Janet

I found out first thing this morning that my "Godmother," Janet, died on Sunday night. She was surrounded by loved-ones, and I suppose, as deaths go, hers was about as peaceful and dignified as it could have been. I get the impression that she merely slipped away; fell into an ever-deeper sleep.

She was a wonderful woman. As a child, I thought she was absolutely fabulous. She had an incredibly sunny disposition, titian hair with freckles, and she always seemed to make my parents laugh and laugh. I was once found, at the age of four, snuggled up next to her in my parents' spare room...

She will, no doubt, be sorely and bitterly missed by her children, Edward and Matthew, her husband, my namesake, David, and of course my mother and father, who were best friends with her for the best part of half a century.

Incredibly sad.