Well it has been a busy week! We traveled down to my cousins house in Poole last Sunday. The journey wasn't too bad. We actually arrived just a few minutes before my sister and her family and my Dad. We had a pleasant evening. Simon and I went for a meal with my niece and nephew and my cousins daughter Kate and her boyfriend. We did a lot of catching up and talked to Kate about her Grandad, my Uncle Ron.
Monday was the funeral. We traveled to Weymouth in plenty of time as we were expecting there to be a lot of people. It was a sad day but it was also a good one and I am glad that I changed my mind about going. The church service was very moving and showed just how much Uncle Ron was loved, not just by family and friends, but by the members of his community, for whom he had done so much over the years. It felt like a real celebration of his life. The family stood up well and Kate made a lovely speech about her memories of her Grandad.
Everyone got together afterwards in the church hall. Rons grandson Mark had made a lovely display of photos from Rons childhood to the present day. There was a very old photo of my Dad, Ron and a friend Charlie, which got me a bit upset. They all looked so young, slim and fit! It reminded me of childhood holidays. It was really good to be able to catch up with so many relatives that we don't get to see very often, but we were all obviously sad at the circumstances that had brought us there.
It was really nice for me to meet up with Annette who I hadn't seen in years. She was my cousin Garys girlfriend when we were first married and lived down in Devon. She is a lovely lady and we were both delighted to see each other after so long. We will be back in contact now after exchanging email addresses.
The family then went back to Aunt Junes house and we actually had a good time with music playing and lots of chat about our memories of Ron. Lots of laughs too. My sister had to leave with Dad who was very upset, as they had to drive back that night. We stayed on and everyone had a fish and chip supper. After that we left to go to our hotel round the coast at Lulworth cove.
We stayed in a bed and breakfast hotel until Wednesday. The weather wasn't too bad most of the time, but it was cold. On Tuesday we walked right round the bay and up onto the cliffs to view Stair Hole. Then in th afternoon we went to Abbotsbury to the swannery. It's the largest swannery in the world. We called in to see Aunt June and Pat on the way back to the hotel.
On Wednesday we attempted to walk over the cliffs to Durdle Door. It didn't work out! I did manage to get to the the top and part way down the other side but then we realised that actually we still had to go up and down again to reach it. Unfortunately my knee, does not like going up hill and I was really struggling so we turned back. After some coffee and cake we set off for home. It was a long drive and we were amazed to run into snow which lasted until we got just beyond Stevenage
We called in at my sisters house to drop off the book of condolences to them. That turned out really nice as we ended up staying to eat with them. We also sorted out a date for a Christmas dinner with them and my Dad. We got home about 9pm.
Thursday I spent catching up on some housework and yesterday I went into town with the intention of doing some Christmas shopping. I only ended up with a couple of small purchases. It was really a family outing, I think. I went in with Verity and we met Coralie and Evan and Lisa and Ellie. We were joined by Saskia when she got off the train at lunch time and then also Josh and Charlotte. We then had the problem of finding somewhere that we could have lunch. Town was very busy because it is half term, so finding somewhere to seat 7 people with 2 babies a pram and a buggy was quite hard! We eventually had lunch in a place called Yates. It was really nice.
Simon collected us from town and we all went to sam and Lisa's house for a roast dinner which was really nice. Both grandchildren were very good all day. Little Ellie kept us all entertained during the evening and finally let Nanny put her to bed just before we left.
Today, Simon has gone to Leicester to take his truck to his friend Eric. I have been trying to catch up on some more jobs, but I think I will have to wait until Monday to get myself really straight. Verity is going back to Southampton tomorrow morning and Josh will be returning to Bedford. Saskia will be back at Uni too and Simon will be back at school......peace!!!
Just had a phone call from Simon to say that a wheel has come off the truck and they are currently stranded about 3 miles from their destination. Thank goodness he wasn't actually driving it. It was on a towing dolly what ever that may be! He and his friend Jeff are just waiting for Eric to come and help them, but he now doesn't know how long he will be. He had said he would be back at 2pm. Still at least they are both safe.
Tonight he is going with Saskia and possibly Verity to see the fireworks display at Ferry Meadows country park. I don't like fireworks so I shall stay at home and watch the strictly come dancing programme.
So, there you go, that was my week! Some good some bad. Hopefully next week will be a nice peaceful one and I can get myself straight. I also ned to visit my Mum at some point, so I will have to sort out which day.
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