I’m sitting here in my hotel room, after a meal with my folks (Mum, Dad and Nan) in a pub. It has been really nice to see them all. The first time I’ve seen Mum and Dad since the day we moved and the first time for probably six months or more that I’ve seen Nan.

Both my Dad and my Nan have been diagnosed diabetic in the last six months or so and so they were both watching their eating. Nan has lost lots of weight since I last saw her, a combination of a broken heart and the diabetes ruining her appetite. They brought her a meal that would have been suitable for a twenty-year-old man who does a physical job! She made a valiant effort to wade her way through it but was defeated about half way through!

My poor Mum has been working hard to look after them both because they’ve both been sick over the last week or so and she’s been looking after them as well as nursing a broken car.

Tonight it was their turn to ‘look after’ her because she was ‘taken poorly’ on the way to my hotel and it was about half an hour before they could set off home again. I got to spend an extra half-hour with her but I’m sure she’d much rather have felt well.

I’m now trying to make myself ‘respectable’ for tomorrow night’s bash and am wondering whether or not I can get away without buying myself some smart shoes because my dress is long and I’ve got my sparkly slippers so I’m planning to ‘make do’ rather than invest in something I don’t need.

A fly on the wall would be laughing at me because I’m sat here, in my undies, cross-legged on the floor and with a plastic bag over my head while I type. I’m finally getting round to sorting out my grey hair and am attempting to make sure I don’t get my gloopy stuff on the furnishings of the hotel room.

Tomorrow night I go to the ball and hopefully my prince will come and sweep me away to a better place. I’ve done my best to make sure that happens with my newly done hair and my sparkly shoes. Now it’s down to fate.

Last year? Stress again - boring huh? The year before we were working hard clearing rubbish from a house that was about to belong to someone else.....strange how these themes keep recurring.