Monday 15^th January, 2018 2015

Yesterday was a day that went bad and then managed to become even worse.

Despite receiving no text from Steph I removed the macaroni from the freezer. I rather wanted to get rid of it because although she liked it I had found the batch too bland. The cheese I had wasn't “cheesy” enough and I should have used more mustard.

At the suggested hour and with still no contact I sent a message which received no response. Later I sent another, knowing she wouldn't be on a train until about 2130. This time I got a reply. She had slept until “super late” (likely, seeing as she went to a nightclub), her phone was dead and she couldn't find her charger (where have I heard that one before?) and she was frantically packing.

On the bright side, I dumped the food and now have another baking tray free to use.

Late that evening I had an email from Kevin. His centenarian father had been in hospital following a Christmas Day fall and breaking a hip. I was aware of that but amazingly they had operated on him a week ago. By all accounts he was rallying well until yesterday when he started deteriorating. I believe the last words he spoke were to Kevin's son, whom he informed he was very tired.

I do feel for Kevin. His Mother died a few years ago (I think she was about 95) and departed just before he got back to England. He had booked a flight as soon as news came she was going downhill and as he had been waiting for it for some time, he immediately asked the school to release him. They agreed, Prof Fang had always asked him how his Mother was when she saw him. Instead of a farewell, he got just the funeral.

And his flight to Birmingham departed today, it was booked a month ago and he planned to stay a month because his father had told him he missed him. His old Dad couldn't stay awake for another two days so now Kevin has lost both parents and just missed the last curtain by hours both times.

He was close to them. Our Western Wednesdays would see us chucked out of his flat at ten because he always Skyped with his Dad every night. Mum sadly alternated between knowing him and not but Dad was still as sharp as a razor, in fact until about three years ago he was still driving and even when they revoked his licence he got an electric buggy and used to ride to the pub and supermarket – at least when battery powered permitted.

I shall not talk of a good innings and the like and being gone too soon but having on one occasion spoken to him on Skype I can say he was a thoroughly lovely man whose accent rivalled that of Richard Todd. He had a wonderful and varied life as you will see from the newspaper articles below. An engineer through and through, Kevin would often tell tales. One in particular I remember was when he worked for Carmichael in quite a senior position.

He wanted to make their airport fire engines faster than the competition so they could reach distressed planes more rapidly. I forget the details now but I do know he succeeded, giving Carmichael the leading share in airport emergency vehicles. He met Winston in WW2, worked in Kenya (where Kevin was born, hence I always told my students Kevin was black!) but always loved Worcestershire and never failed to have wine with dinner.

I shudder to think how many people will be at his funeral, I can only hope Kevin doesn't have to pay for all the drinks and sandwiches on his own.

A remarkable gentleman just went to join his wife of many years.

http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/15369011.Engineer_who_met_Churchill_in_WW2_celebrates_100th_birthday/

http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/10124358.Platinum_couple___s_romance_got_off_to_a_flying_start/