I am spending some precious time back in Spain with my Mum after more than two years of separation and feeling very fortunate to be able to catch up. Mum has turned 95 and moves around with a walking stick in one hand and her “old age crutch” as we say it in French, in the other (the “old age crutch” meaning someone like myself or my brother at her side). When she comes across her former French students during her daily strolls, their names and faces slip away from her memory