Mum called on Thursday to say her brother David just died of cancer.  She has lost a brother every October, these past 3 years (Frank, Robert and now David).   She is sad but stoic. Her mother (my grandma) also died in October.

Another strange coincidence, mum has had a little fly trailing around after her and dad for a week;  following them up and down stairs, sitting beside them in the living room, even sitting on her bedside table. ‘It is quite a sweet little fly. Quite delicate. Not a blue fly,’ she said.  It too showed no interest in their food and they couldn’t kill it either, even though they tried.  Just after I hung up the phone  I found my little fly’s corpse in the living room and wept.