Forgive me diary, it's been 8 days since my last blog

Life is not passing me by, I'm just not noticing it. The techy blog is up to date, sort of, but this one is being cruelly neglected at the moment. To bring us up to date, Corey cracked his head on a chair and just escaped stitches. We are putting the other house in the hands of a management company as we no longer feel up to the job. My back has got worse and then better and then worse and now, currently, better. I have a pain clinic appointment for the tenth of May............ And, finally Esther, I still have no idea if I am going on holiday in May because of back problems. My work at the uni is fine at present but there are changes coming yet again and I was told today that they could happen next week. sigh! Just to have everything cut and dried would be a treat at the moment.

It droppeth from a great height

I know that at least one reader of this blog will understand exactly what I mean by that title. 

To set the scene, the tone of my next seven day period is usually set on a Saturday. Get Saturday right and the rest of the week just seems to follow on in my household. Well, last Saturday was a doozy! A parcel of some importance did not get delivered which will seriously damage my work at home this week. Hazel has not felt very well since Saturday morning and is having to wait in for me today as the parcel is, apparently, to be delivered today now. Lulu was not too well yesterday and is, anyway, due to be in hospital at the end of this week for her final operation. Corey appears to be teething yet again which probably means yet another cold and chest infection and I am still waiting for some sort of hospital appointment about my back pain. Add to that the minor issues of another company sending me an email that got all it's information wrong and, for a while, convinced me that it was a phishing expedition and you get some idea of my week so far. I won't even go near the problems some colleagues and friends are having at the moment because it's not my place to but they certainly are! Boyoboyoboy!!!!!

Just to bring this up to date, my parcel arrived at 15.00 this afternoon and the driver apologised! He also said it wasn't his fault as he was not driving on Saturday.......................... What a company!

Dear diary....................number 1

The sharp eyed will have noticed the countdown to my retirement at the top of the blog. It's not a gag, that really is how much more time I have until I am 65 years old. With that in mind, is it any wonder that my mind often strays toward a, hopefully, even later time when I shall retire from life. I am still, at the moment, regarding the whole concept in a slightly frivolous way as I do not intend to shuffle off etc. with any haste. However, I find, on the whole, that my thoughts often turn to the final curtain in a somewhat inquisitive manner. For example, I am re-reading 'Dodger' by Terry Pratchett at bedtime at the moment and last evening I read a piece about what you leave behind when you die. As I had also watched the Vanessa Williams episode of 'Who do you think you are?' during the evening with some similar thoughts expressed, it set me to thinking about what I would be leaving behind come the day.

Now don't think I'm getting all maudlin here. I often have conversations of this sort with friends and family and I find that my contemporaries have no problem with thoughts like this whilst the younger element have great difficulties even accepting the concept of death. So it seems that the contemplation thereof is very much a senior thing. For me the change over point was when I was fifty in 1999. I had just lost my mother-in-law and  I was struck down with a dicky ticker within six months. Life went into slow forward mode and has never come back up to speed since. Various body parts have begun to fail since then and, in general, the point has been made that I am on a downward spiral.

So back to the original thoughts, what do I do about the inevitable need for some sort of guidance for those I leave behind me? When the principle character has reached his or her three score and ten, funerals are rarely  concerned with pure grief. There is often the unspoken thought of, "At least I outlived him!" In addition, quite often they are seen as a 'Happy release' by close relatives and totally ignored by the very young. The only grief tends to come from older children and very close family who feel they have lost a part of their life. This, of course is true and we probably wouldn't want it any other way as grief provides us with a form of relief in it's own way.

So is there anything that we can do to make those that we leave more comfortable with our leaving?

I like to think so. For example, what about the funeral? have you specified how you want to go, whether in writing or by telling all and sundry over and over again until they can tell you what you want? A complete set of instructions is always a useful thing when you have to organise something fairly quickly - and it will be quickly! My own preference is to make it perfectly clear that, as I won't be there other than the obvious, I have no problem with how I am disposed of as long as it suits those left behind. I am also toying with the concept of producing a video to be played at my funeral, or thereabouts, to say goodbye and explain why, as I don't have a problem, I would appreciate it if anyone watching relaxed and enjoyed the wake.

As to what I leave behind, there might be some money and there will be a lot of my property which will be deployed in my will. As for the real stuff, I hope to continue to be in peoples thoughts as someone who did his best to be a good friend, parent and husband despite cocking it up on a regular basis over most of his life. I know from my own experience that we don't remember the really good stuff about people until some time after their departure. When we do, however, we probably paint them with a rosy glow. We're like that, us humans.

Life is NOT just a bowl of cherries! Discuss..................

It only takes very small things to upset the apple cart of life. Hazel and I have had our Kindles for two years now and we have made a lot of use of them. Unfortunately, whilst mine is still going strong, Hazels developed a problem a couple of months ago. We sent it off to a firm in the UK who fixed it quickly and - relatively - cheaply. All was fine until the screen died on her on Sunday evening. A phone call to the repair company got the answer that this could have been caused by static and whilst they could fix it they would also be prepared to buy it back from us as well. So, biting the bullet, I have ordered a cheap new Kindle and we will return the old expensive one for credit.

A wedding with a difference.......................

but only if you live in Plymouth!

The wedding was perfectly normal, register office and outside in the garden. The weather was pretty good so that was a bonus. Then, off to the venue for the reception...........................

The National Marine Aquarium

Imagine having the run of this place from five until eleven with music and food thrown in. Magic!

 Thanks to Teresa and Wayne for this idea, a sure fire winner as far as I'm concerned.