Annie was a great organizer of people especially, but also of events and family holidays and sightseeing. We had some fantastic times and very happy memories of those holidays and trips and the people we socialized with. 

One day as we mixed drinks for our visitors she said 'that's water', referring to the bottle of gin. Okay so I had to ask our visitors to change drinks. Annie said she drank the gin and replaced it with water. I was concerned but life went on. 

Then there was an empty whisky bottle in the back of a cupboard. Then there were more empty bottles as Annie tried to hide the evidence. 

Annie was a big character. She had a strong constitution, a very strong mind and the personality to get her through. Her mind was very sharp and she could digest books more than any other person I have known. She was almost encyclopedic and a lot of people went to her for advice, information or just a good chat and a lot of fun. But inside the great exterior, the pressures were building as a provider and she could not release it. She always claimed to be an introvert although she appeared the perfect outgoing host. The pressure to deliver was overtaking her. 

The drinking got worse and became 24 7. Neat spirits straight from the bottle. Small water bottles were secreted round the apartment but were full of vodka. 

I told her she was an alcoholic. I looked up some local support. I reached out to her closest friends. Annie felt she was in control and would not take any support. She blamed it on possible childhood issues and our relationship. There is some truth in that but she still felt she could control it and it was not an issue. She could not. 

The girls were now 3 years from the end of junior school and had never lived in the country of their citizenship - the UK. We increasingly wanted them to be 'acclimatized' to the UK way of living and we enrolled them in school in the UK and planned to move gradually back there.  

However at that age they were picking up the problems and I felt the drinking was affecting them. Annie did not agree. Life went on, the move went on.