Bereavement busyness

I walked to St Catherine's an hour before the funeral, just to have enough time to check all was in order. I man in a white van stopped me to ask directions to the church, saying that he was attending the service. He had missed his turning so I got in and guided him to church through the back streets.

Although the bereaved family were aware that I would be replacing Emma, and I'd talked with them to check arrangements, somehow, the message about about Emma's sickness hadn't been fielded by the Funeral Directors, so a car went to the Vicarage to collect her, and was re-directed to our house, but I'd already arrived and was doing what I'd intended.

There was a large congregation for the funeral of an 84 year old, and the church was two thirds full. All went as intended. We stood by the graveside in the sun at Thornhill cemetery waiting for the last few mourners to arrive. Unusually a requested pop ballad was played from a portable CD device. It wasn't all that loud, but generated a calming atmosphere as we waited.

On my return home I walked up to Llandaff Weir, to see if I could get any interesting pictures of the heron which hunts for fish at the end of the weir nearest the west bank footpath. I was quite pleased at some of the results, though still failed to catch it taking off, when it looks so spectacular. Practice makes perfect, I tell myself.

After supper, I drove out to Pentyrch to make a bereavement visit and prepare this Friday's funeral. The son of the deceased lives in a new house on the north side over the village with a beautiful view of the Garth, on the opposite side of the valley. He said he's bought the house 'off plan' not realising how good the outlook would be. Serendipidy! After a half hour's conversation, I returned home and worked on preparing the service for the rest of the evening.