Poignant Day

Today would have been Mikes forty-fifth birthday, twenty years my junior. Instead I attended his funeral and acted as a pall bearer which was an absolute honour.
Mike had s full house to send him on his way and as always afterwards we sat and reminisced about our times with him.

In the evening I went to Falmouth Poly to watch Peter Jackson’s They Shall Grow Not Old, again to a full house, not an empty seat. It tells the story of the troops during WWI. The film has been colourised and lip readers enabled the film to be accurately dubbed, even using regional accents.
It was at times funny, moving and heartbreaking with some pretty graphic footage of the dead and wounded.
I had been forewarned that in parts of the film those shown were from the East Surrey Regiment in 1916 so there was a possibility that I was looking at my Mums Uncle, Private George Roberts was killed in action in 1916 aged 22, he may even have been one of the casualties shown, but we have no way of knowing.

The two events of the day remind you that life can be fleeting.