Continuing

Title © Robert Michael Nesmith, from the 1973 album Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash.

OOF! 


It's been a hectic few days to say the least.  I think I've driven around the world and back in the last 48 hours.  I've been driving in my sleep!  Not literally, folks - it's dangerous and definitely not recommended practice for anyone to try at home.  Or even on the road. 

You probably have heard me lament about the fact I don't have a car any more, but circumstances dictated the need for me to get one quick sharp yesterday.  Apparently trying to squeeze 8 people into a 5-seater car is a bit too much to ask of any vehicle.  So I hired a car for the day.  It was gorgeous.  Even before I closed the door and got my seat belt on, I was in love.  I called him Stirling (yes, all my cars are boys, and yes, I name them all.  What of it?  I had a gay Kia Picanto called Buttercup once!), after Craig Stirling from The Champions.  I'm in a bit of a Champions phase at the moment, and although I'm a Richard Barrett girl, Craig is pretty easy on the eye and a bit smooth - plus the fact the car was silver, so it sort of had to be Stirling.  He suited it.  I gave him back this morning.  I nearly cried.

I think I've alluded to the fact something big has happened in the Wainwright family over the last couple of weeks but I haven't actually explained myself.  However, to bring you all up to speed - my cousin, David, sadly passed away after a very short illness a couple of weeks ago.  It came as a huge shock to the entire family.  From what I understand, he was right as rain on the Saturday, felt a little poorly on Sunday, felt a little worse on Monday, was in the Critical Care Unit on Tuesday and died on the Friday.  I mean - really.  Shock.  It was his funeral yesterday and two of my cousins came up from London for the event.  It's always lovely to spend time with Gill and Angela, especially with the big sister too - we're all more than relatives, we're really good friends and we have such a great laugh together, it's just a shame the circumstances were so horrid this time. 

I don't want to dwell on the day, although it was lovely to see so many family members, there's never anything nice about funerals and you don't really want to know the ins and outs of the day's events.  However, there was a huge turnout for him - there were well over 100 people there, and even though we're a huge family (more than a family - a clan.  Maybe even a country.  Wainwrightia!), there were a lot of friends and former colleagues etc that turned up too. 

I thought that was a really lovely testament to David's life.  Everyone who ever came into contact with him during his life couldn't help but love him.  He was a sweet, gentle soul, who adored his wife and his two gorgeous girls more than anything else.  Some people come into this world and invent things, or develop ideas, or write something or draw something or create the most exquisite music or most thought-provoking, life-changing film that becomes timeless - but when those people die, people remember the things they achieved with great fondness, but remember the person with significant coolness, disdain or even hatred.  David might not have re-invented the wheel or anything so grand as that, but he made people happier just for knowing him, and there's really no greater legacy any of us can leave than to have people say about us, "That person was one of the nicest people I ever knew," or "I'm really going to miss their smile/hugs/laugh."  We'll all miss those things about David. 

Incidentally, and now on another note entirely, my apologies for not posting on Monday.  It had been a rather eventful weekend due to my sister's altercation with a bottle of hair dye - and although I was really looking forward to dramatising the whole sorry affair for you all, sadly I had about five trillion tapes to type up at work so that I could have yesterday off so I just didn't get time.  But I'm back now, and please don't think my lack of posting on Monday was a lack of dedication to the blogging/dieting cause.  Oh no.  Far from it, my eyes are firmly fixed on the prize and I'm back on the straight and narrow with a vengeance.  Admittedly, I did go slightly over my Syns limit on Saturday but I've been very good the rest of the time and have had far fewer Syns than the recommended 15 so I think it'll balance out.  I might maintain this week or possibly even lose a tiny bit of weight.  I'm hoping for 2lbs.  Dunno if I'll get it but so long as I don't put any on it'll be all right!

Join me again on Friday, after The Big Weigh-In, when hopefully the llamas will have all come up with a lovely new dance routine for you all to join in with the dancing and shake your maracas while shimmying around the living room/office/kitchen/bedroom/wherever you read this from!! 

In the immortal words of Bill & Ted - Be Excellent to Each Other.