Three things in the tidy-up. I wasn’t going to write about the first item but I find I have to:
1. Two days ago I was told that today there might be a Press Association release about the Assisted Dying Bill that is going through Parliament at the moment, with the Second Reading in the Lords on 22 October. I was asked if I would allow a reference to me, including my hope to go to Dignitas in the not-too-distant. The campaign charity Dignity in Dying felt that something about my story would help, so I said yes. Yesterday I sent some documents to Dignitas, to get the approval of the Swiss Authorities. I wasn’t intending to put anything in the blog till I had their reply, but given the possible press release today I didn’t want you to read it there without any mention here. So that’s why it’s here.
2. The 245 blog posts (so far) have jumped to and fro in describing different events and stories in my life. Occasionally I’m asked about a chronological timeline so that friends can put them in order. I’ll do that shortly. It might be easier in a ‘Timeline’ tab at the top.
3. At various times friends have also asked about the blog after I’m gone. Will it disappear? How can they keep a record? The answer is that Tim will keep it online as now, available to everyone, for some years.
That’s all. Just some tidying up.
Thank you for what you are doing David, I hope that you find peace and a respite from your suffering.
Your blog has been a blessing, as your friendship has been, for all of us. Many thanks to Tim for this service, and for his wonderful care for you.
I have been delving into your post David, and I now know from the content that you are indeed the David Peace that I knew in Dhahran at the English Language School, TSI… I have enjoyed reading about your period in Libya and Sudan…. I had forgotten all about that. You left Saudi Arabia 2-years after I did. I never went back, becoming fully immersed in my new life of study and research!!! MA, M.Litt, PhD (Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Linköping) and also at the Swedish Institute for International Affairs…. new career in libraries/archives, latterly at Edinburgh University Library, and in a settled life… Successful book publication in 2019… ‘Swedish foreign policy, 1809-2019: a comprehensive modern history’… Enough about me… I was alerted to your current story by an article in the ‘Scotsman’…You have such great courage… I have been much aware of MND as Doddie Weir has had a high profile locally…
Yes, it’s me Graeme. I expected you’d check the blog. Good to hear from you. It’s been 35 years! And thanks for the update on your life and career. Most impressive. Best wishes.
Thank you… The decades pass in a flash yes… and yet some things take just so long… I refer of course to changes to the law for assisted dying. I am minded also of Margo MacDonald (who had Parkinson’s) and her right-to-die campaign… just so long… ‘The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind small’…