death & taxes

On the morning of Friday 16th January C died in his sleep. He was getting increasingly frail so I was going round to see him twice a day. I arrived at his flat just after he'd died.

C is survived by his brother and his two daughters. There was a private cremation the week after his death but I'm now in the throes of organising a great big party at Oran Mor to celebrate his life. Oh, and there's his obituary and cards to all his friends and sorting his estate. I'm tired and sad but doing OK.

My sister is another matter. She's very upset and, after a quick five days in Glasgow (the cremation was timed to fit in with her plans) she's back down in England, not taking my phone calls and seems to be teetering on the edge of a breakdown. I started off thinking that she had money problems since she keeps trying to get access to C's cash before probate but she's so out of control that I'm worried something else might be going on. It doesn't help that I listen to the Archers regularly and spend most of my time shouting at the radio for Tom, Kirsty, Fallon, Iain ... anyone! to see that Helen is drowning not waving.

In an appropriate twist, this week was also the deadline for tax returns. I did manage to get something approximating a return in with 4 days to go.

In less grim news there was a fine Burns Supper at Drimnin with music, recitation, a quiz and many fine words from friends of C. Sad stuff for those of us left but, oh, what a life!