Wednesday 1^st May

On Easter Monday Maria eventually gave up her fight. Dilys, myself, her son Joseph and some other friends spent most of the day with her until her death at about 11.30 pm. The staff at Sue Ryder were very good looking after Maria and ourselves up to, and after the end.

Unfortunately I will miss the funeral as I leave for Monze tomorrow.

My packing is complete – I think!! I nearly forgot my binoculars and bird books, which for me are more essential than almost anything else I take for myself. As usual I have used up my baggage allowances. 2x 23kg cases and cabin baggage of 12 Kg is soon accounted for! I have second-hand shoes for the children at PIZZ School and a good supply of woolly jumpers for the young ones. There are art materials – also for the school. I have a few cameras, a couple of mobile phones, pairs of sandals for friends, reading glasses, soap for Jennipher etc. My cabin baggage is mainly a projector for the school, a laptop for a friend, a tablet for Jennipher. Yes and I have a box set of the Planet series – the Blue Planet, The frozen Planet and Planet Earth, plus another box-set with Top Cat, Wacky Races etc. to go with the projector! It's just as well that my clothes only weigh 3-4 Kg!!

Over the past few weeks I have been reading a Neville Shute trilogy. The first book was No Highway about an engineer testing an aeroplane wing that he predicted would fail through metal fatigue after so many hours flying. It becomes clear that a plane crashed having exceeded the relevant number of hours and the engineer becomes responsible for severely damaging another plane to prevent further loss of lives. I read this soon after they realised that the crash of the Ethiopian Airways plane was caused by the same issue that previously brought down an Indonesian Airways plane. Perhaps someone should have had the courage to sabotage one of these planes!

A few years back, I flew on Ethiopian Airlines. I remember how cheerful and pleasant the Stewards and Stewardesses were. I particularly remember that as night-time arrived they produced cots for the babies and toddlers. These were hung in front of the front seats where the parents were seated. What a difference this made for the families. I haven't known any other airline to provide similar facilities.

The second book was A Town Called Alice – again Neville Shute introduces us to some inspirational characters. The main character first overcomes terrible hardships during the Second World War to enable a group of women to survive and then ends up transforming a small town in Australia. It is good to believe that we can all make a difference. I like to believe that I have been able to make a small positive difference in Monze. I like to think that a few friends have a better life with my support and that I have been able to make a positive difference to others. I feel very fortunate to have been given the opportunity.

So tomorrow I will set off on my journey and I look forward to seeing my friends again.

I will be staying again at the Curia Guest House.

Next time I write no doubt I will be back in my second home.

Best wishes,

Chris