…in which my guru shows me how to ‘live in the now’ and I offer thanks by way of a bowl of those cheesy puff-things and an ice cold drink as the sun sinks low in the sky… Years ago, I became interested in the notion of memory, chiefly because my own is so bad. …

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…in which I recount a typical day, look back on those three dates I managed to squeeze in before mum’s escape from the care home and Maisie the dog pays a visit, along with daughters and ex-wife…   Episode ten, The Longest Day…but before I begin, let me just say the clue is in the …

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in which the past comes alive over a cup of tea only to vanish in the face of present woes and future concerns…   We’ve made it from the care home to the bungalow without a hitch and now we’re sitting side-by-side looking out on the garden…We’ve been teleported from one world to another quicker …

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in which I launch a daring daylight raid on the care home and, to my surprise, meet little resistance in liberating  both my mother and her rather splendid orchid…   It’s homecoming day. Can you believe it? I can’t. But there it is on the classic motorcycles calendar bought from the pound shop and pinned …

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…in which I lose my father, spend some hours fishing despite the strong scent of deja vu, find my father again and look for a travelling companion for the journey to come…   First up, my mother has a firm release date from the care home of April 27th. That’s only a couple of weeks …

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in which I finally break the news to my mother, who remains calm throughout, and face the scorn of drunken cavaliers alone…for now…     “What are you doing here?” says my mother. She’s smiling, as if relishing my surprise. Her head is bowed as usual and her shoulders are almost in line with her …

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in which an ‘outing’ leads to an unlikely bond between adversaries and the reservations of well-intentioned parties rattle my confidence…     My sister is cleaning my parents’ bungalow with my ex-wife as enforcer. I can hear their exclamations and appeals to God from the other end of the bungalow. I’m in the kitchen clearing cupboards …

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in which, I, or rather we, ruminate on love at first sight and Genie’s photo in particular…why did she choose it? Am I reading too much into it?  And what would Genie herself say? Last time, I promised a break from family matters and especially the war between fathers and sons…so, in keeping my word, …

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in which my father comes back to life, only to face a ruthless assassination attempt by his faithless son… We sit either side of her, me on the piano stool, my sister in a resident’s chair that happens to be empty. That’s maybe the spookiest element of this place. Sometimes the residents disappear without warning …

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in which love arrives unexpectedly, in the form of a photograph…a photograph of a woman I recognise and yet have never seen before… It was full night when we arrived at Phil’s broken down farmhouse. Nothing had changed. In fact, everything was just as it was when he’d moved in twenty years before. A Belling …

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