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Articles by William Byford

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About William Byford

A partner in an international firm of loss adjusters, William is a keen blogger and member of the internet community. More Posts

A cross to bear

Family obligations such as visiting an ageing relative can sometimes be strange and double-edged experiences. Ordinarily, being all part of life’s rich tapestry, they are undertaken freely and willingly out of both filial duty and the commendable urge to spend time with the individual concerned [...]

February 25, 2019 // 0 Comments

On being plugged into civilisation

Sometimes simple things please simple minds and today I’m going to hold my hand up and plead guilty. After five weeks with a blow-heater in the drawing room being my mainly/only source of warmth – and beginning from a situation where, with the recent New Year cold snap in full swing and both my [...]

February 23, 2019 // 0 Comments

On the taking of advice

Earlier this week my daughter Grace came to stay for a couple of nights because she is currently attending three day’s worth of lectures etc. in central London for would-be solicitors – this in slightly strange circumstances for two quite different reasons. Firstly, she originally took the [...]

January 23, 2019 // 0 Comments

Some days are better than others

These past few days I have been spending time with my ageing father and his resident carer at his home on the south coast. He has reached a stage in life where his appreciation of what is going on is necessarily restricted by his physical and mental frailties notwithstanding the fact that those [...]

January 19, 2019 // 0 Comments

It’s that time of year again

Probably as a form of defence mechanism, or alternatively an easy stock manner of beginning a conversation, in response to any incoming “How are you?” query on the phone or in person my aged father would habitually reply “I’m alive”. Elsewhere – e.g. upon meeting or being introduced [...]

January 12, 2019 // 0 Comments

Family times

They say that simple things please simple minds. Over time the Byfords, who love playing parlour games such as Name In The Hat, a variation of it – sometimes known as Who Am I? – in which everyone is issued with a ‘sticky’ on their forehead on which is written the name of a [...]

January 3, 2019 // 0 Comments

An ongoing exchange

I am sometimes harbour misgivings about ‘reporting from the frontline’ upon my experiences of dealing with my aged father who needs live-in care assistance – but not necessarily for the reasons you might think. I was chatting to a Rust colleague the other day about the motivations that [...]

December 26, 2018 // 0 Comments

What goes around, comes around

I could not but smile as I read my colleague Arthur Nelson’s post yesterday [The Problem With Oldies, 8th December] because it illustrated one, perhaps extreme, angle on the world of those of us ‘beyond a certain age’. However, it is not the only one. If you hold to the view – as I do – [...]

December 9, 2018 // 0 Comments

A tale of two crossings

Earlier this week on the same day I was involved in an incident – or rather two – at the traffic lights within 75 yards of my abode which may or may not sum up the way this country is going at the moment. Let me set the scene. For the past fortnight or more – and certainly the foreseeable [...]

October 19, 2018 // 0 Comments

A flying visit

Families – nothing surprises you. Last Saturday I was minding my own business in the relaxed ‘newspapers & morning TV’ post-breakfast period when my smartphone rang on my computer table, causing me to utter my habitual “Oh, for ^”@*s sake! Why can’t people leave me alone?!” It was [...]

September 17, 2018 // 0 Comments

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