Avi

I try not to overburden my journal with photographs of family but this day is special and so I am breaking my rule.

My Father in Law, Feliciano (Feli) was 80 this week. Born in 1932 he was orphaned at a very early age and brought up during the cruel years of Franco and the Fascists. He was like most young men conscripted into the army and then whilst working in a full time job with a determination and courage that is hard to imagine, studied and qualified as a doctor. He subsequently had his own GP practice and in later years held three jobs simultaneously as a trauma specialist, an haematologist, and as an accident consultant.

He is a wonderfully loving Dad and a much loved Grandad (Avi), without doubt one of the most well read and cultured men I have been privileged to know and his love and knowledge of music spans 17th, 18th and 19th century composers.

He is a self confessed duffer at DIY and anything domestic, I think he would rather set a mangled leg than iron a shirt, but he has been an inspiration and idol to our sons and no doubt will be to his two younger grandsons as they grow up.

He said today at lunch "I don't feel 80, in fact I think I am only seventy ten".

Whatever age you wish to be, Feli, I hope you are with us for many more years to amuse, guide and provide us with true inspiration.