My mother took up observing the wildlife of East Lothian in the dead of night using infra-red technology.

She invited us to join her one evening. David Tennant turned up to wave us off – my mother on a quadbike, carrying an enormous white handbag, and TPR and I with a shopping trolley for transport.

We reached a pretty tourist village with a white wrought iron bridge over the River Tyne. My mother recommended crossing the water to see deer and foxes on the other side. Then she zoomed off at top speed, flew across the bridge and the road at the other side, and smashed into an embankment. She was flung from the seat of the quadbike to the ground, where she was attended by two teenage boys.

I asked how she was. ‘She can recognise the number six’ said TPR, ‘That is all’.