For more than 40 years there was always somewhere to go, somebody to see, something to buy, something to sell, a factory problem, a customer problem or another business idea.
Then 2025 arrived. And things changed rather quickly.
A rather bad year
A swollen and painful calf eventually put me in hospital. What followed was leukaemia/lymphoma and the discovery of an enormous growth under my rib cage compressing some fairly important plumbing.
Then chemotherapy. Bone-marrow failure. Double pneumonia and fluid in my lungs. Three heart attacks in a week. Gout. More medication than I knew existed.
At one stage I left hospital with the pharmacy having packed my prescription into a shopping bag. There were regular blood transfusions and considerably more time in hospital than I ever intended spending there.
My dad
One Friday a transfusion finished early, so I went to visit my parents. My mother wasn’t home. Dad made coffee. We sat down. He coughed a little.
And then he promptly died of a heart attack.
Dad was proud, honest and uncomplicated. If he had been given the choice, I suspect that’s exactly how he would have wanted to go. Quickly. Quietly. At home. Without suffering.
We had a few beers for Dad. Actually, we had them for a week and a bit.
And then back to hospital
About two weeks later I collapsed. This time my kidneys and liver decided to join the party. Back to hospital.
And eventually I had to accept something I’d spent my entire working life avoiding.
I couldn’t simply carry on as before.
The strange gift
For the first time in more than 40 years: