There are times when it's not all about being sick in a hedge.
"Like a cat in a bag, waiting to drown, this time I'm comin' down"We climbed into the car after what had been an emotional funeral. My mother had died suddenly of an illness that may or may not – for we will never know - have been accelerated by the medication she had been taking for another condition.
Her slide from a healthy, happy 60-year-old to death had been sudden and shocking, my abiding memory of the time being driving up and down the M5 for weeks on end, working nightshifts and sleeping in my old bunk-bed back at the family home.
The car pulled away from Truro Crematorium, and we headed toward home in silence. I forget who in the front seat – either my brother or my sister – turned on the radio just to do something about the deathly atmosphere, but it was tuned to the local FM station and this song:
The Verve – The Drugs Don't Work
"Stop. Stop the car."
We pulled into a lay-by, and cried and cried. I still blub a bit when I hear this song, but turn it to happier memories. It was a sad, heart-wrenching time in my life, but now, ten years on, I've learned to remember the past and not live in it.
Happy birthday, mum.
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