I'M A MIDLIFE BORE

Rachel Tompkins, 44, reveals her 70-year-old mum has a better social life than she does

- RACHEL TOMPKINS

Last Friday night, as I snuggled up on the sofa with my knitted blanket on my lap, I took a sip from my mint tea and put on my glasses. Then I focused on the job in hand – the cross-stitch pattern I was working on. The perfect Friday night. Meanwhile, my 70-year-old mother, Stephanie, was on a wild night out in London, having enjoyed a bottomless brunch with her friends, and I’d offered to be her taxi home from the train station. Just then, my phone beeped with a message from her: ‘Train due into Bicester Village at 22:10.’

‘I’ll be there,’ I replied, putting down my cross-stitch to head out. I had to laugh as I pulled up at the station in my oversized fleece hoodie, without a scrap of make-up on, and Mum walked out in killer heels and a faux-fur coat, her make-up flawless. How the roles had reversed! At just 44, you could say I was old and boring before my time, but it hasn’t always been that way.