Aftermath

Vacancy at Flanders House:


From the Glasgow Evening Times, Tuesday 13th October, 2009:

I did say in my blog just over a week ago that it hadn't been a good week, but little did I realise how bad it was going to get. I remember Dawn's call on Sunday evening - it wasn't quite hysterical, but there was just disbelief in her voice as she broke the bad news about Dad to me. It seems like he had had a last burst of life in some of the previous days when Dawn, Meghan and Lauren had visited him and they all said he was in fine spirits and responding better than he had been for a while.

Barry told a slightly different story about his last visit to see Dad on Friday - the day before he and Helen flew out to Menorca on a walking trip - Barry thought Dad was in poor shape and he hesitated before going on holiday, but he had, after all, asked the Doctor whether he should cancel and the advice he got was that he should be OK to go.

The staff at Flanders House also said he had much of his old sparkle back on Sunday - but then he was gone - he was put to bed about 6:30 pm and discovered at about 9:45 pm on a routine staff visit - it seems he went peacefully, and hopefully painlessly. Apparently, this last little spurt before death is quite common.

Jo and I went down on Monday morning and, with Dawn in tow, we did all the necessary admin that day and the following morning - see earlier blog posting for some of the difficulties we faced. I was grateful that there was a lot to be done - it helped keep your mind off things. Barry and Helen didn't even have this consolation as they faced the nightmare of trying to get out of Menorca and back home as quickly as they could. It wasn't easy for them - it involved flights to Barcelona and then Liverpool, followed by a train home - with all the journey happening overnight, so, by the time they got back to Glasgow, they were shattered - and we didn't even see them until we came back down for the funeral on Thursday.

Everyone gathered at Foxbar Drive and the limo arrived bang on time at 1:30 pm and took, Barry, Dawn, John, Helen, Jo and I down to the crematorium. Before that, Dawn, John, Meghan and I had paid Dad a visit at the funeral parlour - slightly un-nerving it was. We could see his face and both Dawn and I thought exactly the same thing, that Dad would suddenly open an eye and wink at us - fooled you all!

Up until we got to the crem, I'd managed to keep it all together OK, but I think it was seeing everyone else there as we pulled in to the car park that finally got me - I shook Brian's hand, but couldn't get any words out. The ceremony went fine - with one exception, when the Skye Boat Song didn't play at the correct time - but the minister showed his professionalism and quickly and neatly covered this up. He even managed to ignore Luca's constant chattering throughout the ceremony!

There was a bigger turn-out than we imagined - we had thought that with him being the last of that line of Stewarts, there would be no more than 20-25 people there, and we only asked for 30 Orders of Service to be printed, but it turned out to be nearly double that number. Both the Gatehouse and Flanders House had a number showing up.

It was nice to have a chat with all the relatives back in the Pond Hotel afterwards - it's true what I said earlier this year about families only getting together nowadays at Weddings and Funerals - that's why I suggested we have the 60:30 family holiday in Tenerife whilst we're all still hale and hearty! The Barrs were all there - Nancy still very bright, but George starting to lose it a bit. Sheila was carrying an Achilles injury - and it was the first time I remember seeing Cameron, who is the same age as Jordon. Lesley's family were all there, including the "other" Lucy!

The Rodgers were out in force as well - Betty Mitchell (Dad's cousin) too, still sharp as a tack in her 80th year. Dugald Stewart was at the funeral, but never made it back to the Pond.

We ended up back at Barry's again and it was only then that I thought Lucy and Kelly might like to see some photos - but I only had my Blackberry with me when I took these:

The last photo shows Julie (Kieran's girlfriend). Kieran, Malcolm and Jordon. Then it was back home again - Ross drove to give me a break - not quite sure how relaxing this was! Best to ask Jo, who was in the back seat as Ross gave the BMW a bit of a test coming over Cairn o' Mount!

Today, it's back to the old routine. I was in the office early as I couldn't sleep. I'm planning on a lot of sport this weekend - including squash tonight.