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The GP arranged for a phlebotomy nurse to come to the house, which is much more convenient than having to travel out to one of the various sites around the city. We missed them twice but finally the stars aligned on Monday. Now we have to book a telephone consultation with the GP to discuss the results. That's a job for Monday.

Tuesday was my turn to go to the nurse for a woman-only thing. When I got there, the nurse told me I wasn't due until 2025 - according to the computer. However, she rang the lab who confirmed I was due this year. Apparently, it's every 3 years up to 50, then every 5. At my last test, I was 49 - so probably could have left it but while I was there, it was sensible to get it done. I also discovered the GP had the wrong phone number for me, so I got that updated, too.

Daughter and grandson #2 came to visit that afternoon. Grandson crawled right over to me when I came in the room and gave me a kiss unprompted <3 I so hope this relationship blossoms into turning him into a gaming/Whovian/Trekkie geek :D

The only person who had been at my church longer than me passed a couple of weeks ago, leaving me as officially the oldest inhabitant - in a manner of speaking. Her funeral was on Wednesday. It's amazing what you find out about a person at their funeral!

I also had a 1:1 where I shared an alternate risk log that I'd got from an article someone had sent me. I'd developed some scoring criteria and assessed our current 'live' projects against it. The riskiest came out as the riskiest! But it's interesting to see it laid out like that. It was well-received by my line manager, who could see how we can use it. Next job is to share it with some other senior bods and let them rip the scoring apart :D Must remember not to be precious about it...

Thursday, I finally made it into the office, but it was generally very quiet. I had a meeting with my fellow PSOs and a PM who is based in another team. We recognise the lack of political will to create a central PMO but want to push forward with creating our own shared process and docs. I've shared all of the crap I've developed over the years and suggested we start with the processes. Everyone now has the chance to look at my process and think about how theirs maps to it - or doesn't. We can then try to create a single process we can all follow. Or not :D :D

Today we had the best ever meeting of the university's prioritisation group. We talked money!!! We tried that about 7? 8? years ago and the then VC almost had a heart attack and refused to talk about projects for about a year >D But we are in a very different world, now. Tracking the overall spend on projects is also part of my new role, so its something I'm taking a more active interest in.

Husband's constant glucose monitor is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, I don't have to do a blood test 4 times a day, and we can track his glucose levels throughout the day. On the other hand, we can see when he's really low - which is a good thing because we want to keep him healthy but when it's in the middle of the night and his glucose level brings itself up naturally by morning, we would have been in blissful ignorance before. However, it's mostly a good thing because we've brought his insulin dose down quite a bit based on the very low readings.

The First Doctor's first series continues to be shaky. I suppose people really had nothing to compare it to at the time, certainly in terms of costumes and special effects. But watching one of the actors struggling with a 'heavy' stone made of polystyrene was painful. But I'm sticking with it. It was pioneering television in its day, and the fact that we're about to get the Fourteenth Doctor starring in a 3-part 60th Anniversary Special is an amazing thing.

Looking forward to a quiet weekend.
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Not sure what I was expecting from the funeral but I didn't feel I got it. I've been wound up so tight all week, just wanting it to be over. And now it is and... nothing. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the service, the eulogy was well done, everything was fine. It's just me :)

Husband, however, did get what he wanted, which is the important thing.

And now, it's back to some form of Normality.
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 Heading out later to meet with mother and daughter because apparently it's my job to organise mother buying a pram for daughter.  O_o  Still, it will enable me to pick up some more bits for new baby at Smyth's :D

Husband and I made a start on the bundle yesterday - hooded towels, cute snowsuit, that sort of thing.

The Queen's funeral left me oddly unemotional.  I expected to feel SOMETHING.  I liked the Queen and I've cried at the funerals of people I didn't know at all!  Husband's view was that the crowds were kept so far back, it lost all atmosphere - which I think there's something in.  Of course, it must have been a security nightmare - the new King and almost ALL his heirs, plus all those heads of state...  There were some wonderful comedy moments, though - Boris being sent to the END of the line of former PMs and an Australian reporter confusing the current PM for a minor royal.  I also chatted to our curate who viewed it from a 'professional' pov :D and pointed out that, at its heart, it was a pretty normal CoE funeral.  So, in her death the Queen wanted to emphasise her 'ordinary humanity' - but all the pomp and ceremony got in the way.  Which is a shame.

Workwise, I've spent the last two weeks, and will also spend next week, switching heads almost every half-hour.  It's bad enough when it's Head A, Head B, Head C, etc.  But sometimes it's Head A, Head B, Head A :D :D :D  The first week of October is looking calmer, at least at the moment - and the plumber has finally given us a date for putting in the new toilet (7 Oct).

