3 January - a look through the archives...

It is occasionally hard to believe that I’ve been writing this blog for more than fifteen years now. I was, at the beginning, decidedly single, having concluded that this was likely to be the case forever. So much for predictions, eh? And perhaps it’s time to, occasionally, take a look at what was happening in retrospective to see if I learned much...

Fifteen years ago, I was in India, attending a family wedding. That was a part of my life that had fallen into abeyance for the previous decade and a half, given that my then relationship didn’t leave much room for my extended family scattered across the globe. Pretty much the first thing I did once I’d somewhat straightened my head out was to set out on a world tour to find out what uncles, aunts, cousins and second cousins were up to - from Mumbai to Toronto, from Auckland to Edmonton.

Having been asked to give one of the readings at the service, I did have some misgivings, especially with a failed marriage so recently behind me (well, mostly behind even if some of the most depressing parts were still to come). But it’s hard to feel depressed for long in the midst of my Indian family, and you end up unable to resist the urge to relax and enjoy the craziness.

We’re all a bit older and, in my case, rather greyer (although I’m about the same weight, curiously) but we still seem able to relax with each other no matter how long we’ve been apart. And, in Ros, I have someone who is happy to share in it, even to encourage it, which is hugely appreciated.

We remain utterly scattered, with twenty time zones between Walter and Felba in San Francisco and Windsor, Beryl, Warren, Tanya and Kim in Auckland, but we keep in touch after a fashion thanks to the wonders of modern technology which allows me to talk to Kim via Facebook Messenger, or be updated on Arlene and Ryan’s progress in Bahrain.

I ought to be better at marking birthdays and anniversaries, and maybe I might aspire to do a little more in 2021. After all, as the oldest of the generation (and we are curiously hierarchical), there are some vague obligations...