D for Dereham, depressing and Dear Mum

Unfortunately, this entry will not be a cheery, irrelevant one but to record a low point in my life so I can, hopefully, look back and say I got through this.

The weekend was a trip to look after my mum in Dereham (Norfolk), the town I grew up in. When I last visited her just before Christmas I realised something wasn't right. It turns out she's an alcoholic, on strong medication for her arthritis/high blood pressure and not really eating. She now hardly answers the phone, has memory problems, refuses to go to the doctors or accept any help and has fallen over a number of times. To make matters worse, I've quickly realised that there's very little support for this situation unless she accepts she has to go to the doctors. I've also heard my uncle is now in a hospice which I also hope will improve. Its good to talk to the rest of my family but wish the subject matter were a bit more uplifting.

At least I'm not distracted by the dizzying delights that Dereham has to offer me. This old Telegraph news article doesn't speak too well of my hometown but I was slightly wound-up by the exaggeration of having only 1 pub?! There's about 15-20 drinking places which I revisited/discovered on Saturday night just to escape my problems for a bit thanks to good mate, Mark. Getting back to Brighton never felt so good.