May 19th

In the early morning of May 19th my dear mother passed away peacefully in Weston-s-mare hospital after a long and well-lived life. My sisters and I walked out into the bright morning very sadly that day. But after days of wind and rain the sun was shining and taking Mum's philosophy of living by horns - grasping the day - we took off at 5am along the deserted seafront. The street cleaners were out and we exchanged greetings through tearful eyes. The colours that morning seemed to be particularly vivid, the edges sharper and light just wonderful and it made the sand look as if it were sand and not sandy-mud. A lone fisherman sat with three rods and he asked if we were up early to go out on the little ferry to flat-holm.Then three swans flew by in the early soft sunshine, a beautiful sight to see and, as the fisherman said "worth getting up early to see". He was right of course although we wish we weren't up early for the reason we had been.

It was a fine stroll. It cleared our heads a little, gave us a chance to talk about Mum and how much she loved this stroll along the seafront. It was just lovely.