I had a walk to the lake and got an ice cream there. It was rather chilly when I was leaving the house and then suddenly got quite hot.

That’s what we used to do with mum when I was at home for the weekend and the weather was nice: having a walk to the lake and get ice cream or a drink. It’s quite possible I’d never have a chance to go there with her again.

The lake is far from beautiful really and pier is made of concrete with most of its benches damaged ages ago. A few years back the council secured large funding from EU to do major improvements there but they underestimated how much is needed and at the end nothing was done at all. I remember, when I was a child, the place was very busy and I often was taken there by my dad, to the lake when it was really hot or to the nearby playground when it was a bit cooler.

Once my brother cut his foot on a large piece of broken glass and my dad told him to get on the bike and come back home, when me and him stayed by the lake playing. I didn’t see anything strange in it, then, when we came back home my mum started shouting at dad that he needs to start the car and take my brother to A&E.

I remember, when I was a child, there was loads of talk about alcoholism in the family, in media or even at school, and I was thinking, what’s going on, is what my dad doing any normal? It seemed like everyone thought so, only because my dad wouldn’t even taste any alcohol.