May 2022

As COVID has become less newsworthy, Monkeypox has arrived, the word is it can be contained.

Remember someone saying “we’ll send this virus packing in 12 weeks!” about COVID? I won’t hold my breathe on that one.

As more findings come out of the Sue Gray report, it’s hard not to feel anger that Downing street partied while people couldn’t be with loved ones in hospitals/nursing homes.

According to the BBC News article Sue Gray says there were “failures of leadership and judgment in No 10 and the Cabinet Office” for which “the senior leadership at the centre, both political and official, must bear responsibility.”

Which in my opinion, is a travesty of how people expect the government to behave.

Bureaucracy and arrangements

May has seemed to pass in a blur of appointments, waiting and bureaucracy.

We’ve met with the Funeral Director, and then the minister to organise the service for my Dad.

I’ve also had to contact various organisations about utility bills, car and house insurance etc. Most have been accommodating, but one lady said “is the policy holder there as we need to speak to them not you” – good luck with that one! Although, when I pointed out that wasn’t possible as the reason I was ringing was to notify them of his passing, they did quickly apologise.

The actual funeral is tomorrow, the 1st June.

My Dad was a huge rugby fan, so we’ve asked people to wear rugby shirts (if they have them) and if not, dress informally, as we want this to be a celebration of his life.

While the rugby shirts was actually my idea, the more I thought about it, the more it didn’t reflect my relationship with my Dad, as it wasn’t really something I followed or chatted in detail about.

I happened to look on the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) site (this was who he did his national service with), and saw that their emblem was a white horse, with a bolt of lightening and a crown.

This just resonated with me for several reasons. Firstly, my 2 wonderful Arabian horses were both grey (white), my Dad also spent many weekends taking us to competitions, so lots of happy memories. Secondly, my Dad was always super diy Dad who could make or fix anything which ties in so well with REME.

So I’ll be wearing a REME hoody with his REME cap badge.

Other Stuff

The 4th May was the 3rd anniversary of my accident, it went by without much acknowledgement, I feel there’s no point in looking back, just focus on the future.

I’ve been going for weekly dressing changes on my leg, which thankfully is now healing well.

Zebedee is still very shy, but is a good runner! He has a new personal best of 5.65 miles in one night, and is already in the Hedgehog Running Club 100 mile Hall of Fame.

I also noticed Pippin’s nails were getting long and to my amazement, he let me trim them while he was sat on my knee eating a biscuit! I used to have to take Paddington to the vets to get his done as it was a 2 person job, so this was great.

take care

Julia xxx