Suddenly

Before I left, although the Communist was as well as he gets these days, I said a very fulsome farewell to him, because he's eighty-five after all, and you never know, do you?

And then I rang him for a brief chat every day from America, because you never know, do you? I think there was one day when he didn't answer, because he was asleep or couldn't reach the phone or something, but I managed to talk to him every other day.

The last time I spoke to him was from the Kennedy Space Centre, on our second day there - a place that he would have loved to have visited, if he hadn't been a Communist, that is, and known he would never go to America. He's always loved space travel and it was that which sparked my interest initially.

He sounded a bit chesty but not too bad. The last thing I said to him was "I'll ring you tomorrow, lots of love."

The next day when I rang, he didn't answer.

Now he's in hospital with double pneumonia and kidney failure, and the doctors are pessimistic about his chances of pulling through this time.

Of course, this was the worst-case scenario that I envisaged when we booked the Florida trip. Thank goodness my brother Michael (who sometimes leaves comments on this blog as Michael Communistson) is in Leeds at the moment and can look after my mother, who is eighty-four and really won't be coping well, I know.

It all feels strangely unreal.