Funeral and Furniture

On Monday, as advised last week, Pete attended the funeral of Joan Perkins. It was sad to see Diane and her family so distressed by the passing, but considering how ill her mum had become Pete believes they think it was a merciful release. The funeral was followed by a wake at the Jobbers Rest PH in Upminster - strange we should have had Sunday lunch there the day before by pure chance.

The funeral was really well attended and many of them were from Pete's family. Pete's mum's brothers Brian and Kenny were there with their wives and cousins David, Darrell and Anouska also made it. Pete's brothers and their wives came along and brought niece Emma-Jane along too. The link to Joan's family was via Pete's uncle Brian's friend Doug, who brought Pete's stepfather John with him to the funeral, as John has recently lost his car. Doug's daughter Kim and her husband Peter with two of their triplets were also there along with their oldest daughter and her husband.

Stepfather John (who married Pete's mum once her sons had all left home) drives a Reliant (a-la-Delboy) and lost his car to an accident some months back. His replacement car went up in flames after only having it for ten days whilst he was driving it and it was only the shouting and horn honking of others that probably stopped him being badly injured. Flames were licking around the sides of the car and it sounds as if he got out just in time. To add insult to injury he thought the molten mess had been stolen and was told to report it as such by the police, but it turned up in their compound. Undeterred John is looking to buy another three-wheeler - we wish him more luck!

On Tuesday the furniture we bought for our spare bedrooms was exchanged bringing to an end a saga that has been ongoing for some months now. The way this has gone is somewhat akin to a farce and not worth the writing here, but it certainly was a catalogue of errors. As we might have expected all didn't end quite well, as one of the cabinets had sticking draws. It was returned to the warehouse so only time will tell when it might return.

Julie continues to attend her flower club, rowing, keep fit classes, etc.. There is so much for her to do here that they are starting to impact on one and other and what with friends and work she really has a full life. Pete finds himself working a lot and as such his days are tied up and he certainly doesn't have the interests that Julie has found. Even time for photography is limited with the shorter days. As testament to that there are no photos this week