Senior moments

St Clement
Yesterday's weather: sunny, sort of OK but not really warm.

I took Mum shopping yesterday morning. I haven't driven much for a while but wanted to go into town for a few bits and pieces.

I left the car warming up while we wandered over the garden to inspect the chalet which Mum hadn't seen before. Both of us taking care not to slip on the wooden steps and chasing the cat out of this cat-free zone we admired Jon's handiwork and talked about how useful it will be next summer when Jon and I will probably sleep there during the time we are ripping the upper floor of the house to pieces.

Then we headed into town. It's a long time since Mum was last here and with all the leaves off the trees now we could see lots of changes, houses with new roofs or extensions, houses we had never spotted before. Brown fields which were green last time we passed and so on.

It was a beautiful morning and we pottered along chatting about this and that. Eventually we arrived at the supermarket, got out of the car, locked it. Then we unlocked it and got back in and headed home.

On the way back we still admired the countryside, chatting about family and so on. Around a bend, and just in time, I spotted a white van parked with his hazard lights flashing. Wondering what he was doing parked in such a stupid place I pulled out to drive round and came face to face - yes, I promise you, face-to-face with a helicopter.

'So that's what the van was doing there' I thought. We carried on along the road with the helicopter hovering beside us swerving across the fields. I realised then that they were checking the electricity pylons.

When we got home I warned Jon to watch out for the helicopter hopping over the hill later on.

Then I picked up my handbag from the garden table where I had left it and got back in the car to go shopping.