Teriyaki veg stirfry with veg gyoza
Last night, at the conclusion of the men’s all-round competition at the World Gymnastics Championships (congrats to Joe Fraser on a fantastic bronze medal!), I went into the kitchen to get mum’s bedtime meds and was greeted with the disturbing sound of dripping water.
A quick glance pegged the culprit as the boiler, once again making a mockery of the model’s supposed reliability. I shoved a bowl under the trickle of water, grabbed mum’s meds, and metaphorically shut the door and walked away.
This morning I got up to a full bowl, a counter swimming in water, and a dead boiler. Thankfully mum has a service contract with a local heating company, and they got someone out to use early this afternoon. Apparently the diverter switch is broken, we need a new one which has to be ordered in, and until it arrives we’re stuck without heating or hot water.
For much of my time in Portsmouth I lived in poorly insulated, poorly heated flats, so the cold never bothered me anyway. ❄️❄️🏰✨️🎶
…sorry, I seem to have got sidetracked there. Anyway, mum is complaining it’s cold, and the last thing she needs is something else to complain about.
This morning I accompanied mum to a GP appointment. I had booked the appointment to discuss mum’s recurrent tooth pain, but mum insisted there’s nothing wrong with her teeth. She wanted to discuss the fact that she keeps needing to wee, and demonstrated it by going every few minutes, making a ten minute appointment take nearer 35.
While I was trying to explain to the doctor what was going on, mum repeatedly interrupted to rehash her various complaints, asking what was going to be done to fix it. My attempts to explain were met with eye rolls, snaps of “that’s not true”, and the usual accusations that I don’t care about her.
Eventually, with the doctor off consulting with a colleague, I started crying. Mum hugged me and assured me she loves me, but clearly didn’t understand – or really care – why I was upset.
The eventual outcome of the very extended appointment is that mum is being prescribed some oestrogen cream to try to treat the urinary frequency, and is being referred to the mental health team for help with the anxiety mum insists she doesn’t have.
This afternoon Lady Friday came round, and took mum out for a while. When they came back, mum immediately started yo-yoing in and out of my room, refusing to leave me alone for more than a minute at a time. Lady Friday shut my door, which caused mum to panic that I was angry with her.
After having my door shut for no more than 10 minutes, Lady Friday went home. Mum immediately appeared in my room: she had been so worried, she loves me so much, she just wanted to be near me. I tried to explain that I love her too but I just need a bit of time on my own occasionally. As with everything else, mum couldn’t grasp my point.
Dinner was a simple stirfry of veg with bottled teriyaki sauce, with frozen veg gyoza. Mum ate the main meal with minimal enthusiasm, but ate the following portion of fruit crumble and cream quite happily.
Now, as always, it’s tv until mum decides to retreat to bed. Mum has asked me to write her some notes to explain what’s happening with everything. I doubt she’ll read the notes, but I’ll give it a try.
I’ll let you know if it makes any difference.
