'Goodbye 2024!' : A New Year Missive
The late Queen Elizabeth II once famously referred to the year 1992 as an 'annus horribilis' for the royal family. Whilst the year 2024 may not quite qualify for that title, in our household it's certainly a close contender. At the the beginning of the year, the continuing rapid decline in my Mother's health had culminated in her admission to a specialist Dementia Nursing Home with the inevitable exhausting and frustrating battle to optimise her funding. It was difficult to find opportunities to make the 270 mile round journey to visit Mum, and often when I did so, she would either be in a deep sleep or in a highly confused and distressed state which was very disturbing to witness. Her death in September, though in many ways a blessed release, inevitably came as a painful shock, and she is sorely missed, although, of course, the Mavis that we all knew and loved had not been truly present for almost two years. May she rest in peace. As with any close bereavement, sortin...