2024 working in an 80s childhood bedroom

Things are different in the home where I grew up.

Hearing aids. For one parent. The other is resisting. So I enunciate clearly with him and I am told not to shout at her.

Fabulous mechanical chairs that are comfy and both leave you upright and recline (and jettison you out...useful when your father has had a knee replacement).

Sooo many different medications.

Ugly plastic toilet seat fittings that raise you up, and an extra downstairs toilet that was added. This is where I used to sit on the telephone to my boyfriends - on a phone with a physical lead, that other people waited to use, in a freezing cold porch which was not conducive to long calls (my brother was colder, he used to walk up the street and use a phone box!).

Staying constant in the home where I grew up are the day's activities being punctuated by morning coffee and afternoon tea (I LOVE this, it involves a chat too), the largish garden which they still valiantly maintain (with a bit of help), the worryingly old cooker (don't worry, it's been checked) and my childhood bedroom (god that single mattress is uncomfortable).

Today I had an online meeting in that childhood bedroom. I would not have believed this was possible when I was hidden away in that room in the 80s with my mix tapes, books and record player. Today I blurred my video meeting background and discussed stories of people's fuel crisis, and why they are unable to top up their prepayment meters, with a colleague on the other side of the country.

In my middle class suburban childhood home! Where people had never heard of food banks and fuel banks when I was young. When poverty in our village was present, but felt less prevalent and certainly more unusual than it does now.

Sometimes comparisons across the years blow my mind. Other times the lack of change and the familiarity fuel contentedness. But I try SO hard not to be complacent. This will not last. I know that, but having the flexibility with my work to visit my parents and spend some of that time working is a blessing.