Don't go chasin' waterfalls

While I’d been throwing some laundry in the machine, tidying the bathroom, making a drink and arranging some fancy snacks on plates, my Mother had been sitting watching the TV.

I'm not telling you this for sympathy. I'm not complaining, nor trying to make myself seem like Cinderella here. I just wanted to set the scene a little.

See, my Mom likes a bit of French TV, even though she doesn’t understand it.

She likes to watch the crappy gameshows and try to guess what the objective is. She also loves – as do I – the French version of Wheel of Fortune. Alas, she rarely gets any of the words, but enjoys shouting at the screen nonetheless.

Nonetheless, when I walked back into the living room with snacks and drinks, I was a little surprised by the scene that greeted me.

My mother was sat watching the French ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’.

Since getting back from a day pounding the hot streets of Paris, she’d taken the time to change out of her 'street clothes' and into her pyjamas. She'd folded away her clothes, taken her shoes and changed them for slippers. Alas, she hadn’t thought about changing her glasses.

So she was there, on the sofa, in pink pyjamas and oversized Dior sunglasses.

It was like a scene from Katie and Peter. Actually, she reminded me more of Ozzy Osbourne.

"Who are you trying to be?" I asked her. "The prince of darkness?"

"What do you mean?" she said, looking surprised.

"The glasses, Mom. The glasses".

At which point she realised that she’d been watching TV with her sunglasses on for the last hour.

Now, I’m a giggler and this is a trait that I get from my Mother. However, since my Mom reached a certain age, there’s always been a cautious side to her laughter. Laugh too much and she, erm, well, she 'loses control'.

And that’s exactly what happened.

Tickled by how ridiculous she looked, my Mom started to laugh. And laugh. And laugh.

She laughed to the point where she was crying, where she was gasping for breath.

To the point where she wet herself.

Yep, she pissed her pants, on my sofa.

And that’s when I started laughing too.

What other choice did I have?