David's diary: March 1997

Sorry, I've let it slip again, folks!

Things have been generally a bit hectic lately, with one thing and another. Nothing I can really use as an excuse per se, but I suppose life in general has been throwing a bit more at me to do and to worry about, so spare time has been somewhat at a premium. So not a lot of news really. I'm looking forward to breaking for Easter, getting home for a couple of weeks, and also going to see my old friends down in Hampshire - I am trying to arrange a meeting with my jet-setting old boss, and will do my best to make the most of the trip!

I went to have a look at this new-fangled comet thing tonight. Quite impressive, as faint smudges in the sky go. Certainly worth going to find a relatively dark place to watch it from, which in Milton Keynes does mean travelling a little. Maybe when it peaks, in a few days time, I'll drive out of the city somewhere and get a really good view. Odd to think that with all the hype and fuss surrounding Halley's Comet a couple of years ago, which turned out to be an utter flop, this one has been kept relatively low-key, but turns out to be the best for ages. See it now, or wait another 4000 years...

Well folks, I'm going to be off for Easter as from sometime tomorrow, hopefully back on line in a couple of weeks. It's going to be really nice to have a break from all the hassles of Milton Keynes, just to drop down a gear for a change and relax. See you all again soon...

I am lying on my bed at my parents' house, typing this diary entry on my Psion. This was to have been a pleasant Easter break away from computers and all that, but instead I must close March with the sad news that my little cat earlier this evening breathed his last.

He had been unwell for some time, suffering from liver failure, causing massive distension of his abdomen from a build-up of lymph, and also a heart murmur. The heart condition responded well to the drugs he was prescribed, but a few weeks ago, the vet made it clear the liver condition was not reversible and it would ultimately kill him, which it sadly did a couple of hours ago.

For the last few days, he had become decreasingly mobile, able at best to stagger from sunny spot to sunny spot, and the occasional lap, more so as time went on, although for the last day or so he was quite unable to jump, and his staggering became more of a dragging, though he still enjoyed the sun and - with assistance - laps, right up until the last.

If it hadn't been a bank holiday weekend, we would almost certainly have taken him to the vet, but in a way it was kind that nature had its way rather than force us to make what would have been a pretty heart-rending decison. As it was, he came back inside after lying in the evening sun for a while, flopped down on the doormat, slept peacefully for a few minutes but with a distinct air of finality, then died as I gave him what I knew to be his last stroke and kiss goodbye.