As the anniversary of losing our dear Kev loomed, I wondered how deep the pit of mourning would become as I recalled the anguish of allwoing his life to end.  But in the event we had a very lucky break, after a chance meeting at a party.  A man with a Jack Russell was also invited, and of course I could not resist getting to know the cute animal.  It turns out that he adopted the dog, Trixie, a couple of months ago but he had plans to travel to Belfast for Christmas.  The procedures for taking an animal across the water are long and convoluted, and Trixie did not possess a pet passport.  I could not resist offering to care for Trixie over the holiday, and she arrived on 16th December.  As she sat by my desk and I looked at the photos of Kev on my custom mouse pads the pain was just a little bit less than it has been through the whole year.