Nan's Funeral

Thursday was Nan's funeral. It was upsetting and uplifting all at the same time. We took Tom to a play barn in Tavistock in the morning to wear him out so he would have a good sleep in the afternoon ready for the long afternoon.

He did well, was a small place with a big slide and the steps to get up the slide were too far apart for his little legs, but he persevered on and enjoyed himself. He had his lunch there, I kept him awake in the car back and then put him down in his cot on our arrival back. He fell asleep on cue and stayed asleep for over 2 hours which was fab.

We set off to the crematorium at 2.45 and got there to find we were the last to arrive. The service went well, Dad made a lovely speech about Nan and the two boys were more or less well behaved. Shelm (Nan's sister) was understandably very upset, and it upset me to see her like that. It's never easy to see someone in pain, let alone a relative. There were very few dry eyes in the house.

Once the service was over, everyone made their way to Crapstone. Mum and Dad had got M&S to do a spread, the weather held so everyone could sit outside. It was a lovely afternoon. Some great photos of Nan circulated, including ones of her during her cruising days (she spent some holidays on the Canberra). These were the 70's so cruising was still very much about formal wear - there were some really dodgy dresses going on. Nan came out best - but unfortunately it was a bad bunch - brilliant photos though! (She is the middle one here) There were also some pics of her, looking very rosy with a bottle of bubbles and arm flung round a friend whilst on a train in a foreign country - not the Nan I knew, but fantastic. Glad to see she had so much fun.

There were also plenty of dodgy photos of me doing the rounds: bowl cuts, shaggy dog perms, questionable fashion taste (nothing new there then) . Obviously they won't be making the cut here. There were some good stories floating around. Nan was obviously held in high regard by all.

The stars of the show, of course were Jake and Tom - they helped keep the edge off the proceedings and made lots of new friends. Lets hope that next time we see everyone it is for a happy occasion so we can all enjoy it.

People stayed until about 7.30pm which was good going as all had been up early to get to Devon in time: people came from Liverpool, Derby, London and Wiltshire. The boys stayed up to the end as well, without a grizzle (until the very end when Tom realised he was tired and screamed and screamed) so he had a quick bath, milk and straight to bed, he went to sleep immediately.

I was really pleased he behaved so well. I discovered a new thing today as well - he loves M&S party food. I think he demolished about 3 mini quiches and a huge pile of Moroccan cous cous - guess I should make some for him in the future.