Memorial mushrooms

Up early today for a drive to Newton Aycliffe for a great friend’s funeral. She was almost exactly two months older than me and we met 51 years ago as we started university. While she had fought cancer last year it returned and she succumbed while expressing the view that she had had a good life filled with friends and happiness.

At the modern crematorium there were a number of gardens with memorials of different sorts. The ones with mushrooms were new to me!.

It was a lovely event with cheerful music and many happy reminiscences of Diane. Another great friend of her’s from university also spoke of the friendship and fun over the years. The order of service had on the second page a photo f the three of us on graduation day as we stood under the statue of John Knox. Turning the page and seeing that photo was the trigger that set me off!

Afterwards at the reception at the local golf club where there were more photos, including one of me with (for me) long hair and striking a Jason King pose which I’d rather forget, I headed off to Oxenholme to pick up my wife who had to travel down by train and we then headed in the dark to the Cumbrian coast for a few days.