A Coal Miner's Daughter

At about 8pm on Monday night we received the dreaded news that Pauline's dad, Dan Jones, had passed away in Glan Clwyd Hospital.

In a few hours from now we're leaving Australia and heading home. Arriving at tea time on Thursday, U.K. time.

We both knew that a moment like this would come, but, however you steel yourself for it, you can never be prepared. Dan had been ill, on and off, since his heart attack and subsequent retirement a good while back, but he's been hanging in there without complaint ever since.

He was a good man. A family man. A son, a brother, a husband, a father and grandfather. He was a gentleman and a gentle man. He mined coal for all his working life, put food on the table and raised his kids the best he could.

And I know that Pauline was proud to be this coal miner's daughter.