Substack diaryno.172: Wednesday, 3rd. June 2026

Grey sky, light to moderate rain and wind gradually increasing in strength. It is not only the weather that is grey. I have had a message from my mother which I could not make a great deal of sense of, but it seems a relative has passed away at the age of just 57. I will be at my mother’s favourite coffee shop at 12 noon and we will no doubt exchange thoughts on the sad news. My mother will be distraught and, at 89, is not in good health herself at the moment. I suspect her natural inclination – and in fact mine also – would be to head to Port Glasgow to meet up with relatives.

However, no matter how much we want to make the trip it is just not feasible, primarily because I do not have a car. The journey by train from Newton Abbot to Glasgow is a little over 10 hours and my mother simply could not cope with a journey of that length, despite there being no changes. Even after 10 hours our journey would not be over – we would need to find a local train to Port Glasgow, a journey of 30 minutes. And where would we stay?

This is one of those rare occasions when a car would be genuinely useful rather than just nice to have. But today I shall be on the No.7 bus as usual for shopping and coffee with my mother. After that I shall meet up with friends at the Saracens and no doubt return to my normal cheery self. Despite everything it will be a good day, and my mother will have someone to talk to.