Autobiography

Dear diary... eager as I am to complete my bucket list of things to do, my partner was surprised when I declared that a trip to Oxford Castle Dungeon...

Memories of Troy and Ancient Greece, World War 1, and speculations about nearby Albania, from Corfu. A Beautiful Palace on top of a mountain overlooking Corfu Town.

Just before my mother reached the final stage of her illness, she was still living independently in the council bungalow she'd had for almost 25 years. But a few years earlier - as a precaution - she'd registered for a flat at a nearby sheltered accommodation complex in case the bungalow ever became too much. In the interim, though, she'd made her mind up. She wanted to stay put. 'I'm not leaving here,' she said to me one day 'until I'm carried out in a box!' I supported her in this. My brother wasn't so sure. His wife and her daughter, my step-niece, began to exert some pressure. There were already tensions between us. His wife and I had never gotten on. They seemed to go against anything I liked or wanted. At last, an opportunity arose to bring the matter to a head...

a deck of cards and one spilled onto the floor it landed with a smack reminding us of a child we knew who lived for a while in such a sad life –...