Well of course. Quite apart from the fact that, had they been able to, Tony and Stella would have been there like a shot, so I was in place to represent them - quite apart from that, I was very fond of Peter and was delighted to be able to represent me as well!
So we set off yesterday morning at around 08:00 (fortunately, the clocks had gone back to GMT that morning so, although the clocks said it was 08:00, our bodies thought it was 09:00 - much more civilised on a Sunday morning!!) and made extremely good time to the village of Morston, near Cromer, on the north Norfolk coast. Penny, Steve, Joseph and Imogen arrived shortly before us. Then Jeremy, Jill, James, Dominic, Joan and Tim arrived too, bringing with them Cracker the springer spaniel and Daisy the border terrier. Much to my disappointment, Joan was not in Tim's low slung sporting number!!!! Still, I suppose that getting her out of it might have been a challenge. Getting me out of it would have been a challenge!!!
And off we all went on a seal-spotting boat, out through Blakeney Harbour and off into the North Sea.
We were extremely lucky with the weather. It was a grey and dull day, but the breezes were light, there was no rain, it wasn't all that cold, although we were all well-rugged up against the weather. Graham, the boat's skipper, was a delightful companion who looked after us extremely well. And we chugged out, past the sand dunes, the seals, the birds, the other boats, on fairly calm waters out into the sea.
It was a bit choppier out on the open sea, especially when Graham turned off the boat's engines so we could disperse Peter's ashes with decorum and dignity - and without being covered in ashy remains ourselves! Penny was wearing Peter's naval scarf and had brought a nosegay of late blooming sweet peas from their garden. Joan had brought his sailing cap, and a bunch of roses from her garden. She put the roses in the cap and it was gently lowered into the sea. Jeremy and Tim propped Joan up so she wouldn't get bounced into the water and she put the first of the ashes into the sea. Then we all took a turn in throwing some of the ashes gently into the sea. Joseph and Imogen had been practising blowing on their plastic pipes for a farewell salute - but Imogen decided at the last moment that she would prefer Penny to do it on her behalf. So Peter's cap and ashes were piped out to sea, and his cap bobbed out of sight holding the roses and accompanied by Penny's sweet peas which she had cast upon the sea by the cap, and watched by all of us.
It was all very lovely. Very fitting. Sombre, of course. Sad. But also merry and fun and happy. As Jeremy said later - this was the third and final time we had gathered to say farewell. The time now was to focus on the happy memories.
Graham took us back to the quay, sailing slowly past the seals so we could admire them some more. There were some very tiny pups. Apparently grey seals pup in autumn/winter, while the common seals pup in June. There are both grey and common seals in the Blakeney Harbour sand dunes.
We relocated from Morston to Blakeney itself for a delicious and delightful Sunday lunch in the White Horse pub. Should you find yourself in Norfolk wanting a Sunday lunch, I would highly recommend the White Horse. Actually - I expect to find myself in Norfolk at the end of the month, probably in search of a Sunday lunch. Must make a note to go back to Blakeney!
Many thanks to Joan, Tim, Penny, Jeremy and all their families for inviting us to join them on what was a special, lovely and memorable day.
No comments:
Post a Comment