Sunday 9 July 11:15am

Mum said she would have to go to church in case it was a Day of Obligation that she had overlooked but she had left an egg out for me to cook if I regained my appetite. I did actually feel a lot better, but I didn’t say anything to Mum in case I was Tempting Providence. When she had left to pick up Mrs Ramsbotham I found some sausages and bacon and tomatoes in the fridge and, with them and the egg and another egg and three slices of toast, made myself a light breakfast to keep my strength up. I am sure that I cannot have been suffering from a terminal fever, for I found that I was quite hungry. Mum always says “feed a cold and starve a fever”, and, drawing comfort from these wise words, I decided that I had just got a cold, after all, so I opened a large tin of Sainsbury’s peach slices to celebrate my return from the dead and ate the lot.

I was just about to start writing a poem to Rachel, but Mum’s just come home. And my new Vicar is with her. I had thought I was feeling so much better, but now I am not sure. Does Mum know something that I do not? After all, she spoke to the clinic yesterday. I do not believe that my Mum is capable of dissembling, but the advent of the Vicar is, I fear, not a good omen.