We had the funeral today for Clare's gran Joan Elliott. It has been a long day but all went well.
I had not planned to have the whole day off, I intended to be in work this morning, but number 2's cough has been hanging around a bit too long, so I took him to the doctor this morning. We thought it was connected with chickenpox, but that has gone and the cough is still hanging around. It's hard to get a doctor's appointment (you have to call when it opens and cross your fingers) so we had to make the call at about eight this morning that if I was going to work we would not also be able to take him to the doctor, so I stayed home. Clare got us an appointment and I took him in. And all is fine, yes he has a cough but it's viral, his breathing and heart rate and temperature was all OK so nothing to worry about.
The rest of the morning before the funeral we just played really. Couldn't get ready too early for the funeral for fear of little one sicking up on our good clothes.
As expected we were in a rush in the final few minutes heading off to the funeral. First there was a service at the care home Clare's Gran had been living in, then there was to be another service at the crematorium, then there was a wake at Broom Park1. The first phase was a full catholic mass, so I sat this one out with number one son and nephew Elliott while everyone else went in. Not being disrespectful or anything but everyone agreed it was best if the kids did not have to sit politely through an hour of "and also with you" religious call and response. So, we went to Kearsney Abbey park for a bit of a play and then some hot chocolates in the cafe there. That was the plan anyway, the park went well but the cafe was closed, so mostly we tried to entertain each other in the cold. We looked at swans and coots and squirrels and threw sticks in the water, but it dragged a bit while the mass was going on. Then when the first service was over we had a super rush to stage two.
The next bit at the crematorium was my first glimpse at the rest of the family. It was a nice service, three of the cousins did a reading and it was nice, and also very short.
The final phase was at Broome Park1 golf and country club and things, a very nice place that we have passed many times on our way to and from Canterbury but have never looked in. Clare tells me we thought about it for our own wedding but it was discarded very early on because of the early curfew (I don't remember it being on the list). It's a great looking place, makes me want to play golf. The room we had was nice, just right for the number of people we had. The thoughts in the room were of Clare's Gran, and also "we should get together more often under happier circumstances" of course. I didn't realise the place was home to Kitchener, there is a plaque and everything. It's a great looking place, lots of oak panelling and so on, ridiculous to think of it ever being a house. The bar looked lovely at first glance, but at a closer look there was surprisingly no real ale. Did not go in anyway, I was driving and never planned to drink. We did stay later than expected, I thought I was going to bring number two son back early but as it happened it all ended quite quickly. Not like some other wakes I have been to.
I might not have written quite so much about today, but TWO people mentioned this blog today. Two of Clare's cousins (Hello Lisa and Mark) mentioned that they'd found this site while looking for something else. I should give more thought to this sort of thing, sometimes give more context to the things I am writing, and also put more effort into the family history side of things.
I hear there is another funeral being planned this week. Whatever.
Paul Clarke's weblog - I live in A small town, Kent. Wed and dad to two, I am a full stack web developr, + I do js / Node, some ruby, python, php ect ect. I like pubs, running, eating, home-automation and other diy stuff, history, tree stuff, TV, squirrels, pirates, lego, + TIME TRAVEL.