A message to the future

As the friends of my parents die, so do the parents of my friends.

A few days ago one of my school friends wrote to tell me that her mother had died. She explained that amongst the few belongings that her mother had chosen to keep until her last days was a letter that I sent when her husband died many years ago. My friend's sister saw it for the first time when she cleared her mother's small room in her care home. My friend wanted me to know that my letter of condolence must have meant a lot to mother for her to have kept it safe for so long.

I wrote a reply to my friend's letter this morning to say that I was sorry to hear her news, and to share my favourite memories of her mother. For a bit of fun, on the last page I also left a note for the next generation. This was on the basis that they may find my letter in their aunt's belongings after she dies (though hopefully not for a few decades yet!) They have been instructed to track down my nephew, who will lead them to letter 2 in the series (i.e. the one that informed me of their grandmother's death). I have placed letter 2 in a china cabinet with a typed copy of the text blipped above. The names of the nephews and nieces are written on the envelope...

While not laying treasure hunts, today I have worked on two journal article manuscripts. My reward for my hard work this evening was a very animated (lively/riotous) book group meeting at ArcLight's house.

The book was not really to our tastes: a couple (few?) of us had actually given up on it part-way through. Nevertheless, I found it very interesting and was keen to discuss its themes (fantasy, power, control, and our capacity to write our own endings), motifs and imagery (lots of references to the colour purple and breathing), and nods to other works of literature (principally Don Quixote and the Aeneid). I agreed with VickyG  when she pointed out that it was quite a sensual novel. In the event, however, this evening there was more discussion of undergarments (including loin cloths) than our interpretations of Women who blow on knots.

Next month we'll be reviewing (or possibly not!) Muriel Spark's The girls of slender means.

Exercise today: 10 mile bike ride.