a former colleague dies. When I moved to China almost 2 years ago, Chris Tacchi came here too to teach Business Studies.

Anyhow, last year she was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer, moved back to the Gambia (in all honesty she was "let go", but I don't think she minded) and died in April.

This might sound callous, but I'm not altogether surprised. Cancer of the oesophagus is bad in itself, and it's near a bunch of veins and arteries that are significant, so I imagine secondary cancers are possible. I spoke to my family (a bunch of whom are medical doctors), and after I described certain things, the general consensus was "She's f***ed."

What does irritate me was a response I got from a colleague Chris and I worked with. Now this colleague texts me a lot. I've had texts from her telling me everything from how nice a cinema she went to was, to asking me things I had no idea of the answer to (like asking why the last person out of the office didn't turn the lights off). I tend not to reply to those sort of texts, because, let's face it, what can I say? Don't just say the first thing that comes into your head. We really don't need a running commentary on everything, I believe. In short, say something when you can usefully add to a conversation, otherwise, shut the f*** up.

Anyhow, I was getting my haircut this evening, and left my phone at home. A few minutes after I got home, my phone beeped saying I'd been texted. I looked and found I'd got 2 texts from this teacher. I checked the most recently received first, and it told me in effect that "all men are bastards, real men would respond when they got bad news."

Checking the first text, I found out she was telling me Chris was dead.

I'm irritated because my colleague clearly sees me as a heartless bastard, who doesn't give a f*** (and not someone who might be tied up at the moment she texted). Trust me, I know I can seem a bit direct sometimes, but even I can see that a death requires a comment.