Nine Feet Underground

Saturday begins on the south coast with a trip to very good local bakers for bread and croissants (an almond one for me). After a very filling breakfast, Q and I sat down together to start planning out the next two or three months.  There are lots of changes afoot not to mention uncertainties but unless we plot out the things we know should be happening, some of which - especially Q's - have fixed dates, we'll never get anywhere.  The short-term dates (i.e. the next couple of weeks!) are more certain, but what happens with E is still totally unpredictable. We did some tasks to help towards Q's impending change of job and house move and then later Q and her daughter went out to a university function. Once they returned and I had eaten, all three of us had an interesting chat about past life experiences and how they shape the present. All too quickly it's Sunday and there are more jobs to do, which we get on with after a breakfast of French toast and bacon. The first bigg...

Up on the dot of 6 to ensure I'm up and fully ready by the time the cleaner gets here at around 10 to 7.  I need her to clean my office early in the cleaning process so I can start the penultimate day of my training course at 8 a.m. Training was interrupted mid-morning by a call from an old friend. Unfortunately she was calling with the news I'd been dreading to hear: best man at our wedding and longstanding friend - we've known each other since 1988 - has died.  He had been diagnosed with leukaemia in the summer of 2019, and though he'd had chemotherapy and the cancer had gone into remission, it had returned and this time was not treatable.  He was given six weeks to live, but actually lived a lot longer, to the point where you started to believe that maybe there was hope.  It was not to be. That news cast a long shadow over the day. I told my sons as he was godparent to one of the twins, and has been part of their lives since they were born. I also have to tell my ...