Caring For Mum – Part 2 – Mental Health

Yesterday I started to open up about how things have become more difficult for my elderly mother, and by extension for myself as her carer, since she went blind last year. That first post was about her physical health and sleep, including the fact that she’s having falls regularly.

So now I want to talk about the changes to her mental health, which I’m finding the most upsetting thing to witness, because it’s distressing for her and I feel powerless to fix it. We have reached out for support, as I’ll explain during this post, but until any help arrives I just have to be as patient and supportive as I can for her.

She naturally has quite a lot of anxiety and some panic attacks as a result of her blindness and recent accidents, which is difficult enough for her to deal with, and consequently she’s become very emotionally dependent on me. But her brain has also been messing with her by making her think there are multiple versions of me in the house, or getting her confused in other ways, which we hadn’t anticipated.

There are plenty of times when she’s relaxed and clear-headed as well, fortunately, but every day there are at least one or two instances where she’s not thinking straight, usually due to tiredness or stress in some way.

So I’m going to explain things as best I can here. As I said last time, I’m very open to any help or advice if you want to offer it in a comment or contact me in other ways. But in general I hope these posts help to raise some awareness of what it can be like as carer, and how unique our particular situation is.

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Caring For Mum – Part 1 – Physical Health

I’m an unpaid carer for my mother and lately we’ve been struggling to cope. We need help.

It sounds like I’m introducing myself at some kind of group therapy session. But then this series of posts is a form of therapy for me really, to open up about what’s been going on lately.

After all, being a carer does make you feel anonymous, as you’re leading a secret life behind closed doors, even from your own relatives and friends to some extent. And I haven’t felt the need to write about it here before, because my mother and I have had a healthy balance to our lives with no major issues.

But developments over the last few months have proven too overwhelming for us to deal with by ourselves, because Mum hasn’t adapted well to going blind for various reasons, plus she’s having falls quite regularly. So I’m having to do a lot more for her, and it upsets me to see her struggling so often. It’s been a shock to the system for both of us, because it’s a new, confusing, emotional and somewhat frightening journey that we’re being forced to embark on. We are now starting to reach out for support, which has given us reason to be hopeful. But there’s a lot of waiting involved.

So bear with me while I ramble my way through what’s been going on to bring you into the loop, because there is quite a lot. I’ve split this up into three posts that I’ll be posting over consecutive days, to focus on Mum’s physical and mental health issues in turn, followed by the impact on me as her carer and the support I’m trying to access. Then I’ll share regular updates as to how we’re getting on, alongside the other types of post I usually do.

Mum knows I’m putting this stuff online, as it’s nothing for us to be ashamed about, it’s good to raise awareness, and it might help us to find extra support. Indeed, I’m very open to any help or advice that people are able to offer as a result of reading all of this stuff, so feel free to comment here or contact me by email or social media if you wish.

But even if you can’t help or relate to what’s going on, I hope you find this interesting. If I can use this situation and my platform to help raise awareness of what it’s like being a carer, then that alone makes this worthwhile.

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Black Mirror – Series 1-7 Reviews

Ever since the new 7th series of Black Mirror dropped on Netflix in April, I’ve been rewatching the entire show from the beginning, as I haven’t seen the earlier series for quite a while, and never even got around to Series 6 after it launched. Consequently, I’ve been writing little reviews in my Favourites posts each month, but now I’m finally up to date, I thought I would gather everything together in one post, including my reactions to the latest series.

Black Mirror is an anthology show by Charlie Brooker, which originally started on Channel 4 before Netflix took over production from Series 3. It consists of 33 episodes of varying durations, each of which tells a standalone story (apart from the finale of the latest series, which serves as a sequel to a much earlier episode). There was also an interactive film called Bandersnatch, but that was removed on May 12 as part of a general overhaul to the streaming service. I’ve included my review from the time of its release in this post for completeness.

The various scenarios are generally set in the not-too-distant future, looking at advances in technology and media that are based in reality but pushed to their extremes. There are occasional deviations from that though, including episodes that focus purely on human psychology, take place in earlier time periods, or even stray into the supernatural.

