A day to say goodbye

we attended a funeral sevice for a man we have known since moving here 18 years ago. Not a close friend but a friend all the same who would stride along the road along the loch, wave cheerily and always have wry comment when meeting at a social event.

As is often the case we found out more about him today than he let on over the last 18 years. A sad day for his family and for all of us attending the church service. Later a convoy of cars followed the hearse 30 miles or so for the interment at Kilpatrick, a cemetery over looking Duart castle, it was bitterly cold and good to see so many people attending the final few moments. Soup and sandwiches had been organised at a nearby hotel, the one overlooking the ferry port of Craignure. Although sad it was pleasant to sit, chat, eat and hear the mix of voices around us.

We are lucky to live in a community where people care, his wife will be well looked after when the family leave the island and I'm sure we will find out more about this man in the months and years to come.

We passed stunning views of snow topped mountains, interesting cloud shapes, jets zooming up the Sound of Mull but not one photo taken. I had to resort to one taken a couple days ago. I made the comment that we don't take photos at a funeral and the others laughed as you may, not something I had considered before....