Thank you for downloading this program from the BBC. I'm Christopher de Belleg and this is a life alone.

It's an exploration of loneliness told through a conversation with one woman, my 94 year old aunt, Diana.

I raped all this the other day.

Look at all the pine needles now.

I guess that's from the wind we had. Are you okay with that rake?

Yeah. No, no, I like it. I much rather do these things. You should be putting your feet up and

having a cup of tea on time. That'll come later.

I was born in front.

I was born in 1924 in London. I was one of five children. The oldest was George. The second

well was John. Then I came and then Michael and then Sylvia the youngest.

My mother.

Mm-hmm.

Sylvia definitely was the favorite. I remember you when you came to visit us in England when I was

very small and the most amazing thing about you then was here was my aunt

arriving from Canada smoking a pipe.

Yes, my uncle was horrified.

I just remember you when I was sitting in a chair.

I went to get up and I was probably 60.

You were furious that I'd come to help you out of your chair.

Yes, like an old lady. Well, she's a mere 94 years old now, my aunt Diana, and I at roughly half her age am trying to

recover all the insight I can from the elder of my family her shoulders round and

muscular from pitching hay in eternity ago her cheeks scored like the bark of a Douglas fur.

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