Dad passed away on Friday. He died in his sleep, in his own bed, in his own home. He’d had a rough year being increasingly affected by Alzheimer’s but he was brave and cheerful throughout.

This was in no small part to his new friend, his incredibly kind, and professional carer Mustafa, whose wings you could occasionally hear rustle under his shirt.

I used to feel pressure to do DIY around our home. It was my role as the “man of the house”. I had some pretty significant successes in the past.

But it’s hard. Things go wrong. You never have all the right tools. Failure can feel like an existential challenge.

We needed a new curtain rail put up and I was feeling the pressure. I was on the point of being brave. But thankfully at the last moment I had the instinct to bail.

Thank goodness. The lintel turns out to have been steel as well as concrete and the handyman we paid to do the job knew this immediately and used special self tapping screws into the steel.

I would have been left with a load of bent drill bits, wondering what was going wrong, and sitting on the floor sobbing.

Phew!

If you are in our near Brighton my daughter’s play just got a “hidden gem” review. She’d love it if you were able to go.

…my daily walk became green!