We are all going to die sometime.  Are we prepared? The Grim Reaper does not give notice. It can be a street accident, a fall that turns nasty and exposes weaknesses in the body system that are not repairable, or just plain old age. People are living longer these days. Not so long ago if you lived till you were 40 that was a feat. ‘Knocking on 40’ used to be a phrase but now reaching 80 is unremarkable and indeed is the average life span in the UK.

Both my partner and myself have made wills so if one of us per-deceases then provision will be made for the other. Many people do not make wills. New research shows that over 60% of British adults have not made a will.  If you are living with someone even if its a long time relationship this counts for nothing ‘in law’. A civil partnership or a legal marriage is a necessary minimum in an ideal world.

I found a very good site which gives advice on how to tell someone that a death has occurred.  The whole site is from the Marie Curie organisation which offers care and support through terminal illness but of course the principles apply to everyone.  Ideally each town or city should have a place where the bereaved can go to to share or download feelings that they would only feel safe sharing with those in a similar position.

As you may know I base these diaries on those of Samuel Pepys (1660 – 1669). My goodness the amount of effort made to help us picture the conditions at the time. Here is a small excerpt:

…..and so back to the Tower several times, about the business of the pressed men, and late at it till twelve at night, shipping of them. …But, Lord! how some poor women did cry; and in my life I never did see such natural expression of passion as I did here in some women’s bewailing themselves, and running to every parcel of men that were brought, one after another, to look for their husbands, and wept over every vessel that went off, thinking they might be there, and looking after the ship as far as ever they could by moone-light, that it grieved me to the heart to hear them. Besides, to see poor patient labouring men and housekeepers, leaving poor wives and families, taking up on a sudden by strangers, was very hard, and that without press-money, but forced against all law to be gone.  Sunday 1 July 1666

Today we went for our weekly shop. We start at Lidl and continue to Sainsbury’s.  We took our cool box with us for the first time and all fitted in. We often enjoy a lunchtime drink at Wetherspoons here in Midsomer. In clement weather the outside is particularly conducive to  good conversation or just sitting back and enjoying the breeze.

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I have a ZOOM friend who lives in California. Things have changed in the past 10 years and not for the good. The story of the 300,000 people who leave the state each year.  1:10:17
A technical discussion on how the climate is changing by the action of the Powers that Be. See this website Geoengineeringwatch.org
If you want a real shocker, try this video with Dane Wigington