Thank you all so much for all the kind cards and emails

I want to start my column this month by thanking you all so much for all the kind cards and emails I have received following the death of my sister Fiona. Your support has been so comforting and I thank you all so very much.

I am not back at work yet, so I thought I would update you all on my plans.  I return to Scotland this week to spend some time with my family and recharge my batteries.  But I will be back.

How could I stay away? I love the paper and how well respected it is in the community. It makes me very proud to say I am part of it. So please be nice to Shane while I am away and if he seems a little bit more grumpy than usual, cut him some slack. He’s got a lot on his plate!

This experience has taught me a lot but I have always been a great believer that something good always comes out of something bad – like when I broke my wrist when I was 22. I was so upset. I had a big night out planned with my girlfriends and I was devastated, not to mention sore. So all my friends went out and I went to casualty feeling very sorry for myself.  

Where is the good in that I hear you say?  Well I ended up out the following weekend on a date with the doctor who bandaged my wrist up and my girlfriends were so jealous!

So every bad has some good in it trust me, and good friends are worth so much. Look after them. But there is another thing I learned that surprised me.  Gin doesn’t cure everything no matter how much you drink.  Shocking isn’t it?  And believe me, I’ve done the research!