forwarding

Maybe I needn't bother sending Mum presents in future, as this year she automatically rang me up when things came through the door and thanked me whether I'd sent them or not. She doesn't read or maybe mislays any cards. My flowers arrived today, as ordered, thankfully.

Mum wanted me to contact my brother-in-law a couple of days ago. It's indicative of how she is mentally. She rang me up in some confusion to say that she'd had an envelope through her door addressed to him, and she asked what she should do about it. At first I took it that she was penny-pinching again and balking at the thought of buying a stamp. She's funny that way: she'll happily send off £250 to charity, but is flabbergasted by the expense of a 50p stamp. On investigation, and this took her about 10 different attempts before I could get the picture (she really can't describe the same thing twice without it sounding contrary), it turned out that the envelope was addressed by name only, as if it had been hand-delivered. However, when she said there was a sticker on the envelope, I suspected that this covered the original address, which was probably our old house (no point in explaining to Mum). It was about 30 minutes into our Q&A session that she let slip that the envelope was empty.... So she wanted to know if she should forward an empty envelope to my brother-in-law.... It's possible but unlikely that the envelope was opened and accidentally forwarded empty by the new owners of the house. It's far MORE likely that Mum opened it, put the contents on her vast heap of papers that cover her dining table, and then came across the envelope a few days later. Either that or it contained a Christmas card, which she's got on display without realising that it's not for her. I know it's pointless investigating further - what a frustrating telephone call!