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Bittersweet...
Aug. 9th, 2006 10:13 pmToday was my Grandad's funeral. After a grey and windy start the day turned out to be bright and sunny, the kind of day Grandad used to fall asleep in a deckchair on the beach with a knotted hankerchief on his head.
The funeral service was lovely. Since the late 1980s my Grandparents worshipped in the chapel around which their almshouse was built. It was an easy choice to hold the service there. The chaplain knew Grandad well so she gave an affectionate and accurate eulogy. She mentioned all the things which were important to him: sport, the church, the labour party, family, his marriage to my Nana and serving the community. Although, in principle, Grandad dissapproved of female ministers I think the chaplain was a great comfort to him in the four years since my Nana died. Throughout his illness and during his final hospital stay she visited him often both to deliver the sacrements and to chat to him. She even chose a dramatic passage from the Old Testement as the Bible reading as Grandad used to read in the chapel and those were his favourite readings. There were two hymns, one of which my dad and aunt chose and the other which Grandad chose himself. All in all, I think Grandad would've been very happy with the service. The Christian faith was a huge part of my grandparent's life on both a spiritual and social level which really made the funeral seem right. As a non-Christian it always seems odd to me going to ceremonies (mainly weddings) in churches for people who never go to church.
The turn out was quite good. All three of my cousins were there along with two of my oldest cousin's children (who are around my age). Several of my dad's cousins attended along with the wardens from the almshouses, some of Grandad's neighbours and other members of the regular congregation. Enough to make the songs hymns sound quite good.
It was good to see my cousins as it's been ages since we've all been together. They're all much older than me, have kids of their own and live a long way away so we've never bonded in the way many of my friends have with their cousins. However, when we get together it's noticeable that we all have a similar sense of humour and values. Additionally, we received some good news. My eldest cousin's, second eldest daughter has just given birth to a baby boy. I now have eight great cousins and three great-great cousins. My side of the family is multiplying at a significantly slower rate...
On a completely different topic entirely my sister has got a new job to start in September. She's a nursery assistant and since gaining her NVQ3 in Childcare has been looking to move into the public sector. Her new job is in central London which is what she wanted as her boyfriend works up there now. It means her salary will increase but her travel costs will too. I hope it works out for her. We also went to see her new house today. They're now living in Molesey in a strange little 1960s housing development in the middle of an industrial estate. They're sharing with another couple who have two cats. I love cats, but my sister doesn't and is already cross with them. Although, they've been weeing on her bed which to be fair I wouldn't be happy about either. I'm sure they're just marking their territory though, and will stop soon. Slightly unfairly, the elderly lady next door pounced on my sister on her way home from work and had a go at her because the cats were entering her house. My sister feels a bit hard done by as they're not her cats and their owners were on holiday.
The results of my blood tests are in and suprise, suprise they're all clear. I can now be sure that the problem isn't rheumatoid arthritis but I still don't know the problem actually is. Oh well. The doctor seems to think I have hyper-flexible joints which means my joints flex more than they should and are likely to strain easily. There's no cure but according to the NHS website physio can help so that'll be my next stop.
I'm off work on leave this week so I'm not very happy. Misery tends to kick in after a few days on leave. I'm not sure why but I think it's probably to do with breaking my routine.
The Simpson's Hit and Run is going well. I'm nearly at the end of the sixth (penultimate) level and I haven't looked at a walkthrough on the net yet. OK it's a kids game but I'm still pround of myself. Scarily, when you save a game it shows you how long you've spent playing the game so far. I've been playing for over 20 hours. Odd to think that I'll certainly spend more than a day of my life playing a video game.
At the funeral I went to take some photos of the flowers and to my suprise my memory card was full. Investigation revealed lots of pictures of me in a drunken state at my friends party the other week. I don't remember them being taken so I dread to think what else I got up to before I passed out. Strangely, I looked quite good in the photos though... They're deleted now though and replaced with photos from the funeral. I'll gladly forget that party happened altogether.
The funeral service was lovely. Since the late 1980s my Grandparents worshipped in the chapel around which their almshouse was built. It was an easy choice to hold the service there. The chaplain knew Grandad well so she gave an affectionate and accurate eulogy. She mentioned all the things which were important to him: sport, the church, the labour party, family, his marriage to my Nana and serving the community. Although, in principle, Grandad dissapproved of female ministers I think the chaplain was a great comfort to him in the four years since my Nana died. Throughout his illness and during his final hospital stay she visited him often both to deliver the sacrements and to chat to him. She even chose a dramatic passage from the Old Testement as the Bible reading as Grandad used to read in the chapel and those were his favourite readings. There were two hymns, one of which my dad and aunt chose and the other which Grandad chose himself. All in all, I think Grandad would've been very happy with the service. The Christian faith was a huge part of my grandparent's life on both a spiritual and social level which really made the funeral seem right. As a non-Christian it always seems odd to me going to ceremonies (mainly weddings) in churches for people who never go to church.
The turn out was quite good. All three of my cousins were there along with two of my oldest cousin's children (who are around my age). Several of my dad's cousins attended along with the wardens from the almshouses, some of Grandad's neighbours and other members of the regular congregation. Enough to make the songs hymns sound quite good.
It was good to see my cousins as it's been ages since we've all been together. They're all much older than me, have kids of their own and live a long way away so we've never bonded in the way many of my friends have with their cousins. However, when we get together it's noticeable that we all have a similar sense of humour and values. Additionally, we received some good news. My eldest cousin's, second eldest daughter has just given birth to a baby boy. I now have eight great cousins and three great-great cousins. My side of the family is multiplying at a significantly slower rate...
On a completely different topic entirely my sister has got a new job to start in September. She's a nursery assistant and since gaining her NVQ3 in Childcare has been looking to move into the public sector. Her new job is in central London which is what she wanted as her boyfriend works up there now. It means her salary will increase but her travel costs will too. I hope it works out for her. We also went to see her new house today. They're now living in Molesey in a strange little 1960s housing development in the middle of an industrial estate. They're sharing with another couple who have two cats. I love cats, but my sister doesn't and is already cross with them. Although, they've been weeing on her bed which to be fair I wouldn't be happy about either. I'm sure they're just marking their territory though, and will stop soon. Slightly unfairly, the elderly lady next door pounced on my sister on her way home from work and had a go at her because the cats were entering her house. My sister feels a bit hard done by as they're not her cats and their owners were on holiday.
The results of my blood tests are in and suprise, suprise they're all clear. I can now be sure that the problem isn't rheumatoid arthritis but I still don't know the problem actually is. Oh well. The doctor seems to think I have hyper-flexible joints which means my joints flex more than they should and are likely to strain easily. There's no cure but according to the NHS website physio can help so that'll be my next stop.
I'm off work on leave this week so I'm not very happy. Misery tends to kick in after a few days on leave. I'm not sure why but I think it's probably to do with breaking my routine.
The Simpson's Hit and Run is going well. I'm nearly at the end of the sixth (penultimate) level and I haven't looked at a walkthrough on the net yet. OK it's a kids game but I'm still pround of myself. Scarily, when you save a game it shows you how long you've spent playing the game so far. I've been playing for over 20 hours. Odd to think that I'll certainly spend more than a day of my life playing a video game.
At the funeral I went to take some photos of the flowers and to my suprise my memory card was full. Investigation revealed lots of pictures of me in a drunken state at my friends party the other week. I don't remember them being taken so I dread to think what else I got up to before I passed out. Strangely, I looked quite good in the photos though... They're deleted now though and replaced with photos from the funeral. I'll gladly forget that party happened altogether.
