Sad day yesterday as we said farewell to Malcolm, a long standing member of the ECP&DA. He was only 67 and still to young to leave this world. It was the dreaded C that got him but he fought it tooth and nail right to the end. We turned up at the crematorium to find 100's of people lined up at the entrance. Surely they were not all there for Malcolm's funeral? But they were. We couldn't believe how popular he had been. When the hearse arrived complete with a narrowboat made of flowers resting on top, Marleen, (Malcolm's wife), stepped out of the car to a sea of faces and told us afterwards that she had been completely overwhelmed by the support. We had only known Malcolm since joining the society so knew nothing about his past life. Apparently, until he retired at 57, Malcolm had been a train driver and started his training in the days of the steam. He joined a local walking club stopping at local hostelries frequently to partake of the amber nectar , bought and ran the Royal Oak on the Erewash canal at Long Eaton when he retired, cycled everywhere as he couldn't drive and had a real passion for all things boaty. No wonder so many people came to say their farewells. In fact it was estimated 250 people had turned up with only 100 managing to get into the chapel. The rest, us included, had to stand in the reception room and listen and watch the service on TV. He will be remembered by those in the society as a great character and one all of us will miss terribly.
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| Ian and Malcolm painting the bridge at the Pelsall rally June 2013. 4 months later he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given a year to live. He made 1 year and 1 day. |
On a lighter note, arriving back after the wake I happen to notice the moon. A wonderfully coloured haze surrounded it. I like to think it's Malcolm's spirit shinning his light over us.
All to soon it was gone and the moon returned to it'd normal self.
Today has been a total wash out. My planned walk this morning was a no brainer because of the rain but if Jade had still been with us I would have had to go! She would give me that stare that said 'come on mum, time for walkies' and continue to do so until I moved toward the back of the boat. She would then heave herself up and rush as fast as she could (which wasn't that quick toward the end) trying to push me out of the way so as to beat me to the door. I do so miss those days and would gladly have got soaked to the skin just to have her back. As you can tell it's taking me a long time to get over not having her around.
At the moment all I have done is sit in front of the TV and watch More 4's documentary's on the brave soldiers sent to fight in world war 1. To endure those awful conditions in the trench's for years and not just our men but the German soldiers as well. They all had mums, dads. wives and loved ones waiting in the hope that they would return. So many lives lost and for what! WW11 wasn't much better. Still more men on both sides all gone. Please God may there never be a WW111.
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| Would gladly have gone out in this if Jade was still with me. |
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