Day Two of Route to Management...

My mother arrived at Euston Station last night, so I drove in to pick her up. She was, as you can imagine, amazed to see the difference in me. She spent the whole journey back oohing and ahhing at me.

Back at my place I went in to auto-pilot and had a shake. Then I remembered I was supposed to be having a real meal. I waited for an hour of so and grilled the rest of the salmon. I was nice and tasty and I enjoyed it.

After I finished I took my mother for some late night shopping to Brent Cross Shopping Centre. She wanted to get my brother a bottle of aftershave and have a look around John Lewis. I actually found a bottle of aftershave I really liked. My mother offered to buy it for me, but it seemed weird for me to ask for it, so I got it myself.

We had a wander around some jewelers and I saw the most amazing watch, but I didn't have the guts to impulse buy a £2.5k watch in front of my mother. My mother comes from a poor background and has spent almost all her life on the breadline. Me chucking cash around in front of her always feels very strange.

When we got back in the car we decided to go for a spin around London in the car to see the Christmas lights. We went past Parliament, Westminster, Trafalgar Sq, Strand, Fleet Street, St Paul's, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Oxford Street and Regent Street. The lights were great and it was good to spend time with my mother.

When we got back to the house my mum presented the missus and I with a present each. The missus got a lovely gold and necklace set with a couple of garnets in the same style as a ring she has.

I was given a set of cuff links. However, these were no ordinary cuff links. My mother commissioned a pair of 18ct gold links with a Hare on one side and a fish on the other. The significance of these is based in Scottish mythology. My mother is a storyteller and explained that the hare was the traditional for of a shape shifter, and since that's exactly what I am this year she thought it was apt. The fish on the other side should be obvious to anyone who knows my angling obsession. The thing that is amazing about them is the huge weight. Gold is heavy!