end of a decade

Happy New Decade!!
For me this has been a momentous ten years.
Triumph and tragedy in unequal measure.
Been given two wonderful, beautiful grandsons, Tobias and William.
I've lost both my parents, my younger brother John and my oldest friend in this emotional roller-coaster decade.
Attended three immediate family funerals and read two eulogies.

Discovered the waste, sadness and destruction of cocaine and alcohol addiction.
Discovered the unmitigated hell and social disgrace that is 'care homes'. Or for those of a more delicate disposition 'God's waiting room'.
Left my 'bricks and mortar' business behind me and sued £55k by my greedy landlords for the privilege: finally settled this year.
Paid off my mortgage this year and Toby's Millfield school fees ( with interest £80 big ones) which must make him the most educated builder in the UK.
I've also found the internet. And has not only changed the world and how we connect with each other and function but drastically changed my own business and personal life. My business is now solely online whereas at the start of this decade it was predominantly 'bricks and mortar'.
The internet has also given me three marriage proposals and several serious relationships. I've been using online dating sites for years. They hold no fear or stigma for me, I'm not unattractive or boring. Which is the usual 'given' in these things. And met so many different types of people from heart surgeons to film directors. So as a hard core Gemini personality ie Schizoid, this diversity suits and fascinates me.
At the start of the new millennium I was with Alan who hailed from Shropshire. It was he who was responsible for the learning and setting up of my website - who in turn patiently taught me - now in it's tenth year. How ahead of the game we were back then. Even the likes of Tesco didn't have an online presence back then. So a big thank you, Alan, wherever you are.
Then I met John who lives in beautiful Hampshire, without him life would have been so much more difficult, as he was hugely responsible for the building of the new showroom for my business as shown on my site www.llph.co.uk/my_home.htm So likewise John and big thank you to you too.
Last and by all means least, comes Marcus Forster, an alcoholic, over-privileged, dysfunctional, ex-public schoolboy loser/failure. He drinks for an Insurance Broker in the city.