Today I help carry to his grave a small and angry man. He abused his children when they were young, manipulated and demeaned them as adults. He was the pope of his own exacting and graceless religion, not having darkened the door of an actual church in a half-century. He would arrive in heaven believing it was his due, with a thing or two to say to God about the management of the universe.

May his ancestors work him over. May his children find peace.

As Rachel said, all the choices of his life led to the loneliness of his death. Live so as to be missed.

The new job has me working on Black Friday for the first time in a quarter-century. (This is adequately offset by the addition of a few bank holidays to my calendar.) Going to be a quiet day people-wise but I’m covering for a couple of co-workers so I should be busy. Headphones on, music up.

Rachel’s parents have a really cool limestone clock carved by Rachel’s great-grandfather. The timepiece is from a car of the era. Family lore says he used a hammer and screwdriver because it’s the only tools he had.

All week long I’ve been looking forward to organizing and cleaning the garage today. So what are your “boring old man” weekend plans?

The general consensus used to be (here in America) that the Christmas season began the day after Thanksgiving. As with so many other consensi, that is dead. Apparently it now begins the day after Halloween. By the time I retire it’ll probably begin mid-summer.

Thyme and cabbage soup on the fire

Final trick or treater count!

Rachel says happy Halloween