Dad

So today is year 24 of dad deciding that enough was enough, or rather mesothelioma leaving him with little choice.

As always, I mark the day on blip with some thoughts to process solely that the number has gone up by 1 since last year, and he, and my mum, are further away from me than ever.

Call it a bit a therapy, but this day creeps up on me from the summer bank holiday, through my wedding anniversary in October, and by the time the clocks have gone back, it's an inevitable and unwelcome countdown.

I've tried to manage these feelings, and over the years it has eased but there is always a creeping sensation that is always there. Ironically Dec 5th is New Years Day, and everything is reset.

This picture by John Thompson is of a Midland Railway 4-2-2 no 673. It is of no significance to my dad as I bought it long after he died. However, being a rail enthusiast, mathematician and organist (those 3 often go together) he would love that I did buy this. Those childhood trips, that education in all things railway as a boy, still smoulders on.

Everything is a lot more connected these days, and looking at the internet, I notice that this loco which is generally on static display at the National Railway Museum in York last steamed at The Rainhill Trials 150 year Celebration in 1979.

You'll never guess who went aged 9, with his dad, and somewhere in the loft we have a Super-8 film of the same engine chugging past....

Further away than ever, and right back together through no 673.

673  4-2-2  Midland Railway  MR Class 115 – Preserved British Steam Locomotives