The funeral went well and despite Sue and I having caught a dreadful cold  I was still able to attend it. To be honest I'd have hired a taxi to take me there rather than miss it but the drive was smooth and uneventful. Unfortunately Sue has been hit very hard by the flu as we realised it wasn't a cold but something nastier and she stayed home. Four days of little sleep and no food is not a combination I ever wish to repeat with a long journey and an emotional funeral on top plus meeting several relatives for the first time in many years. It was a non religious service and my sister read out a wonderful eulogy which made us cry and laugh with some of the stories from my mums life. That's a picture of her in better days during the seventies and below a small sample from a larger collection of photos.

She was a strong, feisty independent woman with a great sense of fun and humour who had at times a very hard life including a very poor and hard childhood in rural Ireland. I'm immensely proud of her and she has left a huge gap in our lives. I still expect the phone to ring and hear her latest opinion about someone she has just watched on TV.  Life goes on albeit sadder and with a rich thread of gold and purple missing from its tapestry.

As stated above, both Sue and I acquired a nasty bout of flu from our last hospital visit where a woman in the waiting room was coughing fit to burst a lung. Four days spent either in bed or wrapped up in layers in the armchair and attending to the cats needs as and when required. I left for the funeral but decided to stay just the one night as I was worried about Sue who has been laid low by this on top of her recent health issues. I also heard today from a work colleague that there is an outbreak of covid and norovirus at work, a nasty combination guaranteed to floor anyone. So much for the mRNA fauxines (It's all a con!) as there appear to be no end of bugs and viruses out there but it is winter and colds and flus do make their mark known especially once immune systems are reduced or damaged. Although we are both slowly on the mend I suspect the rest of this week will be spent quietly recuperating and I finally managed a nights sleep last night uninterrupted by my coughing. 

Stay well folks and if anyone comes near with a nasty cough do your best to avoid them, Failing that, spray them with Dettol.

TTFN.