V. R.

@kayc, how is the fire situation? I hope everything is OK with you. Our rainstorms weren't so bad as predicted, but I'm so sorry for the tragic flooding in other areas.

I agree totally here, I'm in my 50s too, was 53 when I lost my soulmate almost two years ago and he was only 57. I also agree with your 'never say never", but not in this case, at least not for me. My husband is still my husband, always will be, my wedding ring will stay on my finger forever and I wear his ring on a gold chain around my neck. I can't imagine giving my heart to anyone else, have no desire to, anyway. Still, we are all different, so I won't absolutely judge anyone who doesn't share my feelings.

How shocking for you Chocolate , I am ever so sorry you have had to go through this. Wishing you all the peace and comfort in the world.

What a lovely job you have Boho, must give you so much satisfaction, I do hope you get back to helping all those wonderful children very soon. They need you and you must have such a great relationship with them, I'm sure they're missing you.

That's me. Always putting on a brave face in front of everyone and then breaking down when I'm back on my own. I actually prefer my own company now, or with my son and daughter, as I feel even more lonely when I'm among people. Ours isn't loneliness in the sense that we want to be with people, we want our soulmates back! I feel awkward being in this world without my soulmate, as if just half of me is present, everyone is a complete stranger to me and I don't wish to interact or have any interest to communicate with them, unless it's someone who has also lost a soulmate. I only feel free to pour out my heartache here on this site, where everyone can relate and understand.

Thank you Karen. No, fortunately, not near me. I'm in the southern part (Campania region), we are expecting heavy rain tonight and tomorrow, we're on 'yellow' alert, better than 'orange' or 'red', hope it stays that way.

I hope this means that your area has become safer now and will be able to stay in your home, peacefully. We have the opposite problem here, heavy rainstorms all over the country, destructive flooding in Central Italy with at least 10 fatalities. According to our meteorologists, this weekend of severe weather conditions will mark the end of our Summer, temperatures dropping drastically! Very unusual, considering that Summer started late this year. We still had our fireplace in use in May! Are we really going through climate change? 😕

I was from North London, was born and grew up there, but had always held a special love for Italy, my parents' birthplace (they had emigrated to the UK in the 60s,like so many others did in those yrs, a lot went to the States). Thanks to them, I now have the privilege of speaking both languages, I've now been living here now for almost 30 yrs, a few more than I actually spent in UK. I would never go back to living there, I love this place, I met my husband here, created our family here, our house, our life. My heart is here and always will be. I remember that, at least in the environment I lived in, there wasn't much interest in the royals, but no negativeness either, they were just there, part of the State, accepted by all, didn't do us any harm, so I have nothing against them. Diana was special, she really was the 'people's princess'. I am proud to have my roots in such a civilised country, if there's one thing I miss, it's their efficiency, and punctuality too. I can understand how your dear wife would have been glued to the screen now, I admit I was too at first. Our Queen was an icon, a real example of how a great monarch should behave,incomparable and unsurmountable.

Ah, forse quando l'ho detto in altri post precedenti, in altri thread, è capitato che non eri online. Comunque, complimenti anche a te, si vede che hai imparato molto bene l'inglese.

It's ok to be anti-royalist but if the UK were to abolish the monarchy, they would need a Head of the Republic like we have in Italy, wouldn't it still be tremendously expensive for the country? The Quirinale costs about 240million euros a year to run, I think I read once. We also have one additional very costly institution (The Pope). Nothing against them, of course, it's just an example that one way or another, we may not agree on how the State spends money from the taxes that it receives from us. Anyway, it wasn't my intention to start a political thread, obviously. Just wanted to pay my respects to the Queen, a change of an era, allowing others, if they wish, to do the same. I did spend the first 26 years of my life in London, so I do understand how the population must feel now, she was literally 'part of the furniture'. It's difficult to imagine UK without her and I must confess, I don't find Charles particularly 'simpatico' (nice/pleasant?),but he is the new King, so God bless the King.

Oh, how terrible. So sorry you're going through this, I deeply hope it won't come to that, please let keep us informed. Thinking of you,fingers crossed.

It's just that the majority of the British population have known only her as monarch of their country, since she reigned for 70 years, so it's as if a piece of the UK has gone with her, just like we feel a part of us (an enormous part of ourselves went away with the loss of our soulmates). She also had to put up with a lot of family disruptions during her life, just like us 'normal' people, seeing all her children going through marital separations, her husband constantly being unfaithful,but still demonstrated the British 'stiff upper lip', and didn't let all that chaos disrupt her loyalty and commitment,fulfilling her role, but God only knows how she was feeling really. Let's not forget, she was only 25 when she lost her father suddenly, about the same age as my children, couldn't have been easy for her. Obviously we are all entitled to express our own opinions with regards. Also, in recent years, she had become that dear little old great-grandma, who was still mentally lucid (of course, her comfortable, privileged life had influenced this), yet was still present for her people, ignoring gossip that she should abdicate and pass the throne to her son. I think it's admirable that she insisted on carrying out her duties until the end, or at least until her mental state permitted her to do so. We can see this from the fact that only 4 days ago she had met newly elected Liz Truss to appoint her as Prime Minister. There are so many non-monarchists among the British, that's for sure, who literally detest the royals, I remember that when I lived in London, but even they held a special admiration only for the Queen herself, and not the rest of the family. In the media there has been so much speculation about the bruises on her hand while greeting Liz Truss. Of course, she was 96! We all know that amongst other medical reasons, bruises on hands can appear spontaneously at that age (my FIL is 85 and has them). P. S. Maybe Roxi was referring to the fact that millions of children can't go to school because of lack of financial possibilities?

