Sunday 17th December 2023

We all get old, of course. And are getting older day by day.

And those who live longest see those they know and love leave our lives.

Alan Shorten was by Godfather. He was Dad's foreman at MS Oakes where day was a chippie.

Alan took his role as Godfather seriously, and growing up never missed a birthday or Christmas with cards and presents.

I didn't really appreciate this, but once grown up I visited him and his wife, Heather, every time I could, or since leaving Lowestoft each time I would go back to visit.

Last time I saw them was in October 2020, when I returned to see Mum's gravestone placed on her plot. We called in to see Alan and Heather, both then 89, and both very frail.

It was the beginning of the second lockdown, and I nearly broke down in tears when I saw Alan. I tried to hug him, but COVID robbed us of those last, meaningful moments.

So, this weekend, we were writing our cars and deciding whether to send to them again. I felt something had happened, so we checked. They passed away within a few weeks of each other in 2021, about a year after I last saw them.

So, they are gone. One more link to my past.

My friends and colleagues have lost parents, family members. We are all getting old.

Hold on to those you love, and tell them how much they mean to you before you can't.

Since Mum passed four years back, I have no family at all. No blood family, and contact to Mum's cousin who is in fact younger than me, but that's another story.

I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me, as I don't feel sorry for myself, as an only child there was pretty much just me an my imagination, which is what I have now. Jools has her family, her brother and sister and nephew too, so I have family. And I feel a sense of belonging.

Sunday.

We were going to go to the Castle for a tour of the Dumpy tunnels, which are open for a few weeks. But the 15,000 steps done on Saturday, and the stairs and steps climbed meant that my legs were tired, and my knee was having a right old moan.

Next week, we said.

Which is what we said last week.

Jools didn't go swimming either, so we listened to the radio, wrote cards, watched football or the other things that we fill our days with.

It was a bright, sunny day, but windy, so felt colder than it was, really. So, we watched it through the windows as we sipped coffee or washed up.

The day slipped by.

I ended up watching nearly three whole games on the tellybox, Scully was happy as I was sat next to her for three hours.

Not good games, really, but diverting.

And so we wound down to the last working week of the year, or in my case, the last two working days.

Time to reflect and take a deep breath.