I would like to return this week...

[julesjones]

...because it is unfit for purpose.

Today: checked the BBC website over lunch and found that Iain (M) Banks is terminally ill. I don't know him as a person, but some of my friends do. And yes -- big fan of his work, I was looking forward to the chance of seeing him on panels at Eastercon in Glasgow and Worldcon in London next year. I'm gutted that I won't get the chance to do so because he almost certainly won't be with us by next Easter.

Yesterday: found out from LJ that Eris took the black dog for that last walk on Saturday/Sunday. I didn't know her as other than a familiar face from cons over the last few years, and I don't think I spoke to her more than half a dozen times. But again, she was a friend of friends. And I can't help thinking that the Daily Heil has at least a little of her blood on its hands, even if they never targeted her personally for the twin crimes of being different and being poor.

Last week: watched Terry Pratchett's documentary following up on the orang-utans. And Terry *is* someone I know. Not well, but as someone who used to hang out in the same places online that I did. I hadn't seen him, either at cons or on tv, since the physical symptoms of the Alzheimer's became obvious. Watching what it's done to him... hurts.

One face I will never see at a con again, one I almost certainly won't, one I probably won't if his health gets much worse. This week is very much not fit for purpose.

Comments

[lonemagpie.livejournal.com]

"took the black dog for a last walk" - I like that...

[daibhid-c.livejournal.com]

Terry's health, at least, seems to be coming and going. He looked worse in a 2011 interview on Sky Arts than he did at the 2012 convention.

[julesjones]

It's the nature of the beast. But I'd missed his various tv appearances over the last three or four years, and not seen him at cons, so last week was the first time I got a good look at what it's doing to his mobility/dexterity. Which I knew about at an intellectual level, because someone else I know has that form of Alzheimer's, and I've been hearing about the spacial disorientation and so on -- but only hearing about it, not seeing it, until now.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

No, definitely not a good week. There seems to be nothing but sad or upsetting news everywhere.