Jacket potato with pesto tuna and Mediterranean veg
Today has been one of those days when the world just seems to have it in for me.
It started with mum ‘waking me up’ because Suki was begging for breakfast, and seemed mildly put out to discover that I was already awake and putting in my contact lenses. It was raining heavily this morning, meaning mum couldn’t go outside and so was dependent on annoying me for entertainment.
I called the dentist to arrange mum’s urgent appointment, and had to leave a message. Mum overheard – or, more accurately, stood over me to listen in – and went into instant panic mode. After 20 minutes or so of increasingly insistent looping on “my head hurts, why does my head hurt, are they going to hurt me?” in the pathetic little old lady voice I hate, my mild frustration obviously showed because mum stopped herself with “I’m sorry, I’m really not this much of baby”.
These occasional flashes of lucidity are always more common after mum has been out in company, as she did yesterday (out for four hours! Without me!). Mum of course doesn’t realise this so it helps not at in persuading her to do it more. Sadly.
The dentist’s office later called back and I booked an appointment at a time in line with the limited availability given by mum’s friend who will be accompanying mum to the appointment. Or at least that was the plan: either the friend gave the wrong days, or I wrote them down wrong, because the friend won’t even be in the same county on the day in question.
I also followed up with the GP practice about an email I had sent them, in response to a text message they sent me from a short code (no response) number. The slightly snotty response, a week after I originally contacted them, was that they don’t accept messages sent by email.
a) it would have been nice if you had let me know this earlier, rather than making me wait a week; and
b) this means they have the benefit of communicating electronically but don’t extend the same benefit to their patients.
I was, unsurprisingly, not very happy with this, but have no option but to join the telephone scrum at 8.30am tomorrow. This is just one of many ways in which the healthcare / social care system makes matters more complex and time consuming than strictly necessary. I am entirely sick of it, but have no choice but to play along.
For dinner I did a mum favourite, jacket potatoes with Mediterranean veg. I try not to cook it too often, in case mum gets tired of it (as she did with prawns, which she once loved and now won’t eat1), but on days like this an easy win is irresistible. With mine I did my current favourite filling / topping, a mixture of tinned tuna, cottage cheese, and jarred pesto: low in fat, high in protein and flavour. Mum had “the nice long bits” (grated cheese).
So now to the usual evening routine of tv and – when she stops sulking that I wouldn’t share my tuna – Suki snuggles. Then book, chocolate, and hopefully a bit of peace.
As always, I’ll see you tomorrow.
- Unless I cook them for myself and then they’re once again a delicious treat. ↩︎
Is it pineapple sponge today? 