I pause Brahms' First Piano Concerto (150 years old, a 35 year old recording - Gilels/Berlin Phil/Joachim - a staggeringly powerful performance that makes me so very sad and happy at the same time.)

I pause after the first movement to phone my mum.  She is practically in tears because she's got some water into her hearing aid, and she is so deaf without it.

I'm tired as usual and there's so much to do here, and enjoy. Of course, some of me resents having to go see her tomorrow.  The long journey, the biting back of harsh words - and kind ones she will not be able to hear...

But my life will so empty when she's gone