Death of a Friend

Just to change the normal routine, because on Saturday I received a telephone call to say that somebody that we knew had died in the early hours of the morning. Robert wasn't a really close friend but somebody that we knew through our nearest neighbour. He was to be frequently seen walking around the area often with a camera in his hand. Without fail on a Sunday morning he would walk the few kilometers to church for mass and then walk back via the village for a coffee with friends or maybe two glasses of wine in the bar. It was always two glasses, never one or three just one of those things that lodge in your mind. As we had known him we were invited to his funeral which was held yesterday. Of course I went, ( Lynda is away at the moment) it was an education in a nice way. I have never been inside the village church (built in the late 1500's), never been to a catholic mass or any other for that matter and I didn't have a suit to wear. As it happens it turned out that it doesn't matter what you wear as long as you are there! People were in working clothes, casual dress and a couple were in suits. They certainly don't seem to have the thing about dressing in black. Perhaps this is because we are in the country and not the city. The mass in French was interesting and I just followed everyone else when they stood up or sat down I was just a little bit after them of course! The choir sang the responses with the people and at the end of the mass it is local custom that everyone walks past the coffin to pay respect to it, the pallbearers then took him out to the cemetrie about 200metres away where he was buried. I hope that Robert would have enjoyed the service and seeing how many people came to see him off so to speak. (nearly 100 turned out). 58 is not very old but then cancer is no respecter of age and I hope now that he rests in peace.