Sad day

Only a small amount of standing room left today at Medway Crem when we met to see off a friend of a friend.  There are 48 seats in the chapel, and there were fully double that number of mourners.  Colin had had seven years of remission following a first bone marrow transplant, but the assault on his immune system for the second one left him vulnerable to an infection that carried him off, aged 60.  Derry (now twice widowed) spoke very well - significantly better than the rather long-winded minister, I have to say.

It was a miserable cold, wet day, though the drizzle is at least starting to shift the snow.  I was chilled to the bone after the lengthy standing about afterwards.  I'm sure they configure crematoria so as to funnel the cold wind: a device to drum up business, maybe? 

I'm glad to see the snow starting to melt.  Granted, the views as I drove home from court on Friday were sublime, with a huge red sun setting over snow-covered fields edged with skeletal trees.  And the drive to and from Brighton on Saturday was good too: lunch with Barbara, plus a bit of furniture rearranging and replacing of light bulbs.  The sort of thing we can do without turning a hair (even if I had one), but which present problems for someone less tall and living alone.  Had I half the sense I was born with I'd have taken with me a jacket that needed a button sewing back on and a tie that needed tacking back together: the sort of thing Barbara can do in her sleep, but which leads to a haze of obscenities and bloodstains when I tackle it (but it's done now).

When we arrived here at Forges-l'Evêque, we inherited a curtain of great quality but little charm behind the front door, which is in any case perfectly draught-proof.  We finally took a scunner to it last week, closely followed by a screwdriver (honorable mention to the first reader to name the figure of speech).  It was heading for the dust-sheet bag when I thought of freecycle: having put it up for re-homing yesterday, I have six people after it already, and will adjudicate this evening.  Next, we should apply ourselves to the countless suitcases in the attic, some full, some empty.  But I doubt if we'd find homes for suitcases without wheels these days - why did it take so long for that particular penny to drop?