You know how I said that normal transmission had resumed? Well, it seems I was a little hasty. I just had to dash back to Australia for my grandmother’s funeral.
My grandmother’s death has been a long time coming. She had a stroke four years ago and had been in a nursing home unable to speak or walk ever since. For a woman who caught the ferry across to Manly every week and spent an average of five hours every evening on the phone it must have been a living hell.
The good news is that she passed quietly and comfortably with my mother, her daughter, by her side. It was obvious she had decided that it was her time to go. She died on the exact same date as her husband had 62 years before.
Readers of The Wrong Way Home and Swahili for the Broken-Hearted may remember my grandfather. He was shot down over Burma in WWII, never having seen my mother who was born shortly after he left for overseas. I visited his grave in Thailand in WWH. And in Swahili I stood on the exact spot in front of the Sphinx as he had 60 years earlier.
Anyway, I’d like to raise a virtual glass to my grandmother and wish her well in the afterlife. Meanwhile, I’m left stuck here, supporting St George – the life long curse she left me with!
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Peter,
I am sorry for your loss. Death and funerals are so very very sad.
I too have a photograph of my grandfather standing in front of the Sphinx during the war (he was in the Royal Navy) and I too have stood at the same spot that he did in that photo – it must have been something all servicemen did in those days!
Mick
Hey Pete,
So very sorry to hear about your grandma. Mine died almost 2 years ago and I still miss her lots. But it is nice to think of her finally meeting up again somewhere with your grandfather.
My grandfather was out in the Phillipines during WW2 so only got to look at a picture of me in front of the Sphinx!
Hope your mom is doing ok.
Steph x