My gran,

who had been in hospital for the last four months or so, died on Friday morning. It wasn't expected that she'd live beyond Wednesday night but in the end she was tougher than that and held on for a little longer.

I got a phone call on Thursday night saying, basically, that this was the penultimate one about my gran's condition that I should expect to get. I got the final one about 10.30 the next morning at work, from my Dad.

My family are innocents as far as this diary is concerned, so I'll keep them out of it. Suffice it to say that by now everyone is doing okay, apart from a little drama with an in-law which staggers me: how anyone could be thinking purely of themselves at a time like this is almost beyond belief, but thankfully it's been defused now. By my Mum of all people, who really shouldn't have to be dealing with stuff like this at the moment, but there you go...

Anyway, I wanted to say thanks to everyone who has been about for the past few days. The Tiny Monkeys' emails made a truly gash day at work on Friday more bearable. Kate, who was around for only a few hours the evening before and the day after, managed to keep me on the straight and narrow by being in the right places at the right times and saying just the right things. Also she made me laugh when my mind didn't know which way to turn, and that made things easier.

Josh, Neil, Jeff and Devon kept me occupied on Saturday night when I got back from Fife and handled my occasional bouts of ire and quietness as they always do: by prodding me with gentle mockery and buying me a pint. Which, incidentally, were exactly the right things to do. I wouldn't have taken being handled with kid gloves very well.

I'm feeling curiously okay now. I think having witnessed my gran's decline over the months - and especially after a CT scan made it apparent that this was something she wouldn't be recovering from - I understood what was going to happen a long time ago, and had time to come to terms with it gradually. The past couple of days have just been the final part of something longer. The funeral is on Thursday, and it'll be good to say goodbye properly and close the door on everything.

Normal service will be resumed shortly.