This week has not gone well and it’s only Thursday evening. On Tuesday my half brother Russell was found dead and this morning the nurses found my Granddad has passed away in his sleep overnight. The fact that nurses found him might suggest to some that he was old (he was) and decrepit (well he was in his 90’s) but the old fella was about as stubborn as anyone has ever been. When my Nan passed away 6 years ago, it was in many ways a surprise that she went first. She did has osteoporosis and was about 4 foot nothing but that wasn’t what finished her off. She was diagnosed with lung cancer and a brain tumour and it turned out to be a very fast race to see which one finished her off first. Granddad was actually fairly ill at the time it was a bit of a surprise that he outlived her to be completely honest.
Over the next few years he was in and out of hospital but as recently as a couple of months ago he was up his ladders cleaning the barge boards on his bungalow. He still kept his metal turning lathe in his garage running and I’ve never met a man so good with his hands.
During the war he worked for De Haviland, which folded into Hawker Siddley in the 60’s and then BAE. He worked on a lot of precision engineering projects and this was reflected in his hobbies. He built model railways which he kept in his loft. And by built, I actually mean built. He made the model trains, using his metal working tools, from scratch. I remember him showing me a few the last time I saw him, seeing them for the first time as an adult and appreciating the skill that had gone into making them.
He was a curmudgeonly old sod at times too; he sent the Boy a Christmas present but not the wee lass because he’d never met her. I’d talked with mum over the last couple of months to arrange a joint trip down where I could bring both the kids so he could meet Fifi. I guess this is never going to happen now.
I’m going to miss him a lot. The funny thing is I’m not really upset at the moment, I’m emotionally drained this week and it hasn’t sunk in yet.
My poor old mum has been put through the ringer this week, her first born and now her Dad suddenly passing away within a couple of days of each other. It makes me want to hug everyone in my family and never let go but the kids don’t understand and they didn’t really know either of the late parties.
Lets hope nothing else goes wrong this week, I don’t think I could cope :(