Aunty Mary

I have been a while updating my blog because we have had a bereavement in the family. Caroline’s aunt died suddenly, she was not ill and it all came as a shock. Her aunt was a maternal figure rather than a distant relative and still young at 72. I wonder if she died through boredom. Of course in the UK we have to record a reason for death and they will put it down to cardiac arrest but I think she felt that she had no purpose. Having no children Caroline was her and her widower Colin’s ‘daughter figure. We made the comment that I suppose we all make at this time and should really begin to follow. Make the Most of Your Time.

I have the children therefore to myself for ten days. We are all getting along just fine. I am doing absent father things like treating them to too much sugary food. I actually made custard yesterday! Tonight it is pancakes or crepes as my now French elder daughter refers to them.

Anyway to update my journey from Macedonia. Still bursting with adrenalin from a great 5 days I took a six hour journey through the Macedonian mountains (nearly running out of petrol on the way!) My joke in a previous blog about Macedonian bandits is actually nearer the truth than I imagined. You do not want to run out of petrol in mountainous Macedonia! My driver was sweating. The journey to pristina airport lasted 6 hours and then it was back to London via Vienna with the soulless Austrian Airlines. I didn’t even get the time to grab a good glass of Austrian red (and there are some good ones) at the excellent wine bar in Vienna Airport. I got to Heathrow at 9.30pm and the tube and another train got me to the London house at 11.30. I had during the train ride picked the message about Caroline’s aunt’s death. The next morning it was up at 6 to get the Eurostar to Lille and then a train onto Montpellier. Every time I take the train to France I wonder why I ever bother flying with the ghastly Ryanair. I am sure, when everything is added up, that it is no more expensive. And you certainly don’t get treated like an animal.

The girls were thrilled to see me. They had prepared banners and balloons and we had food and a bottle of wine. I was by this time utterly exhausted and it took me two days to recover from both 70 days of almost continuous seminars and exhausting travel from Ohrid, Macedonia to Montpellier, France via London. But it is amazing how some of my daughter’s energy transferred itself to me and I was able to be a ‘performing’ father.

Caroline went back to England a day or two later and from there I have worked during the day while my daughters are at school and child-minders, and entertained my daughters in the evening. I leave for the UK again on Saturday for 20 days. Working for Birmingham City Council, The Forensic Science Service and a new project with school children in Milton Keynes – trying to help them be more creative.

The song of the moment is ‘Summer Madness’ by Kool and the Gang. Effortless and proves that many of these soul bands were actually fantastic musicians long before their record companies made them produce dross (Ladies Night, Celebration etc.)