 |
Wrapping the 2019 walking season
at Berry Brow station. |
My eighth walking year concludes, and we thus settle into another Dark Season to contemplate the passage of another year into history, and this time around, at the end of 2019, I have to change my familiar declaration, as this time around, we didn't all make it and we aren't all here to see the start of the third decade of the 21st century. So again we ponder what we have learned in the last twelve months, and the main truth has been that
2019 has been a rough year that I do not care to see a repeat of, as it has brought me personal upheaval the like of which I haven't experienced in decades, maybe a whole lifetime, if we're being honest with ourselves. I've pretty much said I that needs to be publicly stated on the subject of bereavement, as after eleven months, the passing of My Dad still stings, as 77 doesn't seem to be an old age to be dying in the modern age, especially after having endured three years of aggressive degeneration of the brain beforehand, and I still lament the loss of the father that I had in the years before his mental and physical capacities drained away. His demise having come when it did in late January at least gave me the opportunity to use the whole year to work out my grief and come around to the reality of losing one of the few constant presences in my life, and the amount of practically used alone time, and the number of socially offered shoulders sent my way have both been invaluable through the year, but honestly, I'd still going to miss Dad immensely as his absence is still being acutely felt in my family life. Upheaval also came in my working life, after 20+ years of service in the Medical Records Library at Leeds General Infirmary, the storage facility was run down through the opening half of the year, reducing the core business down to a distribution hub, and my role being switched over to the library at St James's Hospital in June, where the labour was familiar but fitting into the routine of the much larger staff proved to be quite a challenge. It's not in my nature to complain about work in a public forum, for obvious reasons, but the change or work rate and culture, with me frequently being on my feet for all seven worked hours of the day proved hard to adapt to, so when the opportunity came to take up a new role on the LGI site came along in October, I grasped it firmly, to the ultimate benefit of my mental and physical well being.
