They have a very strained relationship. He refused to talk to her for nearly 10 years after a big argument, but they have been rebuilding some sort of connection in the last 4 years.
Mum and I were supposed to go to see him this weekend but on Friday mum put her back out and can't make the journey.
She phoned him up to tell him that she couldn't come, to which his response was "You are always too busy to come to see me" and then to have a moan about how he had told all his friends we were coming and he would now have to tell them we were not.
She feels upset that he only thought of himself and how the cancellation affected him. I asked her if she had told him why she could not come and she said "no, he didn't ask".
I can see why she was upset by his reaction, but too my mind, she bears some responsibility in that she chose not to communicate her reason for cancelling.
I love my mum dearly, but as I get older I have started questioning some of they ways she communicates with people, and am interested to see how this appears to an objective view.