My grandaunt Martha died today. She'd been ill for several months, so it wasn't a shock, but it was still obviously upsetting. I was very close to Martha. She was a real character, with a wicked sense of humour. She was generous too -- when I was at university she used to cook a dinner for me every Thursday! I always found her easy to talk with, and popped in to see her as often as I could when in London. The last time I saw her was just before my trip to America. It was raining really badly that day, so it took me far longer than normal to get to her flat, so I didn't get to spend as much time with her as I planned. But we had a nice old chat all the same, and the pair of us made quite a few jokes about her condition -- like me, she thought it was better to laugh in the face of death than cower from it. She was on good form and in relatively good health that day, so I didn't think she'd pass from us as quickly as she did. I was looking forward to catching up with her over the Christmas period. Alas, the fates had other plans. The world will be a less smile-inducing place without her. And the cigarette-producing industry will suffer a dip in their profits too -- Martha LOVED her ciggies and smoked like a chimney!!! Ultimately, of course, that went against her, but Martha didn't mind -- she was happier living life on her own terms, and would rather check out at 68 with a fag in her hand than live to be a hundred and have to go without for thirty years!!!! I'll miss her. It's been a rough old year on my family -- after a couple of decades of not losing many close relatives, in the space of 6 months we've lost my Grandad, another of my grandaunts (Kathleen) and now Martha. I'm just hoping that 2010's grim reaper has had his fill of my kin by this stage...