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2008 — 27 December: Saturday

Off to the local superstore, via the Bottle Bank and the petrol shop (for Junior) — my treats. Now (11:35) awaiting arrival of the un-met half-aunt.

20:10 Beaten into retreat from the heat of the back living room while the cousins catch up on a host of recorded TV items, sadly none of which is to my taste. So I've retreated upstairs to contend further with "Little Dorrit".

My half-aunt and her (second) husband are a nice couple, though we are frankly none of us any the wiser for the reason(s) behind the long estrangement in this bit of our family. Since essentially all of the older generation are now dead, or of very uncertain mental acuity, this is one of those family secrets that has — as it were — gone with people to their graves. Odd business. Very odd. Interesting to see a photo of my paternal grandfather in young middle age looking remarkably like my Dad (though a bit less like his two younger brothers, actually).

Still, I shall pass along the new branch of the family tree to Lis to integrate with the rest while John is picking through the NZ stamps that I remembered to retrieve from dear Mama yesterday. I wonder, too, if his six years advantage over me and Leigh will yield any greater insights. Does he remember giving Sue a bottle of "Californian Poppy" perfume, for example?! (It certainly wasn't me who did that.)

Junior set off on his journey home at about 12:30 — by all accounts there seems to have been heavy traffic. I shall find out tomorrow if it has died down, I guess, as I wend my own way home. Must refuel the car, and need to pick up some food for when I get home. What's left of the last crockpot will be ready to walk out on its own legs by now.

So, jolly nearly the end of another year, and (of course) the first whole calendar year without Christa by my side. What a long, strange trip it's turning into. Grayling's "learning to navigate anew" is bang on target. It's only 10:20 but I shall call it a day, ready for the "off" tomorrow.

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