A visit from social services overruns and it is already lunch time. My mother seems tired, and I guess she hasn’t had breakfast so I hurry to the shop. I avoid packaged sandwiches, worrying that if they were made up days before, they might make her ill, hunting instead for something healthy. But the choice is limited and unappetising. I settle for bread, hummus and some rather dodgy-looking guacamole.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/aug/18/familyandrelationships.family7