Robbie Savage's mum delivers her verdict on 'dislikeable' Dominic Cummings' trip

Val, the 72-year-old mum of ex-football star and Mirror columnist Robbie Savage, is a Radio 5 Live celeb after appearing on his show. Here, she talks about her 11th week self-isolating...

I’d go to the ends of the Earth to help my sons or grandkids. But Dominic Cummings’ 260 mile drive to get childcare puzzles me.

Whenever I needed emergency babysitting, there were always friends and neighbours happy to help. The fact he drove so far with his child makes me suspect he must be very dislikeable not to have a single friend he could call on in London.

Would I drive with my loved ones to test my eyesight? Dear God no.

The fact he broke the rules he made, while so many people have suffered so much to adhere to them, is disgusting.

I’m so lucky to see my granddaughter Caitlyn every Saturday as she brings shopping for me. Robbie’s boys Charlie and Freddie live 90 minutes away and said as soon as they can they hope to come and see me and have a chat at the end of the drive.

I don’t think I can cope with that. Because as soon as I see those boys I’ll want to hug the breath out of them. For now I’ve asked them to stay put and we’ll make do with FaceTime because seeing them without cuddling them just isn’t natural.

But I have been out, though nowhere near as far as Durham. My friend Beryl rang this week and said her son had delivered two camping chairs and, now that the lockdown rules have been relaxed, she invited me round to her garden for a cup of tea.

We haven’t been beyond our own backyards since March 9. And as I got ready to go out by putting on a T-shirt with a scarf around my face, nerves started in my stomach. It felt so strange to be out again, even though it was only two doors away. But we had a lovely time. As soon as I saw Beryl I felt tearful. As we sat two trolleys apart, two-and-a-half hours flew by.

Beryl said: “You’ll never guess what: the fish shop has opened.” We started wishing we had a car so we could go.

Nia is my neighbour who has been kind enough to bring me delicious roast dinners on a tray every Sunday.

She popped her head round to say she was taking orders for the fish shop and would deliver them to us, and Berly and I feel so excited. We plan to eat together in Beryl’s garden.

Grin and tonic

Can there be a better tonic than reminiscing during lockdown?

Janet and I have known each other since we were three and she recently moved back home after years living in France.

At our grammar school it was a rule to wear our hats in public. But the walk from school to the bus stop meant passing the lads’ school.

And when we’d spent time back-combing our hair into a bouffant, we didn’t want to wear a hat with elastic under our chin flattening it.

A prefect reported us for ditching our hats and we got detention. We had to write out passages from the Bible then read them to the assistant head.

When Janet read hers, she said: “King Absalom was riding on his ass” and I was caught chuckling. The assistant head called us insolent and gave us double detention. We’ve laughed at such injustice ever since.

Write delight

On Thursday I received a lovely letter from a Mirror reader addressed to “Val Savage, Robbie’s mum, Wrexham”.

I couldn’t believe it reached me and can only thank the postman who waves at me every day and Barbara, from Penyffordd.

I’ve had other letters from readers worried about me not getting new knickers from Marks and Spencer. Don’t fret - I’ll wash them through.

Goggle swear box

Gogglebox is my favourite TV show. I love Giles and Mary because they’re so posh and wonderful together.

And I laugh my sides off at Jenny and Lee in Hull.

Sophie and Pete from Blackpool are also funny but their language is a bit too much for me.

When I was brought up, people didn’t swear. Jonathan and Robert still don’t in front of me.

When I first heard Robert swear during a friendly against Bolton, I was mortified. But Colin said: “Close your ears”. I became used to hearing choice language in football crowds but could never stand hearing people criticise my Robert.

When he was young and playing for Crewe, four fans behind me had a go at him for the whole 90 minutes.

Colin squeezed my hand and said: “Don’t even think about it,” because he knew I wanted to ell them off. But while I listened, I boiled.

Then Robbie scored the most marvellous winning goal. The fans cheered like mad.

I turned round and said: “I’m glad you’re cheering because all you’ve done is slag him off.” They said, “Who do you think you are?” I said: “I’m his mother.”

Out in the eat

It’s been glorious eating outdoors in the sun this week. Although my Robert might disagree.

His wife Sarah made a lovely meal of salmon and tuna steaks and laid it on the table outside.

But when Robbie left his chair, their dog Coco jumped in to his seat and ate the lot. Poor Sarah had to make another meal. I told her it was all Robbie’s fault.

Do you agree with Val? Let us know in the comments below.