Douglas Pine 1917 - 2009

Yes yes, it's been a very lonngg weekend. Crazy, and a what a mix of emotions. May and I had arranged a viewing of a flat in Stoke Newington on Friday night which turned out to be absolutely ideal for us. We would get it at a reduced rate as the woman who owns it is May's mum's best friend's daughter. Sounds very tenuous, but I assure you it's like that in her boho family. It's a large and very tastefully decorated one bedroom flat with a lovely kitchen and garden accessed through a fauna archway (What are those things called?)... We move in just under four weeks!... Can't wait. We celebrated with a slap-up meal for two at the Three Crowns on Church Street. Which incidentally would be our local. Lovely.

I got woken up early on Saturday morning with the news that Grampy had died at 8:30am... Kyleigh and dad were there to say goodbye, dad actually holding his hand as he peacefully slipped away. He was 91 and wasn't in tremendous pain which is comforting. May and I got ready and caught the train down, met up with Cara and Dom and went off to visit Grandma in Ward 4... She's looking frail. She's all skin and bone and actually looked smaller than she did when we visited her on Tuesday, bless her!... I don't think she knows that Grampy had died. She'd been told, but she's very forgetful and possibly failed to recall the news, so we sat there and watched her eat her calcium tablets, and flick through her Take a Break.

The four of us stayed at Kyleigh and Gerald's that night, Gerald cooking a fantastic belly of pork. We ate like royalty which prepared us for the meeting with dad and Jean on the Sunday... Hmm. Awkward is a term I'd use for that particular meeting, so much to say but nothing being said. At least it will make the funeral a bit more bearable.