snatching seconds

I'm taking a few seconds to check in, as I'm currently acting as body double for the cameras on the trading floor, as we get the lights and backdrop right for people to come in later on. I would happily play with the cameras all day, but unfortunately will get called back to my desk at some point.

Much has been happening in my world, not all of great. My aunt Marilyn is dying of highly aggressive pancreatic cancer, which has spread to her liver. She has decided not to go for chemo, as she feels that the odds don't justify the time spent in and out of hospital over the coming months. They've given her about 3-5 months, but she seems to be slipping quite quickly.

When Jill, my sister-in-law had breast cancer at the age of 27, she was simultaneously too close and quite new to the family, so our emotions were incredibly raw, immediate and we lived the whole process and progress as we were all here together in Dubai. With Marilyn, she is such a massive life-force with a huge personality and I have such a raft of memories of her crazy antics that this is both heart-breaking and unbelievable, all at once. She was my mum's friend, when they were 16, they were rent-a-party at university, she belly dances, drives a morris, teaches drama in prisons, dropped us off at a fairground somewhere between cambridge and london once when she'd forgotten her wallet and we wandered around till she got back (pre-mobile phone days), she's the first to plan an adventure and the last to go to bed.

I'll miss her.