Jacket potatoes with roasted aubergine and tomatoes, and salad

I think I now have Sunday mornings off to a fine art. I set my alarm for a time that gives mum enough time to get ready (complaining all the while, naturally), but not enough to start really panicking.

Then I bundle her out of the door into the care of the friend who takes her to church, shut the door, and enjoy the blissful silence. No television, no complaining, no “what’s that thing called again?” – just the relentless hammering of the rain on the windows, roof, garden, and everything else.

I heard on the weather this evening that parts of Northern Ireland have received six months of rain in six weeks. It’s not that bad here, but it’s still pretty bad. The west of the Isle of Wight used to be separate from the rest of the Island, and it’s rapidly going back that way. The road that crosses the river that once separated the two bits of land is now semi-permanently submerged (or so I’m reliably informed by people who actually go outside). Soon we’ll have to rename it the Isles of Wight.

This afternoon I watched a bit of the Winter Olympics. Mum didn’t bother to hide her boredom, but I enjoyed it: two gold medals! Go Team GB!

Dinner was a classic pre-grocery delivery day meal: aubergine left over from Friday’s curry, a handful of slightly squishy cherry tomatoes, a couple of potatoes that had started shooting (pow! pow! 🔫), and some browning salad. (Plus some cheese, which had nothing wrong with it except that I kept eating it and having to cut more.) Mum ate it with great enthusiasm, which was good as she had barely eaten anything else today.

I need to have a serious talk with her about eating less ice cream and more proper food, but first I will need to buy some more eggs so I can walk on their shells when raising the topic.

Not one I’m looking forward to, I freely admit.