Dear Reader
I have to apologize for the delayed blog. I have been through a bereavement, it was my Father that passed away. Being half way round the globe makes the process of grieving difficult, although I am surrounded by my immediate family currently. I am due to leave to go back to Britain to help in the final arrangements.
The distance has put into perspective the steps he and I took before I accepted the position down here. We met, we talked and he told me of an opportunity he had had when he was young, and he declined. He regretted it all his life, the issue was not that he may have failed in discharging the opportunity but that he never tried. Hence the reason he was enthusiastic that I should try to leave a mark down here. I left feeling better about having accepted the position.
He was a good man, a real man. Who lived and died amongst his own community, quietly in his sleep, at a good age. Something I want to live up to, if only because I have to keep up the batting average! Later this week we will spread his ashes on a hillside in sunny England amongst the beasts that he tended all his life. Fitting in my eyes.
The project progresses inspite of my personal setback. This again is only proper in my eyes. The people associated with the project have been wonderful in this moment of need and shown themselves to be thoughtful and considerate. It has refilled my faith in humans to feel compassion amongst the most straind of circumstances.
The building enters a critical phase in the next few days and I will watch this online. This brings home to me how small the world is.
I thank everyone who wrote after the first blog. i hope normal servicewill be resumed next week.
David