Oh, and the 'body shaping' exercise programme I'm following has got me back into two of my suits!  And I can fasten the pants on the other two - just can't sit down in them XD  So, I'm going to give it another month and see how I get on.  It doesn't involve calorie counting or weighing myself, so is much more my 'thing' than the weight loss programme.

OK, enough randomness - time to do my recovery exercises, then get ready for a day out.

Bye, DW!
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Last Friday went really well. The church service was pretty generic but you have to feel for clergy in that situation. The priest didn't know our niece, or any of the family, and I don't think the family have the confidence to tell him what they actually want from the service. Would they even know what they wanted?! So, we got his standard 'Christians find comfort in the cross' sermon, based on the enormous painting of the Crucifixion above the altar - ie, the same one we had for her mother two years ago. My daughter got herself worked up about it - it's all about Jesus. It's a church - and a Roman Catholic one at that - what are you expecting?!

On the way to the church we went past her workplace where a number of the staff were waiting outside. I thought that was a nice touch.

I was quite impressed that he spoke about our niece 'joining the saints', which I thought was more of a Protestant position. One of our congregation, who used to be RC, said that many in the RC tradition are moving towards that position. So, that's a good thing.

Then on to the crem, which I thought was a bit better. There were some roses laid out for us to place on the coffin, which both daughter and I did. Her friend, who was injured in the accident, broke down at the end. They were really close and I expect she has a dose of 'survivor guilt'. It all felt suddenly real to me, which is the point, I suppose. I've said before, we weren't particularly close, although we spent a lot of time together when she was a child, but it's her age - only one month older than my daughter - which really hits me. I keep looking at my kids and the younger people I work with and getting a shiver up my spine.

The coffin had to be closed for legal (public health?) reasons, given that it was over two months since the accident, which really upset her uncle. I don't think he felt he'd said a proper 'goodbye'.

They had a lovely photo of her and her mother, though. The only mercy in all this is that her mother went first; burying her daughter would have killed her.

Then we went on to the 'do', which was in a pub she went to regularly. With karaoke and disco... Not quite my idea of a wake but she would have loved it!

It was also a chance to catch up with family, of course, including our favourite nephew who most definitely did appreciate us and what we did for them all when they were kids. We only tried to offer them some of the love we felt they missed at home. He's based his whole value system around us and tells his kids about our days out. I suspect a certain amount of rose-tinted glasses has been applied - but it's still so touching to know we had that much influence on him, and now his own kids.

Both the husband and I felt truly humbled by what he told us.

Finally...

May. 17th, 2018 06:56 am
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So, tomorrow is our niece's funeral, two months after she died. It's been the legal side that's held things up. The driver was allowed 28 days before being questioned due to the shock he suffered. Then he was allowed a second post mortem, which he asked for. Still don't know what that would show that the first one didn't. Then there's the usual delay around organising a funeral. Still, we're finally there.

We spent a lot of time with her when she was a kid, given that she was only a month older than our daughter. We used to take up to seven kids - our two and an assortment of nephews and nieces - for long days out, to the beach at Formby or over the river on the ferry. She wasn't as enthusiastic as the other kids but I hope she had some good memories of those days.

Now, we're left with a  sense of loss more than anything. We hadn't seen her since her mother's funeral two years ago but we were all on facebook, so it felt like we were in touch. There's also a sense of shock, and the realisation that it could easily have been our daughter. Or even our son - he walks home from work late at night.

Tomorrow really marks the end of our involvement, but her brothers and uncle will have the inquest and any future trial to go through. I suspect we'll see more of my brother-in-law who will want my husband's support, even if it's only as a pair of ears. But that's what big brothers are for, right?

Well, that's all for now. See you next week, DW!
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My husband woke me up early on Sunday and said, 'I don't know how to tell you this but our niece is dead.'

Our niece was a month older than our daughter - she was 30 in January.  Her mother died (of natural causes) less than 2 years ago.  She was killed pretty much instantly by a car and the driver was arrested for causing death by dangerous driving.  She was on a night out for St Patrick's night with a friend who is still in hospital.

We were never close - unlike our other nephews and nieces, she didn't really enjoy going out with us.  But she and our daughter were pretty close when they were kids.  I hadn't seen her since her mother's funeral but our daughter happened to bump into her last week when she was buying wallpaper for her bedroom.  There are still so many feelings.

- she was our daughter's age, ffs!
- she lived with her uncle and one of her brothers - what happens to them, now?
- two funerals - mother and daughter - in less than two years
- we may not have liked how she lived her life, but she enjoyed it
- you just don't know what's going to happen 5 minutes from now

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