me up to tell me about it so I woke up naturally.

The DWP sent me a message to say I must attend a meeting in Newport (the Isle of Wight’s county town): I asked if it could be a telephone meeting instead and they easily agreed.

I made a meal plan for next week and ordered the associated groceries, and everything I needed was in stock.

I received a phone call from the local branch of Age UK informing me that they had found someone to come and help with housework etc, and she can start tomorrow! Except mum’s not feeling well and really doesn’t want anyone visiting until she feels a bit better, so I pushed it back to next week. Except, when I looked at the calendar, mum has a medical appointment next week so I’ve had to push it back another week. The lady in the office giggled through my explanation, withthat “been there, done that” tone to her laughter that made me feel a bit better about it.

I watched the tennis with mum and she was attentive, interested, and even commented on how much better Alcaraz’s English is than when he first started becoming a big name in tennis. That means she a) knew who he was, b) remembered him from when he was younger, and c) compared the two and was able to comment appropriately.

After dinner, of the freezer – oven – plate variety after yesterday’s disaster, I played a game on my phone while mum watched Stacey Solomon, one of her favourite tv personalities, then we went to our separate rooms and watched as someone set fire to the sky. The photo above doesn’t really do it justice – it was more of a coral colour, which my phone camera can’t capture – but it was utterly lovely for a while.

And now, after half a dozen chocolate digestives, it’s time for bat watch (our current record is three, of two different varieties¹), then bed. Or maybe one more biscuit first. Or two at most.

1. I’m no expert on bats, but at least one is almost certainly a pipistrelle, given its minute size. The others seem to be a bit bigger, but identifying the species of a flying mouse, which is no more than a silhouette against the evening sky, is somewhat beyond me. ↩︎