I have bitten my tongue, smiled sweetly and kept my temper but in two hours this house will be an ‘elderly mother-free zone’! On the continent I know they are much more caring about their elderly but if these last 10 days are anything to go by I cannot live with mine. She unfortunately has not bitten her tongue or smiled sweetly and though the ice has thawed outside there is still a frost inside. I have found silence the best way to deal with her as then she cannot annoy me. I am sure she finds our way of life very irritating, our lack of formality, our lack of church attendance on Sundays, our friends who call her by her first name on meeting her and when leaving give her a kiss good-bye!! She has loved our central heating, our full fridge, and the 24 hour a day maid service offered by myself but our lifestyle most disagreeable. Tonight my husband and I will probably dance naked around the house (even though I have previously said that over the age of 50 nakedness should be confined to a darkened bedroom but sometimes rules need to be broken), have a TV dinner on the sofa whilst watching highly unsuitable programmes with much sex and swearing and without having to listen to the critical comment that inevitably followed!!
On Saturday evening some friends invited us to go to the local theatre to see a Roy Orbison tribute band a.k.a. Barry Steele. Now under normal circumstances I do not like tribute bands as I find them a bit creepy as they seem to seriously believe that they are the act re-incarnated……weird. On top of this most, if not all, of Roy’s songs sound the same but just with different words and apart from Only the Lonely and Pretty Woman, I do not know the words of the other songs which is a necessity as there is much audience participation, waving of arms, dancing in the aisles etc expected at these events. Whether it was a reaction to my current home life, or whether the average age of the audience being over 70 and, consequently, the only indication that they were still alive was the constant ‘comfort breaks’ that were taken, for, when in their seats, there was little if no movement so I obviously found the need to compensate. I sang/shouted out loud, even the songs I didn’t know the words to, danced in the aisle, and basically let my hair down as I felt an overwhelming desire to scream after suppressed living conditions at home for the last 10 days! Anyway I can only say that I totally recommend such an evening particularly in these times of austerity when tickets for artists such as Adele are £220 then this was a bargain even if not the real thing. I have said before that we sometimes have to make do with the cheap copy but it can be just as rewarding and fun; last time I said this I was referring to my husband and comparing him to George Clooney but it now is the case in many areas of my life however maybe the company of some very good friends was probably the winning ingredient for an excellent evening!