Mum

On her way back to Edinburgh from a visit to me. She's 85 today! Happy birthday, Mum!

When I was about 9 or 10 we were living in a hospital compound in Nagpur, a big city in the centre of India - Dad was medical superintendent of the hospital - and I remember running up to Mum one morning to ask her for some money to buy sweets for me and my friends. And I can't remember why, but in our conversation she quoted Henry V (nothing to do with the sweets!) "We would not seek a battle as we are, Nor as we are, we say we will not shun it."

It was an interesting but not an easy life for her, and maybe she'd just had a battle with Dad, but I remember her explaining what the quote meant, how, even though you weren't ready for battle, you battled on anyway. Three and a half years ago, when I told her I had cancer, she was stunned, it was a real body blow. But as I was leaving, on our way to the front door, she said to me, "Don't give up now." That's the Shakespeare in her, and I remember it when I'm low and tired, and I battle on.