Some time after 11pm yesterday, my dad called to tell me that ambulance staff were attending my mum after an apparent stroke. I threw some clothes into a bag and looked at train and flight possibilities while Elly looked into taxis.

About an hour later, my dad texted to give an all-clear: ‘stoke symptoms now abated. Speech & movement now normal. No need for hospitalisation. Cause was a TIA – a transient episode. See GPO tomorrow.’ So the mad dash for Worcester was put on hold.