In any case, it’s often very dark and unsettling, as well as interesting and entertaining. Even though we know the events are very unlikely to actually happen in most cases, and are sometimes in the realm of sci-fi or fantasy, they’re not entirely implausible either and tend to be quite relatable in some way. Where technology plays a key part of the story, for example, we know it could exist one day or even does already in some cases. And we’re already well aware of how manipulation and misinformation are rife in certain corners of social media, journalism and politics. Hence the show is a ‘black mirror’, exposing the dark sides of humanity and technology.

With every story being so unique in content and style, featuring a different cast every time, it’s inevitable that some are better than others, and every viewer will have their own preferences. So here are my own personal reactions to each episode, without revealing any major spoilers given that the stories often go in surprising directions that are meant to provoke thought or just shock you. I hope you find it interesting.

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June 2025 Favourites

Hello again, I hope you’re all doing well. Those of you who saw last month’s roundup will know that I’m going through a difficult patch at the moment because of my mother’s health. We have started to get a bit of help, in terms of medical assistance and reaching out to support services, all of which takes time, and I will explain more in due course. Suffice to say for now that going totally blind has naturally had a big impact on her mental health and sleep, and by extension has affected my wellbeing as her carer. We are ok, but certain aspects are quite difficult to deal with

As a result, I’m not making videos to go with these posts for the time being, as it’s just not practical right now and I want to make things easier for myself. It also means I’m not doing as much out and about as usual, as my caring role is dominating my time much more than it used to – and I am therefore starting to explore the support that’s available for carers.

However, I did manage to go to the theatre a couple of times with friends early in the month, which I was really grateful for, as I needed to confide in them about what’s been going on, and the shows were great escapism, especially because of the touch tours and audio description.

So I’ve got those shows to tell you about, as well as some bits and pieces I’ve been watching at home, and none of it’s sponsored or gifted as usual. So let’s get on with it, and I hope you enjoy!

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Taking The PIP – Part 2

Last updated July 17, with a section at the end for a few new developments.

For disabled people here in the UK it’s been a very anxious time lately, because of all the proposed cuts to disability benefits in the Universal Credit & Personal Independence Payment Bill, and the misinformation that’s been spread to try and justify them (e.g. falsely claiming that PIP is an out of work benefit or is easy to get, which isn’t remotely true).

I wrote about the plans back in April after the Green Paper was released, and the government have been determined to push it through as quickly as possible since then because of all the backlash – which they knew full well it would generate from the outset but just didn’t care.

Yet despite having a sizeable majority of MPs, it’s not been as easy as they’d hoped, and there have been significant developments recently. If you follow me on Bluesky or X you’ll have seen me sharing several posts by others to raise awareness of what’s been going on, and I thought I’d do a quick update here to give my reaction to the latest events.

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Back To The Future Trilogy Review

This week marks 40 years since the time-travelling classic Back To The Future was released on July 3, 1985. So it’s been the perfect excuse for me to watch the trilogy again recently, starring Michael J. Fox as young Marty McFly, alongside Christopher Lloyd as the eccentric Doc Brown with his DeLorean time machine. Created by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, with impressive special effects for the time by Industrial Light & Magic, beautiful scores by Alan Silvestri, and great songs by the likes of Huey Lewis & The News and ZZ Top, the films are all very entertaining and still hold up really well today.

A couple of years ago I saw the musical, which was fun apart from missing out on the touch tour, and I rewatched the first film online back then to refresh my memory. But I haven’t seen the other 2 instalments since my youth and didn’t really remember them after all this time. So I’ve revisited them all at last by watching the trilogy on Blu-ray, which I bought a while ago but ended up setting aside for this big anniversary to go through it all. All of the films have been remastered of course, so they all look and sound really good.

This therefore marks the first time in decades I’ve seen all three films, and the first time ever that I’ve watched any of the bonus material. And it’s been a lot of fun. So I hope you enjoy this little run-through of it all as my tribute to this timeless trilogy.

