Yes, I sometimes talk to my late father, and since I live alone there's no-one but the walls to hear me. I have many of his things around me, and those of my mother and maternal grandparents; all long-gone of course.

My garden has lots of plants my father planted; it was his garden really! In the front is a huge rosemary bush that grew from a cutting from my maternal grandfather's garden. It's top-heavy and half-blocks a path but I don't have the heart to remove it. He was a farm labourer and a skilled gardener who grew lots of fruit, veg and flowers.

When Dad died, my sister bought me a cider gum (eucalyptus gunnii) tree, which is now asserting itself with gusto. He was Australian and I think he'd have liked a gum tree there, in front of his sprawling grapevine.