Week 2 in The big Brother House....

Well here we are at the end of the second week of 2011.

This week has proved slightly duller than last week. The early promise of the new year doesn't seem to have developed into anything particularly exciting and there were several days this week which were a match for the weather - grey and dull.

I made a trip up to Yorkshire on Tuesday to see my mother and also in another vain attempt twist secure some funding from Rotherham social services for part of her care which I currently pay for myself. Cue for a visit from a woman trained in the slightly patronising breathy tones of the social worker who continued to irritate me for approximately 30 min before I told her that I didn't think this meeting was working and it was probably best that she left. My mother doesn't want them in the house. Apart from the slightly undignified questions of "what can you do yourself Mrs Clayton", my mother finds them intrusive and the indignities to which she is subject by their questions is remarkable. My mother is punished because at the age of 89 she is still fit and able to make herself a cup of tea and a meal. The quality of her life is significantly enhanced by the visit she gets each morning for an hour from the absolutely wonderful girls from Crossroads. Crossroads is a charity which looks after carers, so in theory they're looking after me. In practice this means giving me peace of mind that my mother has social contact each morning and that someone is there to make sure that she get dressed and washed and fed first thing in the morning. At times I feel I could do with this myself, to help me face the real world.

A corporate job produced a meeting and then 10 min later was withdrawn from existence. The rest of the week's been pretty dull apart from an absolutely delightful evening on Saturday when Rich and I took six friends to see La Soirée on London's Southbank. This is the show that started life as Le Clique at the hippodrome two years ago and then also the roundhouse last year. This year it hass made it home since late November in a huge big top just behind the National theatre and spending the evening in there is the most fabulous experience. This is my third visit during the season and I could quite easily go again next week. The atmosphere and the place is fabulous, we were incredibly well looked after (Rich has a lot of pull!), and the show is entertaining, sexy, naughty, and great fun. A very chatty gossipy dinner at the Archduke finished an absolutely beautiful evening and brought the week to a conclusion that it probably didn't deserve.

Next week Rich and I have the joy of spending the weekend together in Paris. A little romance, trip up the La Tour Eifell, and perhaps the odd snail or two. Reader, await with baited breath!