Leaving Mother to fend for herself

Another trip to the City but this time I gave Mother the chance to find her own way around and get by with ‘Spanglish’. Mr Darcy* and I made ourselves scarce; filling up on frozen yoghurt (yes, thank you, I am a convert) and experienced true Murcian life. Slightly refreshing not to have to flap about in PR mode all day. I had expected Mother to return to us at the end of the day transformed into Carrie Bradshaw with shopping bags and a takeout coffee. I clearly underestimated her. When we finally met up by the Cathedral at the end of the day, Mother strolls along (yes- strolls!) with absolutely no visible shopping. Instant worry. Has she had an utterly dull day without me? Did she completely fail at ‘Spanglish’?

“HOLA! *sits* I’ve had a lovely day – but you must tell me what you did! OOOOHHHH did you take any pictures?! Tell me everything. I must know.”

So, a compact conversation ensued circling our day and how full we were. Upon asking Mother what she did with herself all day, she had very little exciting news; “Oh, I wandered around, looked for a ball gown – unsuccessful unfortunately but never mind. Stopped for lunch at Joaquin and Emilio’s which was lovely, they were very confused as to why you weren’t there.”

I think the Spanish sun has affected Mother, as she showed no signs of distress in having not found a ball gown. Or anything else.

Twenty minutes later, on our journey back, Mother suddenly exclaims; “OH MY GOODNESS! I completely forgot! I spent the afternoon in the casino! Ha ha ha!”

I should mention here that this casino is exclusive to members only – very posh. I have even witnessed a gathering of nervous school children outside, looking up in awe at the architectural masterpiece. Not touching and definitely not going past the red carpet by the front doors and… Aha. Right. The red carpet. There’s a magnetic pulse between Mother and all red carpets around the world.

“I just walked right in, Darling! The lovely young man must have said something delightful but it was all in that Spanish you see, I really couldn’t understand a thing! Anyway, I made great friends with the manager of this casino, he really is lovely! He showed me all around, I spotted a few nice Spanish men reading some sort of Spanish Financial Times and Mr Manager took me into the most fabulous ballroom! In fact, he took a photo of me in it – I must give off a grandeur impression and he thought it was appropriate.”

Mother has now been cordially invited to a dinner at the casino. I think perhaps she has been made an honorary member. It’s quite alarming how ‘timid’ is not an emotion for Mother. So there are actually benefits of tagging along with this loopy parent; I can now gamble away all my money in the classiest of places.

*(please no quizzical comments on Colin Firth, this one is even more lovely but not in a Jane Austen adaptation)