GATHERING GLOOM

It was overcast and nearly dark by the time I got out, so a quick shot with some tweaking to lighten it up.

I heard today that a very close family friend died this morning at 11am, on 11th November. Appropriate as he'd got to the top of his branch in the Forces before his retirement. It wasn't unexpected, though sad. We'd known them since the early 60s, and from being fun, full of life, incredibly sociable, hospitable and well-connected, increasing ill health in the last few years has made him and his wife withdraw completely and cut themselves off from most of their old friends apart from phone calls on birthdays, and very occasional - and brief - catch-up chats, the last of which with me was about four weeks ago. A big change from being almost family members for so many years. We knew he'd had to go into a care home a couple of weeks ago, and that he'd just lost the will to carry on. The request is no phone calls or flowers, so I shall be writing tomorrow, and of course it's unlikely we'll be able to go to the funeral. Mum is taking it philosophically - as I say, it wasn't unexpected and she's got over most of her hurt that they've withdrawn from us all. Sad times.