13th November, 2018

We made it to Toronto last night, after a claustrophobic 16h flight + 3h layover in San Francisco. Alas, when I checked messages, we got the sad news that Tanja's father Richard Zientara, former purveyor of fine beverages at the Oxford House (The Ox Box), long-time caregiver for our boys, powerful baritone and music aficionado, and rock of Tanja's family, had passed away in the afternoon. We missed saying goodbye to him by a day. We've had enough. About the only good things I can think of now is that his horrendous suffering is finally over. But I despise the fact that he had to watch his grandson die.

On a more positive note, my best friend Doug seems to be recovering well from his surgery, in which they repaired 6 out of the 7 aneurysms in his brain. He's at home now, still in pain, but out of immediate danger at least.

So, back to London to try to make sense of life without Nick.

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