Hope everything goes well for you Kay.

Our last photo of Her Majesty.

Being British born, I thought I would dedicate a new thread to the longest reigning monarch who has just died peacefully at her Balmoral home, with all her family by her side. A unique person who carried out her royal duties right until the end. An example to us all.

So true. That's exactly it, Gwen, I admire you for your fighting spirit and determination to get things done, the problem is not you, it's at the other end of the line. You're providing all the necessary input, but you're getting no feedback. Hope things get better for you.

We saw what's going on in California and other states just yesterday on the news. We thought, there we go again, every Summer, these poor people have to go through this nightmare. We usually have this problem in many parts of the country, we've had to call the fire brigade more than once in past years, as the fires were so close to our house, but not this year. This year we've been submerged by rain, I was actually saying the other day that the only advantage of this is that we haven't had these devastating fires. Kayc and Nashreed, I'm sorry you're experiencing this hell, I hope it all calms down soon, not causing too much damage, above all, I hope no more fatalities and injuries. I suppose, Covid face masks may be useful now when you need to go out in that air full of smoke.

So sorry you're not feeling too good. Is it possible that you caught something during your trip? Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Totally agree with you all. The pain just gets deeper and deeper every day, I constantly have flashbacks in my mind of those fairytale first days when we first met. He was, actually still is, and always will be my 'knight in shining armour'. 😔

Sacrosanct words from both of you. Totally agree. Like you Sad_Widower, my kids who are also in their twenties are my life, my reason to live, a part of me and my husband, but that love and understanding you reach with your soulmate is absolutely unique, unchallengeable, inviolable, a rarity, something to cherish and yes, I am grateful for having experienced this in my life, but also yes, I am angry that it has been snatched away from me so soon, leaving me hovering in this world, not knowing what to with myself. I am what I am thanks to the love of my soulmate, have learned so much from him about life. I find comfort now realising that I actually think like he did now, when making decisions, thinking about what's best and what isn't, in particular problematic situations. My daughter, especially, has inherited all his wisdom, intellect, creativity, tenacity. When I met my husband I was one of those people completely lacking in self-esteem, at 27,seeing everyone else within my circle of friends and relatives already either married or in a steady relationship, I felt like an oddity, out of place and had lost hope of ever meeting the 'right' person. Then he came along, I was still skeptical at first, didn't believe he could ever really love someone like me, that I could be worthy of his love (like I've read in other posts on this site), I was just a simple girl, compared to him. Within nine months we were married and expecting our first child. The first time he said he loved me and wanted a future with me, I thought I was dreaming, was on 'seventh heaven', no one had ever pronounced those words to me and I didn't think I'd ever get to hear them.

I relate to all of this, I seem to have been 'alienated' by those few people I talked to before. Apart from my immediate family members, I literally don't exist. I also hear about people asking about me but I've never seen these people or even heard from them since that day my whole world was turned upside down. My mum asked me the other day if I'd been contacted by a cousin of mine who had phoned her from London, to ask for my phone number. No, I haven't! That was about a year ago, now. People seem to be afraid to talk to me, they seem to think that I don't want to be disturbed, that I just want to isolate and keep my thoughts to myself. Ok, that may be the case most of the time but who are they to judge? They should make an effort anyway to approach me. In a way I don't really care, I just want my husband back, but on the other hand, I feel so bitter about this and also offended in honour of my darling soulmate. My FIL has had visitors/phonecalls from my husband's relatives, but he didn't live with his father! My husband lived with US, wife and two children, in our house, together 24 hours a day(he and his father didn't even get on, hadn't seen each other for ages!!). WE three are the ones who saw my beloved suddenly leave this world prematurely, WE are suffering and struggling like crazy, nobody seems to care. I'm not usually one to bear a grudge, but not this time. I've become tougher, that's for sure.

I have no words to say how sorry I am for you, Gwen. You seem to feel worse than you did before your surgery, this is so unfair. I won't say I understand, as we all know here, only others who have gone through the same, can relate to how you're feeling right now, but we are all here to listen to you. I don't know how it works in your health system, but a patient dismissed from hospital/rehab who has not acquired full physical movement yet, should be entitled to at least 3/4 sessions a week of home PT. I'm sorry you're still having difficulty getting all the help you need. A hug to you, take care.

I'm sitting here this afternoon, yet again, listening to and watching our daily storms, which we've been having almost every day for the past month! The wettest August in our history, I'm sure.

Oh, Karen, I could feel the tears filling my eyes while reading your sad words. You have had to go through so much, losing your darling daughter too, my heart and thoughts go out to you. Sending you a virtual hug. Enza.

This is such a sweet post, remembering how your wife was good at helping you pack your suitcase and fold your shirts. My husband loved the way I always folded his shirts after I'd washed and ironed them, placing them neatly in the drawer. Yes, I have thought about how he would have coped if I had left first. Apart from the 'shirt folding', my darling soulmate was able to manage any type of job around the house, he was a real 'do it all', D. I. Y. man, nothing he couldn't do or fix himself. Emotionally, I just can't imagine the devastation, and definitely would not have wanted him to go through this agony I'm going through, being only in our fifties. I can't tell you how much maintenance in my house that needs to be done, everything seems to be suddenly breaking, I just don't know where to turn first.