Apologies to all my readers for my absence for the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately my mother died on the afternoon of 26 May in the Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital. So as well as trying to keep all the usual balls in the air, I’ve been dealing with the inevitable fallout.
This is the last photograph I have of my mother, taken last October on her 99th birthday.

Dora at 99!
Norwich; October 2014
Yes, mum was 99! But as with so many old people, she had a fall in the early hours of Sunday 17 May, resulting in a broken hip. Magnificently the medics decided, with Dora’s and my agreement, that although frail, as she was pretty fit and had some mobility, they would operate to pin the fracture and try to get her mobility back. The operation itself seems to have been successful, but although Dora came through it OK she never picked up properly after the op and gradually slipped away over the following week.
I feel sure this is as Dora would have wanted it; she would have so hated being immobile, incontinent, incapable or bed-ridden. Until the fall she was alert and active (just very frail and very deaf). She was still reading almost anything we took her, sewing, knitting, making stuffed toys for her care home to sell, drawing and painting. Right up to the last she was still painting all her own greetings cards. Whenever we visited her we tried to take flowers for her to paint, and all the girls at the care home would also bring her things to paint. In fact we were with her the day before her fall and spent the afternoon going through some of her old artwork as the care home were planning a small exhibition of her work (and indeed they may still do it). This is exactly how Dora would have wanted it: she always said she wanted to wear out rather than rust out!
It is amazing to think that Dora had been in the care home for over five years — it certainly didn’t seem that long! This was the home she chose, in the country, just outside Norwich. It is a small home and excellent in every way; they gave Dora a wonderful five year holiday at the end of her life. Everyone there loved Dora and they are going to miss her just as much as we are. For a small quiet lady she has left a huge hole!
Dora’s funeral is on Wednesday 17 June.
Normal service here will be resumed as soon as possible, but it may still be a bit patchy for the next two weeks.
Onward and upward!