Wednesday 12th January

Cinema with Mum – well almost.

My Mum and I had promised ourselves a date with Colin Firth as 'The Kings Speech' is currently gracing our big screens. With that and the news that Wagamamas have opened a restaurant at Meadowhall, we awarded ourselves an official day off. Since Mum has retired and I’ve been blessed with a dodgy pelvis, we have been able to spend more time together and tick many mutual ‘things to do’ off an ever growing list. While travelling the world in a campervan will have to wait for now, we are regular cinema/ art gallery/ theatre/ ballet goers and ensure that one day a week we break from the mundane to give ourselves a treat.  We even tried life drawing once - once and once only. The drawing was fine, the people were lovely, but my end result was a shock to the system. Mum's a really good artist, but won't endure the weekly comparisons with the art lesson lifers who insist on sharing their amazing efforts at the end over coffee.

Today, energised by the promises of the Marks & Spencer sale, I walked on crutches for thirty minutes around the store then stopped for coffee. My undoing was repeating my ordeal for another thirty minutes while refusing the offer of my wheelchair (now full of shopping bags) – too proud to accept my ‘Get out of Jail Free’ card. Accepting my limitations has never been one of my strong points.

Colin Firth will have to wait. Shoe shopping and noodles were far too tempting.