Have you considered a gimmick for the general?

The structural issue is getting worse. Another leak has appeared. I’m absolutely bored to death, I’m done with living here.

Looking into selling now. After this is fixed of course. It’s been one thing after another really.

The police had to put the door in - of the empty flat the latest leak was coming into mine from - for the fire brigade to gain access. I felt quite embarrassed by the fuss, apologetic in fact towards the six to eight fire people plus two officers of the law.

Who knew firemen were so glamorous btw? The female one looked like a young Pamela Anderson.

My mother came round. That’ll be nice. It was 15 minutes before an explosion. The entire neighbourhood now knows all my financial affairs. Anyone outside or with a window open knows the ins and outs of my private business, the contents of accounts, and more.

I said I was hoping to sell and move. Immediately it was a nightmare. My mother starts out from the assumption that everything is impossible. I said she was a black cloud. She said I was exactly like my fathers mother - ‘just like your gran X, always scheming for more’.

I can’t even set up my new phone. Why does everything have to be so complicated?

I had to ring the mobile company on a different phone, and he started going on about gigabytes and how I could ‘set up across 35 devices’. Thirty five! Who the hell has thirty five mobiles?

Still no further forward, and no indication of how to place the SIM card in the ******* thing.

Usually, these days, they have a little hole in the side. You stick a metal pin into it and a little tray pops out which you put the SIM into.

Yes there’s a hole, and I’ve tried. Nothings popped out but the hole is now damaged.

It’d be nice to buy something that didn’t require a YouTube search for an instruction video.

My mother is obliterated again. I rang up to confirm something an hour or so again. She can hardly speak. She just does not care.

It’s the lying I object to. ‘No, I haven’t been drinking’ or the closest approximation to that - why bother?

It’s so demoralising. It’s making me unwell.

I went over there earlier, after that post. I was stunned by the smell of pure vodka - opening the door was enough for a full ‘unscrewing the cap’ effect. She’s passed out, so I just left her to it. She’s getting worse. I’m at the end of my tether really.

I was on the vod last night too. I've got a proper Sunday morning feeling right now.

Are you CT's mother?