First of all: Thank you to Les for this wonderful tribute link for Grandad:

The whole body from wingtip to wingtip is nothing more than your thought itself in a form you can see.

Break the chains of your thought and you break the chains of your body, too

I found a precious scrap of film of Grandad – taken on his last outing (October 18th 2008) at the Long Boat Cafe (one of our favourite places) on Budleigh Salterton sea front.  The sea front is less than 100 yards away from the nursing home he was in - so P and I could push his wheelchair out and up a steep slope (that slope used to continually remind us that we were not as fit as we thought we were!!) and then walk along the coastal path. Grandad loved to do that. He has a towel wrapped round his neck for warmth because I couldn’t find his scarf.

I hadn’t realised how weak Grandad was getting  – when I re-watched this film today I was reminded that he couldn’t even lift his cup of tea. These things happen so gradually that one doesn’t notice at the time. And his hands – look at his hands; they are hands that have toiled for over 100 years ….  he was 100 years and 2 months old when I filmed this video clip. He slurped his tea in this clip – and watching it today that made me smile.