My name is Anil. I live near Staines in Middlesex, and I’ve been writing this blog, Shout Your Head Off, on and off since 2013. It started as a place to say the things I couldn’t say out loud. It still is.
Where I came from
I arrived in the UK from Jinja, Uganda in 1972 — I was a teenager, and we came with very little. I started work at fifteen and a half (I may have told them I was sixteen). I spent 35 years working for the same company, British Airways, which became my second family. I’m proud of that.
I married the love of my life and we spent 40 wonderful years together. We raised two children, travelled, laughed, and built a life I was deeply grateful for.
The hard years
In 2007, I was diagnosed with cancer. I didn’t tell many people at the time — I was too busy holding everything together for my family. I got through it, but it changed me.
Around the same time, my wife began to show signs of serious illness. Over the years that followed, I became her full-time carer. Watching someone you love decline, day by day, while trying to keep smiling and going to work — it takes something from you that doesn’t come back easily. She passed away in August 2019. I lost my eldest sister eight months later, during the first Covid lockdown. There was no proper goodbye.
In January 2021, I contracted Covid-19 and spent 10 days in an isolation ward. It was the loneliest, most frightening experience of my life. Three patients on my ward didn’t make it home. I did.
Getting back up
When I was discharged, I could barely climb the stairs without getting breathless. I made myself a promise: I was going to get my life back.
I started walking. First around the house, then around the garden, then to the local park. I joined the Windsor and District Ramblers, and suddenly I was out every week — through the Thames Valley, across Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, into the New Forest — surrounded by people, fresh air, and the particular joy of discovering places I’d never known existed.
I’ve since completed a 10,000-steps-a-day challenge for Marie Curie Cancer Care and taken on the Diabetes UK 1 Million Steps Challenge. I’ve been a diabetic since 1992, and getting those numbers under control has been one of the most satisfying battles of my life.
Why I write
Writing is how I process things. I’m not always good at talking — as you’ll read if you spend any time here — but I can write. This blog has been my outlet, my diary, and sometimes my therapy.
If any of it resonates with you — if you’ve been through illness, loss, or just the relentless grind of keeping going — then you’re in the right place. You’re not alone, and neither am I.
New here? Head to my Start Here page for a guide to the best posts.
ShoutYourHeadOff 