this is the bench in anna's parents' garden in woodend where i sat after i heard about marcel's death. we had just flown home from tokyo after five weeks of european winter, it was the coldest winter in europe for twelve years. marcel hated winter.
my friend marcel brand took his own life. but this is the wrong term. it is not 'your' life to take. it belongs equally to your family, friends, to all those around you.
everyone was devastated.
i wrote a eulogy, as the news was coming in about more than a hundred people dying in the bushfires of black saturday 2009 in the south - but in the end it was decided to have just music at the service so it wasn't needed. but writing it was cathartic for me, and it enabled me to think in terms of moving on.