2024 didn't disappoint for sheer awfulness.

The worst event of the year was losing my lovely dad. He was 96, and he is profoundly missed. Born in 1928, he was one of eleven children and was a non-identical twin. He would often share stories about his childhood with me, including of his time as an evacuee In Oxfordshire during World War II. In 1946, when he was eighteen, he was sent to Germany to complete his National Service. He travelled around Germany in the immediate aftermath of WWII as part of a vehicle maintenance team, repairing army trucks in workshops and on the road, although he never followed this line of work as a career path when he returned home. When in Germany, he saw the destruction war can cause first hand. He married my mum in 1951, and stayed married to her until she passed away in 2016. In the 1970s he witnessed tensions between the unions and managers at work, and the rise of Mrs T. He lived to see the birth of the computer age and the internet.

When my dad was born, the horse and cart was still being used as a mode of transport, and when he died, the electric car was making its debut. I sincerely hope that I can keep some of his memories alive. The photo above is of my dad holding me as a baby at home in 1968.