On the boat in Venice we had a “Gala dinner” on Christmas Day. After the main course (no, not turkey – beef wellington which I don’t think I’ve had before but was pretty good) the Purser made some announcements. First, there were two couples on board who were celebrating wedding anniversaries. They each got a […]
My flight from Gatwick to Venice was on time – amazing really given the amount of snow outside and the massive disruption at Heathrow. But the allegedly “fast” bag drop was a total misnomer, the queues for Security were interminable, and the breakfast service at the airside Garfunkles was very slow. So I only had […]
I had a near miss of a domestic disaster before Christmas, when the toilet in the en-suite wouldn’t stop filling up and overflowing into the bowl. Clearly something had gone wrong with the ball-cock, but it wasn’t something I could see or easily fix. It was impossible to get a plumber out for anything less […]
It took a while to decide what I should do for Christmas this year. I knew that, whatever I did, I was likely to find it difficult, but I also wanted to mark it in some appropriate way. In the end it was my Gran who spurred me into action – she sent me a […]
I get asked this rather a lot, from which I can only assume I must be looking pretty haggard still! I think the honest answer to the question is “I’m trying to, though it’s not always easy”. There’s a canteen at work, and I try to have a cooked meal there most weekdays – except […]
It was exactly a year ago today that we learned that Christopher had oesophageal cancer, and not acid reflux or a stomach ulcer after all. I was trying to write my Christmas cards over the weekend, and it made me reflect on all that has happened in the past year: an urgent operation to stent […]
It’s been well below freezing for most of the last two weeks. I escaped the worst of the snow, but there has been about an inch and a half here, which then froze completely solid. I managed to keep the sloping part of the drive fairly clear using a snow shovel and rock salt, but […]
I wrote earlier about the canonical text on bereavement, and how I thoroughly disagree with the underlying thesis, at least as applied to my own situation. I don’t think that trying to find some Grand Unified Theory of Grief is helpful. I have however come up with an empirical hotch-potch of practical strategies which I […]
Chris had been a member of the company pension scheme since he first started work for them about 18 years ago. It’s quite a small scheme, as it only contains those of us who were working for the company when it was privatised some ten years ago – at which point the rather good final […]
One of the things I’ve needed to do is to sort out and dispose of Christopher’s clothes. That’s a really tough job, so I’ve been taking it slowly and doing it just one shelf/drawer at a time. I’ve been sorting the clothes into a number of categories, each of which I’m dealing with separately: Clothes […]
