The reason for the late postings.

We had a great day on Saturday January 16, 2016. We got the office set up and the road bikes set on the trainers – yeah we can start training again.

After a busy day of really getting the office and work-out room organized, we sat down with a glass of wine and were ready to relax for the evening. It was 8:30 pm.

Ralf checked on facebook and my sister-in-law had just posted a message to call my brother asap. It was 1:30 a.m. in England, I knew this wasn’t going to be good. My sister called almost at the same time.

It wasn’t good news – my Dad had passed away at 12:30 (an hour earlier).

My Dad joined our family when I was about 12, he was a big man over 6 feet with a very big heart. That big heart finally gave up.

What can I say about my Dad, he was kind, generous, funny. We all loved him very much. He was lost without my Mum who passed away in 2006 and in the last few months had been in and out of hospital. The family had got him into a care home for a couple of weeks to help him recover from the last stay in hospital and to give us a chance to look for a place for him with assisted care. We all felt that he was safe.

A few memories of my Dad:

Dad asked us all if he could marry my Mum, knowing that she would not say yes if we didn’t agree. When he proposed to my Mum she said “I have to check with the kids” his response was “I already have asked them and they have said yes”.

We used to take Sunday drives into Derbyshire, one of the best areas to go was Dovedale, where there were stepping stones over the Dove River, one of us always went home wet after missing a step or being “bumped” of the stone.

I left home and moved into my first flat with a couple of girls. Neither Mum or Dad liked one of the girls, but let me make my own mistakes. When I called to tell them that this particular girl had left with all the money for the utility bills, Dad came round with the car and picked me up. He spoke to the landlord and sorted everything. Dad (and Mum) was always supportive of whatever I did.

When Ralf called my Dad to ask if he could marry me (both Ralf and Dad old fashioned and military) he started to laugh – and cheer. I was the last of six to be married.

Mum and Dad came to visit us while we lived in Germany. We had just bought a new Saab. Dad was so excited to drive it, he had owned a Saab 96. We took them to Rottenburg ob der Tauber, my Mum who was the worst back seat driver (ever) held on to the “granny handle” and watched the odometer, if Ralf went over 130 kph, Mum used her “imaginary brake” which happened to be the mechanism where the seatbelt went into, this tightened Ralf’s seatbelt against his chest, he slowed down – Mum released her “brake” and that is how the trip went. Dad realized quickly that Mum was the “safety” in the new Saab.

So many memories of a great man.

After Mum passed away, Dad and my sister came to visit us in Canada. We went to Niagara Falls, Dad was so excited about going on the Maid of the Mist.

Ralf and Dad got on really well, it was close to Ralf’s birthday so Dad treated Ralf to a helicopter ride over the Falls.

I had a special week with my Dad when we spent a week crossing Canada on the train. We met in Vancouver (Dad flew in from the UK and I flew in from Ontario) we spent two days on the Rockie Mountaineer from Vancouver to Jasper and then spent a couple of days in Jasper together, followed by a trip on Via Rail to Toronto. While on the Via section of the trip there was a problem.

We came into Folyet a Northern Ontario Town and stopped, this was not a scheduled stop on the route. As Dad and I came from breakfast we noted the station was covered in police tape and the police were in Hazmat clothing.   There had been three unrelated instances on the train. One lady was airlifted to the local hospital with breathing problems, one of the carriages had Australians who were sick (as it turned out they had the flu, but Toronto had the SARS crisis the year before) and unfortunately a lady had died on the train. My Dad with his wonderful sense of humour kept saying “We’re doomed, we are on the plague train”. He had seen a movie with the “plague” on it and the train had driven over a wooden train trestle and fell into the ravine below in flames”. We were laughing so hard, we were crying, “We were doomed”. He wrote a great essay about our trip with his usual dry humour, so funny.

We visited him while we were on the Grand Adventure and every time we called him via skype he told us how proud he was of us.

Not half as proud as I was having him for a Dad. It’s not often you get to pick your Dad, we made a great choice. He was the best. Love you Dad.

We fly out to the UK on Monday February 1, 2016 next week for the funeral – February 4, 2016.