Well so much for the sunshine

We departed YYC without delay, for a change, at 5:20pm  MDT and arrived at MAN 8:20 UK, about 20 minutes early.  A good flight, but a very full and noisy cabin.  There was a toddler halfway back who was extremely unhappy the entire flight.  We arrived at the house by 10:30am after picking up the rental.

As typical the house was full and people continued to arrive all day.  Keith had arranged a final viewing of Tom.  I find the embalmed and viewing process quite strange.  Particularly in this case it was a fortnight since his passing.  That being said his face looked quite good, better than he had when we last saw him alive at Christmas; however, his hands were rather frostbitten really. 

Back to the house and more relatives.  By this point I was falling off my feet having not slept on the flight at all so I snuck off for a nap.  About four hours later Dave woke me to head out for "tea" (dinner) to The Grapes.  The family's local pub hang out.

Tuesday was the funeral service. The weather cooperated, more sun than cloud, for a nice spring day.  The service was good, as far as services go, respectful and not too long.  Keith delivered a nice eulogy.  Then over to the Crematorium for a brief service before the final curtain closing on the casket.

Back to the Grapes for lunch and drinks.  It was after four when the final guests left but the family was still yakking so a decision was made to stay for an early tea rather than cooking.  By the time we'd eaten Joyce, Keith's wife, was ramping up with the badmouthing and bitching.  Luckily a family friend drove Margaret and I home.  Margaret was past tired at this point but Martin & Tracy wanted "just another".  Dave stayed so they could finish and ferry them back to the house.  Almost two hours later and Dave's calling to say there's a bunch of crying and scene making joining on.  He eventually returns with Martin & Tracy who are WAY past the limit.  I guess no wedding or funeral can escape some type of family "incident". 

Yesterday was a quiet day, unfortunately the weather is more grey and wet than I'd hoped for.  Dave and I did some grocery shopping for Margaret, then Dave took Margaret out for some passport photos for her handicapped parking pass renewal.  I stayed home, read a bit, watched the turkey.  Smallest turkey I've ever seen - no arms or legs, just the "crown" but maybe the size of a large roasting chicken.  Just enough for four of us for dinner.  Tracy went over to her sisters for a couple of nights so it was just Martin, Dave, Margaret and I.  Although I think Keith, who stopped by after work, would have preferred to stay, but no I got put on the spot to lie that he'd already left when Joyce rang up looking for him.  Such a soap opera I'm not even going to get into the details other than to say it's worse than teenager behaviour.

Today I couldn't sleep.  Woke up to use the "loo" early and couldn't go back to sleep - it's much lighter than it was in December but with light curtains it's much more of a bother now than then.  I got up around 6am to read to find Martin already up doing the same.  Martin headed out and about to do some errands, Dave took Margaret out to city hall for some paperwork and parking pass renewal.  They return home with meat pies for lunch.  A very taste beef & potato pie.

And that brings us to now ... I'm at the library typing away while Dave takes Margaret to vote.  It's an all party election here in the UK.  Should be interesting news coverage and tea discussion tonight. This evening Dave and I are heading over to a cousins ... had an invite so we'll see how that goes.  I'm hoping the weather will clear up and we'll get a chance for a day trip or two next week.  I'm looking forward to seeing some of the countryside this time around.