Two members of the care home staff tested positive for covid last week. Both had been vaccinated. Room visits have been cancelled for two weeks and I had a “pod visit” with mum today. When I arrived she was wheeled into the room on her side of the glass barrier. Initially distressed I managed to distract her with questions about past holidays from my childhood. Then I reminded her of the time she went to Royal Ascot and my brother and I spotted her on TV in her glamorous blue and green chiffon dress and coat with matching hat. She always managed to look a million dollars even though she hadn’t much money. She would find dresses at C&A or sale bargains at more expensive shops. Later on in life she bought “cabbage” (the extra outfits, above their contracted number, cut by canny manufacturers from the bolts of cloth and sold to private sellers who traded from their homes to those on their lists).

The question I wanted mum to answer was the year (in the 60’s) that we saw Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev dance Romeo and Juliet in an amphitheatre in the South of France. Mum couldn’t remember the year but the memory brought a warm smile to her face and also to mine.