An Evening with Mother

To date, I don't think that I have mentioned my mother in any of my posts so I shall now rectify that sin.

My mother is in her 80's and still regularly ferries a group of what she describes as 'old dears' to and from the shops. She is now cutting back on her night driving and, by her own admission, has now decided that driving at 80mph on dual carriageways is somewhat beyond her abilities!

We do not have a big family but still, we have never been so tight that we visited our parents every weekend and, even though I am just about the closest of her three children in mileage terms, I haven't spent as much time with her as, perhaps, I should have. Last Saturday, however, I spent more time with my mother than I had in the last twelve months (bad son, bad son!).

It started with the annual 'what do we get parents for birthdays / Christmas discussions. You see, both my mother and my father in law have birthdays in December and, when he was alive, my father was also a Sagittarius. So we did our usual trawl around our local factory outlet and came up short. However, my wife asked me if my mother liked Pam Ayers. Absolutely loves her was my reply. And so the plan was hatched. We booked two tickets for her live show at a nearby(ish) theatre and sent off the tickets. Unfortunately, although she was thrilled to get them, as mentioned before, she has given up driving at night so asked if I would accompany her.

I agreed and suggested that, to make a special night of it, I would take her out for something to eat beforehand as well. This was really so that I would have a partially enjoyable night - not because I didn't want to spend it with my mother but rather, I didn't really relish the thought of 2 hours of Pam Ayers.

After the minor hiccough of everywhere you could book that was withing walking (shuffling) distance for my mum being fully booked, I managed to ascertain that there was a high probability of getting into a restaurant that was close by taking a table in their 'coffee bar'. This we duly did and enjoyed a very tasty and filling seaside meal.

Now there was no putting it off any longer. With the time it would take us to walk to the theatre, we had to make a move so, with the air of a condemned man, I helped her on with her coat and we started on our way. At the theatre, we discovered that we were in the third row just to the right hand side so had a marvellous view. I settled into my seat and found that I had to sit with my legs in the aisle as the legroom was so minimal. Feeling more and more gloomy, I settled down for two hours of pain.

Two and a bit hours later, we emerged into the chill North Sea coastal evening with damp eyes and aching cheeks from laughing so much. Mother was gushing about how wonderful it had been and must have thanked me for the food and show so many times, I lost count.

They always say, never judge a book by its cover, well neither should you assume that you are going to hate an entertainer until you have heard their up to date work. She was witty, ever so slightly risque and not afraid to ridicule herself. On top of that, I had such an enjoyable night out with my mother that, heaven forbid, I might just suggest something like that to her again!

Keep loving