2017 starts off, following the theme of the second half of 2016. It is another related party obituary from the rapidly thinning ranks of my father's generation. They are now the front line. I stand in the second. There is still one Great Aunt who stands in front of my father's peers but she stands alone, her line has all gone.
The gaps in the front line seem to grow larger by the day which is rather disconcerting for those in my row. It can't be too long before we too are called to head over the top and to start to charge towards the grim reaper in our final assault.
Today's obit in The Times is that of the writer Emma Tennant who was the first wife of my uncle Chris Booker. It was not a long marriage and is described in Tennant's biography in the chapter "I married a satirist" for at that time Chris was co-founding Private Eye. They honeymooned with another couple in the Mani, taking almost a day to travel from Athens to the the area where I now live, in the Greek Hovel.It now takes less than three hours if you beat the early morning traffic in Athens.
A reminder to Uncle Chris if he is reading this. I know that you turn 80 this October but we are set to climb the mountains behind the hovel this year. How about mid November?
I am lead to believe that Tennant ditched Chris for the bloke who joined them on that trip. That was the swinging sixties after all. Back in the day, folks who are, now almost in their eighties were enjoying the sexual revolution to the full. We all move on. The front row thins again. I contemplate the gaps once more.
PS My father will I am sure want it noted that he managed to avoid taking part in the swinging sixties almost completely.