Unusually busy day

Up and out of bed after 'Thought for the Day' this morning of clouds and sunshine, to get ready for a duty morning at the Crem. The doorbell rang at eight, a salmon from Ashton's ordered yesterday before we started making breakfast.

I was picked up and driven to Thornhill in good time to organise and ensure my start was without rush. The first funeral would be the longest with a full tribute to the deceased, as the family didn't have a memorial service immediately after death. I was able to fit everything planned into the twenty minute slot available without rushing, so that was a good start. The next one was utterly different, with no information other than name age and address. No mourners. The funeral director kindly accompanied me through the service which proceeded as if there had been a congregation. The last time I recall being in this situation was back in Bristol, taking the funeral of a homeless man forty years ago. 

The remaining two services each had less than a dozen family members and went as planned. I found it tiring, but not as emotionally draining as a normal length funeral, in an atmosphere charged with grief and pain. The serenity of those who have come to terms with their loss and can remember a past life together with gratitude makes a real difference. 

I was home again by twelve fifteen and just needed to recover with coffee chocolate and a rest. Clare's study group was just winding up. She cooked large herrings for lunch, the first complete fish rather than fillets we've had in years. So delicious, and not always available these days. Lunch was crowned with a big slice of apple and date pie. 

At three I was collected for the fifth funeral of the day at Thornhill. This time, a full length one with just a dozen mourners. I was home again by five as the traffic was light. Clare went out to meditation group, and I went for a walk, first to Tesco's and then around the park before supper. 

Then I listened to the last two episodes of 'The Jetty', described in a review I saw as 'a feminist' crimmie, portraying a story of older men grooming under age girls for sex in a rural community with a murder and a disappearance thrown in for good measure. For me there were unexplained elements in the background of the detective investigating a cold case with resonances in the present. There was an element missing in her back story. I couldn't see how she'd been selected for training as a police officer, as a young single mother and become a detective in her mid thirties. It seemed a bit far fetched to me.

Trump has chosen his vice-presidential nominee Senator J D Vance, a self-made rich smart successful guy from a poor dysfunctional family by all accounts, and as capable as Trump of making stupid outrageous offensive remarks. He alleges Britain is the only islamist country with nuclear weapons. Was this a joke? Or an expression of ignorance. He doesn't seem to know that Pakistan, is an islamic country which has the bomb, and problems with islamists as well. British politicians have shrugged off the remark a sort of diplomatic discretion given the possibility of Trump and Vance being returned to power this November. I fear for the future with such people in control.