Yes, apologies! My medium-to-long-suffering wife Lois and I have temporarily 'put on hold' plans for our 500th wedding anniversary 'bash', currently scheduled for 2472, but we'll see. We've also cleared our calendar for the year 2525, so apologies again, "pro tem" at least (!).
Pop duo Zager and Evans wrote a chart-topping song 2525 in 1969 with their 'post-apoplectic' [sic] vision for that year, and for similar ones too - do you remember?
flashback to 1969: pop duo Zager (left) and Evans (right),
or is it vice-versa? I think we should be told !!!
And to be honest (again!), Lois and I will be glad if we do as well as, and live as long as, Lois's dear cousin Iris, who sadly died quietly this afternoon, aged 91 years, in a church care home up north in Southport, Lancashire, her little room still crammed to overflowing with all the beloved books she had accumulated over her long life.
Lois and I last visited Iris back in June 2019, then 85 years of age, still 'bright as a button' and still 'talking the hind leg off a donkey', all in her rural Oxfordshire accent, which she's kept, despite having lived up north for 60 odd years - what a woman!
Flashback to June 2019: Lois's cousin Iris, aged 85 and still
'bright as a button', at her church care-home, when
Lois and I last visited her, back in June 2019
My favourite way of thinking about end-of-life is that somebody creeps into your room, when it's time for you to go; they gently take the book that's fallen from your hands, and quietly just switch off the light.
Many's the time I've performed that very ritual, not for somebody who's "gone", but in happier circumstances, for our 11-year-old bookworm granddaughter Jessica, now living in Australia, who used to stay with Lois and me at weekends, in our then home in Malvern.
Jessica used to fall asleep in our guest double bed, the bed she used to share with her twin sister Lily. Around 10pm, I would often find Jessica fast asleep in bed, still with her latest library book in her hands. I would gently take the book from her hands, put it back on the shelf, quietly switch off the light and creep away.
flashback to 2024: our twin granddaughters Jessica (centre) and Lily,
at mine and Lois's then home in Malvern, with some of their beloved
library books lying in front of them, on our coffee-table
Iris was ready to 'go' this afternoon, that's for sure: for days unable to talk, spending most of the time asleep. And she passed away today with her two daughters Heather and Lorna by her side. Heather has been spending a lot of time there, but Lorna, who's still working, has naturally found it harder to get away.
Iris (left) with daughters Heather and Lorna as children in the 1950's,
and (right) Iris, aged 85, sitting between Heather and Lorna, on mine
and Lois's last visit to see them all, back in June 2019
Was Iris just waiting for Lorna to be there with Heather, before she was happy to just quietly 'go' ? Lois thinks so - she recalls that, in Cheltenham, we had a neighbour Stephen who did just that - ill for months but didn't finally go until his daughter Catherine managed to get away from her job and family in Surrey, to come across to Cheltenham to see him.
For Lois and me also, our children and grandchildren are a great comfort, and they keep us feeling a bit younger than we would otherwise feel, probably (!). [I'd like some documentary proof of that, Colin! - Ed]
Our younger daughter Sarah and family are sadly now 9000 miles away from us, in Perth, Australia, and our granddaughter Jessica, who used to fall asleep with a book in her hands, was last week chosen to lower and raise the Aussie flag, and say a few words "lest we forget", outside the twins' new school in honour of ANZAC Day, commemorating the men and women that died in two world wars coming to the aid of the mother country, in both 1914 and again in 1939.
our granddaughter Jessica (2nd from right) in rightmost picture,
although a very recent arrival from the UK, was chosen to lower and raise
the Aussie flag, and say a few words, at the school's ANZAC ceremony last week
However, now that Lois and I have moved to quiet, semi-rural Liphook, Hampshire, our other daughter Alison, with her family, live just 5 miles away from us, which is nice.
Today, one of Alison and Ed's three teenage kids, Rosalind (16) spent a few hours with us studying, doing revision for her upcoming end-of-year geography exam, and avoiding all the expected "kerfuffle" at home, where it's "cat initiation day": the family has recently moved to a temporary rental home, while their real home is being refurbished. Alison and Ed have been keeping their 2 pet cats indoors for 3 weeks or so, so that they don't run away and try to find their way back to their real home. Today the cats are going to be let out for the first time, and Rosalind says she "can do without all that melodrama just before the exams(!)", and Lois and I don't blame her, to put it mildly !!!
Rosalind spends most of her day with us today studying in one of our guest bedrooms, but she takes a break for lunch, and also, first, for a pre-prandial, pre-lunch walk through nearby Radford Park, Liphook, which is nice.
"Table for three, please, Jane" - and today Lois and I have the pleasure of a
pre-prandial walk in the park, followed by of "lunch for three"
with our 16-year-old granddaughter Rosalind,
and her delightfully youthful and lively conversation, which is nice!
Admittedly, we do have a quiet life, and for that very reason it's nice to hear about the action-packed lives of our children and grandchildren, to put it mildly.
and family's temporary rental home near Churt, Surrey, while (centre, right)
their real home in Headley is being gutted for refurbishment - yikes!!!,
Rosalind, who's spending the day with Lois and me today, will be in Aberystwyth, Wales, next weekend doing her Duke of Edinburgh award; her elder sister Josie (18) is today way up north in Durham for the weekend, checking out the university as a possible option for her maths degree course, starting later this year, provided if she gets the right grades in her A-Levels.
Rosalind's brother Isaac (14) is well into rehearsals for his part in his school's production of "The Wizard of Oz", in which he'll be playing the Tin Man, and singing the iconic song "If I Only Had A Heart", which Lois and I are planning to see in July.
the house that our daughter Sarah and her husband Francis have
bought in the northern Perth suburb of Yanchep, just 5 minutes from the ocean.
Incredibly busy, for the last 6 months Sarah has also been having to do a 2-hour commute in the morning, south into Perth and then out again to Naval Base a few miles more south of the city. And there's been another 2 hours coming home in the evenings. And, to make it worse, she's also doing two jobs, because thanks to the wonder of the internet, she's also still doing her old job in Evesham UK, in her evenings and at weekends.
Now, just this week Sarah's been offered a job at Balcatta, Stirling, that's "only" a 60 minute commute (!) from the family's home, which will give her an extra 2 hours of 'free time' a day, which is nice.
It still makes Lois and me tired just to think about it. What madness !!!
16:00 Alison arrives to take Rosalind home and Lois and I can go back to our quiet existence, but with lots to talk about, which is nice.
4 pm: our daughter Alison arrives to have a cup of tea
with Lois and me, and to take Rosalind home
But isn't it nice to be retired !!!!
And rest in peace, dear Iris. You've earned it!
Will this do?
[Oh just watch one of your 'poncey' documentaries and go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We watch one of our 'poncey' documentaries and go to bed - zzzzzzz!!!!!!
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