Garlic chicken, risotto-stuffed pepper, salad

Well, not take me to church – I’m not a church-goer – and the past tense would be more accurate. But there isn’t a song called “Mum Was Taken To Church” (that I know of, anyway), so I’ll go with that as a title.

So, yeah, mum went to church, or at least to the post-service cup of tea part of church. I had been rather afraid that she would talk herself out of it, particularly after she woke me up in a panic because her chest hurt. I would have panicked too, except we’ve been there, done that, it’s anxiety, take some deep breaths.

The breathing worked, and by the time mum’s friend and driver for the day arrived, she was fairly enthusiastic about going, although disappointed I had no real interest in going with her. She’s now keen to go back properly next week, but she’s not sure who will take her as her friend from today is going to stay with her daughter to help out with her new baby, which led to the usual spiralling anxiety until I reminded her that ruminating isn’t a good use of her time. She instead started talking about her recurrent plans to put all of my belongings in cardboard boxes, as she thinks that looks tidier than any indication I live here.

(OK, that’s not quite fair. But mum’s obsessive tidiness and my habitual untidiness don’t make for comfortable house sharing, sadly.)

Tomorrow I have a telephone meeting with someone from the DWP, to discuss what I’m doing to prove myself worthy of the benefits they’re not paying me. Luckily the person herself is lovely, so the meeting should just be pointless, rather than pointless and unpleasantly combative.

Dinner tonight was the kind that mum instantly says “yum!” to – the kind that comes out of a packet – which doesn’t make me feel great about my cooking abilities. She ate the lot, until just the chicken bone was left, though, which I guess is the most important thing.

Now it’s decaff coffee, Cadbury’s Whole Nut chocolate which is my current favourite, and mum watching BGT clips on her phone as there’s nothing on television either of us want to watch. As always, I’ll see y’all tomorrow for another wildly unexciting update.