the way back - nervous breakdown and all that

It’s been a while since I have written about the usual themes of this blog. My father’s death gave way to an extended wave of self-reflection and processing There is still plenty of processing to do, but other concerns have come to the surface again. Last night, I was categorising the basic negative milestones of the past five years: 1)     toxic culture established at my previous school, 2)     victimisation for standing up to a sociopathic head, 3)     nervous breakdown, 4)     pandemic and ensuing lockdown (hardly alone there!) 5)     whistleblowing (turned down), 6)     dodgy allegation, 7)     further whistleblowing (again turned down), 8)     proposed academisation of my current school, 9)     ongoing whistleblowing (still to be taken up),   The never-ending whistleblowing... On numerous occasions, friends have told m...

Dad died last Friday in the early hours of the morning. He died peacefully. He was allowed a dignified death. His nearest and dearest were all able to spend time with him before he went. There were some undeniably beautiful moments that took place over those last days. Even though there were no visible reactions from Dad, I would like to think that some of our conversations with/about him, the music we played, the laughter and tears were able to reach him somehow. Obviously I would like to think that. Who wouldn’t? He was a beautiful dignified human being. He was owed this demonstration of love, friendship and respect. And thank Christ, he was able to leave us peacefully after being battered by Alzheimer’s for the best part of a decade. We lost him slowly and irretrievably. A cruel disease to him. A cruel disease to us. For years, he was still with us and yet he wasn’t. The long goodbye indeed. Anyway, this piece of writing is a celebration of Dad. We loved and respecte...