Here in UK we were very naughty people last night

January 01, 2021, 05:59 AM

tacfoley

Here in UK we were very naughty people last night - .

We were very bad people last night.

In a totally quiet village, with only a few flickering TV lights on, we walked half a mile in the -3C to bring in the New Year with an old and very dear friend, whose husband is ten miles away, slowly dying of the most appalling kind of dementia it's possible to imagine. For her, the coming year can only bring heartache in large amounts, so we couldn't let her see it in without us being there to show that we love her and will be there for her when needed.

For the last forty-something years, except when I had been away on duty, or in Canada or USA, we have shared New Year's celebrations together, and with her son and his family living in the mid-west of the USA, she would have been alone.

Not going to happen, we decided.

So we knocked on her front door, said hello, had a cheery chat, and had a little cry, too, and drank a toast to absent friends.

I'm not a believer, but this came to mind - 'Forasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of mine, ye have done it unto me'.

Take care, everybody, in the coming year, and more importantly, take care.

January 01, 2021, 06:19 AM

arfmel

You’re a good friend, Tac. Happy New Year.

January 01, 2021, 07:13 AM

0-0

Happy 2021, tac.

0-0

January 01, 2021, 07:43 AM

P210

You’re a good man tacfoley.

January 01, 2021, 08:16 AM

kz1000

Great! More civil disobedience is needed in the UK.

And congrats of being free from the EU.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Yidn, shreibt un fershreibt"

"The Nazis entered this war under the rather childish delusion that they were going to bomb everyone else, and nobody was going to bomb them. At Rotterdam, London, Warsaw and half a hundred other places, they put their rather naive theory into operation. They sowed the wind, and now they are going to reap the whirlwind."
-Bomber Harris

January 01, 2021, 08:29 AM

Sig2340

In the Yiddish dictionary under “mensch” is Tacfoley’s photo.

HAHNY.

January 01, 2021, 08:40 AM

tacfoley

I'm sat here with my screen all gone misty and blurred.

Thank YOU, Friends.

January 01, 2021, 08:54 AM

rburg

Well, that killed the thread. But I agree, you are a good friend and at least you went visiting. Momma and I just sat here, turned on the TV about quarter till midnight. Big night.

January 01, 2021, 09:32 AM

ensigmatic

You're a good man, tac. Happy New Year!

"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system,,,, but too early to shoot the bastards." -- Claire Wolfe
"If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living." -- Seneca the Younger, Roman Stoic philosopher

January 01, 2021, 09:56 AM

bdylan

The right thing is always the right thing.

January 01, 2021, 10:02 AM

braillediver

Best wishes to you and yours in the coming year. You did good. Makes me understand humanity is the combined action of individuals.

January 01, 2021, 10:14 AM

SpinZone

Just from knowing you through this forum, I can't imagine you doing anything else.

“We truly live in a wondrous age of stupid.” - 83v45magna

"I think it's important that people understand free speech doesn't mean free from consequences societally or politically or culturally."
-Pranjit Kalita, founder and CIO of Birkoa Capital Management

January 01, 2021, 10:19 AM

pwelch001

Happy New Year tac, good on you, true friends are hard to come by. Have a great year my friend!

January 01, 2021, 10:24 AM

bald1

Well done Tac. Well done!

Happy New Year.

January 01, 2021, 10:38 AM

Appliance Brad

Happy New Year Tac. Well done!

January 01, 2021, 10:38 AM

Redhookbklyn

Sometimes it feels good to be bad.

Happy and Healthy New Year to you and yours, tacfoley.

January 01, 2021, 10:38 AM

ClivefromtheMed

Well done sir!
Happy New Year to you and yours.

January 01, 2021, 12:11 PM

Rey HRH

It's sad when a kind gesture gets to be elevated to the status of a heroic deed by circumstances. And, indeed, what the OP did was both a kind gesture and a heroic deed.

Blessings on you, Tac.

"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.