Front cover of the Blu-ray for Back To The Future - The Ultimate Trilogy. The logo for the trilogy is shown in front of a starry sky. On the ground below that, the DeLorean car, with the registration plate Outa Time, speeds towards a bright circle of light on the horizon, with flames trailing in its wake.
Back cover of the Blu-ray for Back To The Future - The Ultimate Trilogy, showing four small screenshots from the films and an extensive list of special features.
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Doctor Who Review – Season 2

Note: This post was updated in August 2025 with details of the Blu-ray steelbook, and in November with deleted scenes and an update on the future of the show.

Twenty years after its revival, Doctor Who recently returned for its 15th series of the modern era, named Season 2 as part of the BBC’s collaboration with Disney+. I discussed that partnership and other aspects of the show’s latest revamp in my Season 1 review last year, so I don’t need to go through the same preamble here. They did change the time that the episodes are dropped online, from midnight to 8am on the day of broadcast, after the feedback they got last year, but that didn’t bother me.

Once again we’ve had an hour-long Christmas special and 8 regular episodes (which is far too few), including a 2-part finale, all overseen by Russell T Davies as showrunner, who wrote 4 of the episodes and co-wrote another. Ncuti Gatwa is back in the lead role as the Doctor, in what sadly turned out to be his final series, but Millie Gibson only appeared in a couple of stories as Ruby Sunday, as we had a new companion in the form of Belinda Chandra, played by Varada Sethu. As with all new arrivals I was unsure what to make of Belinda at first, but she grew on me as the series went on. She never really got the time and opportunity to flourish in the way that Ruby did though, which was a pity as she did have some good moments. Still, overall this series is better than the previous one I think, as the storylines have felt stronger.

So I hope you enjoy my review of this latest series. I also have a long playlist of videos on Youtube as usual, including highlights, behind the scenes material, interviews, reactions and more, if you want to check that out as well.

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May 2025 Favourites

Hello again, I hope you’re all doing well. For me this has been a very difficult month to be honest, as my mother’s had a decline in her mental health due to issues relating to her blindness and sleep, and naturally that’s had a big impact on me too as her son and carer. We’re in the process of having appointments to try and get her some help though, and I’ll keep you posted.

Suffice to say, I haven’t been able to go out and do as much as I’d planned this month. I did meet a close friend for a good catchup, and I did manage to have a few walks, but there’s nothing for me to write about on that front. So this post is purely going to be about the entertainment I’ve been enjoying at home, which has been a good distraction for me.

My situation also means that I’m going to stop making videos to go with these Favourites posts for the time being, as I don’t have the time, privacy or mindset to film and edit them at the moment. Writing’s much easier, so I’m going to focus my efforts on that for now. I’m sorry to those who enjoy watching or listening to me ramble on, but I will get back to making videos when I feel ready. That might be in one or two months, or it could well be longer, I just don’t know yet. I’ll try and make little vlogs here and there though, just to quickly share how I’m doing.

So with all that said, let’s get on to nicer things with the TV shows and DVDs I want to talk about, none of which is sponsored as usual, and I hope you enjoy!

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Visually Impaired Blogging Research Articles

Since I started blogging many years ago, I’ve been invited to take part in research projects about sight loss with a few people, and it’s always nice when I get to see how my contributions have been used.

Recently, therefore, I was contacted by Ibrahim Emara, an Assistant Professor of journalism at Tanta University in Egypt. He’s the first visually impaired person in Egypt to teach and do research in journalism, and his research has focused on the use of mass media among the visually impaired.

Ibrahim interviewed me back in July 2021, among many other bloggers, and while that was quite a while ago, I’ve been flattered to learn that the chat we had has helped to influence four of his articles. I’m only directly quoted in the first one of course, which was the core study he was conducting, but it’s fascinating to see the other three that have spun off from it as well. He’s very kindly sent me full copies of them so that I can write a bit about them here.

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April 2025 Favourites

Hey there, hope you had a wonderful Easter and a lovely April in general. This has been my busiest month for a while, as there’s lots to mention in terms of outings, including social events, a musical and a concert, along with TV shows and films I’ve been watching at home.

The concert I went to was a PR invite for me to review, but otherwise nothing is sponsored to appear here, and in any case all opinions are my own as usual. So let’s jump straight into April’s post and video roundup, and I hope you enjoy!

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