Remembering Jess

Richard's friend of many decades' standing, Jess - and later my friend too - died this afternoon after a long struggle with cancer. Fortunately she was able to stay at home in Menai Bridge till the end, and had both her husband and her two sons with her. I think that her final days were spent largely asleep, thankfully, with pain relief organised by the district nursing team.
We were in touch on the phone till near the end. "I really don't want to die under the f*****g Tories!" she remarked drily at one point, being a very committed Labour Party activist.  And she didn't: she was lucid for long enough to see in the Starmer government.
However clearly you know that someone's terminally ill, there's still a sense of shock when they're gone.