Thanks, everyone

Your words of kindness and comfort mean a lot to me. I'm not ready yet to go back to making Bobby posts, but I thought I'd tell you a bit about how the family support system kicked in.

I was due to visit my cousin in the New Forest, but she was very understanding when I had to change the date so that I could keep Henry's vet appointment, and even more so when I thought I might not make it at all because he was so ill. So when I lost him, she was happy to invite me down for the day to help me get away from the sadness.

She and her husband had great plans for our day, but en route to our lunch destination, we were caught in a huge traffic tailback, obviously caused by an accident. We turned around to take another route, then realised that the white mist in front of their lovely BMW was actually not the exhaust from the car in front, but their car overheating. We cruised back to their house, and while her husband waited for the RAC (rescue service) my cousin and I walked into the village to find some lunch.

When we returned, the engineer had arrived, and was preparing to tow the car to the dealership to replace the damaged radiator. We spent the afternoon chatting and reminiscing, and watching the birdlife in her garden. Unfortunately we could not look through the photos of her son's wedding last week (a very small, immediate family affair, as the bride's mother recently died) since all those who took pictures had then immediately gone off on jaunts to various parts of the globe.

Of course, with no car, it was not going to be possible for them to drive me back to the railway station in Southampton, which is about a 30-minute drive away. Luckily, their son runs the local Ferrarri and Maserati dealership, and he turned up with this amazing car to take me there in style:

This is a Maserati Quattroporte S luxury sports saloon.

It costs a cool £95,000!

I'm so grateful to my cousin and her family for taking me out of myself for the day.