On Saturday morning we woke up with another week in Corfu ahead of us; we are now in Cobham Surrey! Life changes fast :) Also my Running to Learn site has crashed, so I cant post my blog - so Im sharing it here for now, should you want to read ! :) On Saturday morning Anadi and I caught the bus to Corfu town; Gorgios and Nikos had made us our breakfast as they have been doing for two weeks. We love our new routine; A mile run to the beach; straight into the sea to swim and swim and then the run home to be ready for our delicious eggs and fruit juice and coffee and bread and jam. on hearing of our plan to go and visit Corfu town again, they said they would take us to the petrol station where the bus left from; we clambered into their van like a line of four sardines and zoomed down to the bus stop. The bus for Corfu town arrived within minutes and we returned to savour the atmosphere again, first to the old town, with its many narrow streets of mystery and promise, shops full of possibility, art, gifts, clothes and restaurants, and yellow stone and brick and winding vines. We wandered on down to the sea to look for a restaurant that had been recommended us by fellow guests at Stefanos Place called Avli; we drank great coffee and talked and made plans to go for a really long run the next day, an exploring run. Our legs felt fully recovered now from the Kassias dias and we were ready to run! Lunch was a taste explosion; beetroot salad in oil and garlic, tomatoes with sea salt, courgette pie and greek cheese cooked with figs... the tastes were exquisite... We left the restaurant to make our way back to the bus stop. Three minutes after leaving the restaurant i received the news that my very aged aunt of 99.9 years had left her body... I feel I must go straight back I said to Anadi; I am her next of kin and her power of attorney and I recognised there would be much to do... My heart felt sadness, for awhile, but the truth is that Auntie Helen did not want to live for 100 years; she had actually told her friends at the church this, and it is a known thing in her church community, and so she was ready to go. Anadi and I visited her recently and she spoke to me; she has been silent for awhile, although when asked if she knew who was visiting she would say Julia... But the last time we saw her, in April, I was telling her how Anadi and I had been running in Richmond Park that morning and then I recalled a race I had run some years ago, maybe it was in 2000; in the sun. Auntie Helen had sat on the green to see me off and sat waiting for me to return. The race was called the Harry Hawks 8; Auntie Helen had watched me run all her life. As a little girl, we would go to visit her for Sunday lunch and I would be allowed out between courses to race around the block. Last month, when I recounted the summer day and the race to her, she suddenly lit up and said I do remember that... So, my last interaction with her was about my running...when I was young she would come on her bike and cycle with me when I ran; and when I went to visit her as I got older, I had a regular run I would do, up to Kingston bridge alongside the river Thames, and then back along the tow path, looping back to her home in Thames Ditton. Julia has always been running as far as she has been concerned ...in these latter years I have sent her cards telling her of my travels and adventures and still I was running... She has known me since ... you were a bump in your mothers tum And then the story goes that the moment I could walk, I ran, and I havent stopped... Within a couple of hours Anadi and I were booked on a flight back to the UK for the next morning... We felt very sad saying goodbye to our new friends Spiros, Giorgios Nikos and their father Stefano. They helped us with the sudden change of plans so much, printing off boarding passes, booking our taxi and offering us our missed week later in the season ...then they made us the most delicious farewell feast; We didnt want to leave them, and on the spur of the moment booked to return, not just for one week, but for the whole of September... By Sunday lunchtime we had arrived at Gatwick airport; we caught the train to Eastbourne to get all my Auntie Helens documents and then we drove retracing our steps stay in an hotel in Surrey; to be nearby for all the organising that needs organising ... And so it was that on Monday morning instead of a long run on the island ofCorfu, we were running through green fields and leafy paths of a sunny summer Surrey with the sound of the M25 roaring nearby, it sounds a bit like the sea Anadi said as we ran. .. nb Anadi has just commented that was wishful thinking! as I have read this out to him..:) But it has been a good few days ; We changed our plans in a trice, in fact we didnt change the plans; the plans changed us ... Everyone has been so kind, so giving, so helpful: the staff at the nursing home, the doctor, the funeral director and the vicar, all the staff at the hotel - and of course my beautiful Anadi ... I have felt so very supported as I navigate this journey to say a proper goodbye to Auntie Helen.. And in truth, we are having a lovely time... The funeral planning for Auntie Helen will certainly be a very happy memory. And a time of big transition. For her and for us...
Posted on: Wed, 21 May 2014 08:56:36 +0000
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