Peter’s Hospital Diary

It has been a busy and poignant week. The main ‘events’ have been the funerals of Simon (from BT) and Jane, a friend from University days.

It was an early start on Thursday for the drive down to Faversham from Southampton, but it was a good journey and I arrived at the Church in plenty of time – and just as well as the car park, and subsequently the Church, filled up quickly.
Among the many people gathered to celebrate Simon’s amazing life were some BT colleagues I had met during the “Get on and Get It” broadband campaign from 2003, including Philippa, Sonya and Sarah. Richard (a frequent commentator on the blog!) was also there, so we had a good catch up. I finally got to meet Christine, Simon’s wife, with whom I had had many chats over the last few weeks. After the service, we went to the burial, in a natural burial ground about 10 minutes drive away. With the dreaded words”You can’t missed it” we eventually arrived towards the end of the interment, but the photoshows some of the many people at the graveside. The burial ground is next to a field where Simon’s horse grazes, and this photograph shows the view from Simon’s resting place. The rather brown grass is testimony to the hot weather! After the burial we went back to Simon’s ‘local’ for a beer and a bite to eat, and an afternoon of remembering. In fact the afternoon of remembering went on until after 8 o’clock, when I dropped Sonya and Sarah at Faversham station before driving up to Corsham in preparation for the trip up to Huddersfield.

So I was up early on Friday to drive to Oxford to meet up with Faith, who drove. It was another poignant occasion, but a lovely service, written by Jane in the last few months. Again it was good to put names to faces, and also to meet up with other friends from University days (Judith, Di, Dina, Sue, John and Paul). While the occasion was sad, Jane had been able to say all the things she wanted to say to her friends, and as before the reminiscing went on into the early evening, before Faith and I made our way back to Oxford, and then (for me) onto Southampton.

I feel a little tired today! Earlier in the week I had made a start on some of the household jobs, the biggest being washing and painting the side of the house, using some staging borrowed from Mark. However next week, Mark and I are going to his house in France to do some work on it, drink a few beers and have a break. I had some hospital appointments, but I have managed to move those, so I will be away for just under a fortnight.

So – onwards and upwards!