[grimmy]

Sorry to hear about your mother firstly.
As for the car the caliper sliding pins are notorious for sticking as the rubber dust seals fail and rubbish gets in there causing the sticky brakes.worth a look before swapping calipers.power steering not noticed it being much different from when I had my 120 I would have a look at the fluid might need refreshing or just topped up.faint ticking is most probably the purge valve.that ticking noise will come from the canister
Pete was talking about if it's coming from anywhere else then yeah possibly the plenum failing but that's an easy swap if you get a replacement.