Funeral

The funeral was lovely

The weather was glorious.

It was in Tony's parish church.

The church was full.

We sang Jerusalem, as requested, and walked him out to Thine be the glory.  Amazing grace didn't get a look in!

Lindsey and other family members gave eulogies. Paul read a eulogy on behalf of the UK family. Some people read poems. I read the gospel reading. Ian had prepared slideshows of photos for the church and for the community centre.

Stella's elderly cousin came from Geelong, accompanied by her son. The practice was represented by former Partners, brought by the wife of a current Partner,  or a family member, and by the current Practice Manager and the Nurse Manager.

Some of their earliest Australian friends, now all deceased, were represented by their children.

It was a lovely service.

Tony was accompanied to the crematorium by Stella, his children and grandchildren.  Sorry Tony - but it was a largely pointless exercise.  We had said goodbye at the church. We didn't drive in convoy (would have been very difficult and the traffic was quite heavy) and just turned up at the crematorium to look at the coffin. Then we turned around again and drove back to Mount Martha. Would have been better (in my view) to have spent that time talking outside the church to the people who couldn't come to the wake. However, Tony had wanted us to go, and so we did.

The party was held in the community centre of their retirement village and was catered by a local coffee shop that they were very fond of (Stella still is!)

We sent him on his way wearing (amongst other things!!!) his piano key braces and his music socks.  We sent a hymn book for songs of rejoicing in the after life, plus a sheet of music.  We sent a glass or three of a good bottle of red wine. He had a copy of New Scientist to read on the journey. A golf tee in his pocket in case Paradise has a golf course. And his stethoscope, although I am not sure there will be much need for a stethoscope now.  But Just in Case!

Jim and I are at Mount Martha still. Jim is staying with Stella this week while I am at work. We will leave on Friday. Wendy will be here over the weekend. Then Stella will try her hand at living on her own next week.  Luckily she has very supportive neighbours.

Paul is on his way home. He should come for longer next time!

Some of you may remember me mentioning, some years ago, that my Uncle Peter had said that his ambition was to live for longer than Tony, his younger brother by 8 years. I told Tony. Tony took it on as a challenge - and beat his brother by 5 months. So a close run thing.

And Paul tells us that Tony died on his mother's birthday (Tony's mother, not Paul's). Oddly enough he died in a very similar way to his mother. Fading gently away, not eating or drinking much, not getting up much in the last week of life.  Not a bad way to go, I guess. Especially when you are full of years

We bought this plate for Tony when we were in Japan.

We hoped that it might encourage him to eat a bit.  Alas, he died before we could give it to him

So we gave it to Stella instead

She ate every scrap - although she cheated and ate the chocolate biscuit, hidden in the treasure chest, first :-D

Preparing for the funeral

Actually, it was mostly Lindsey and Stella who put the funeral together, aided by one of the parish vicars and with telephone assistance from the rest of us.

We averted the inclusion of Amazing Grace in the service. Tony had, in any case, specifically said he didn't want it.  It was one of the few instructions he had given us.  No Amazing Grace. Definitely Jerusalem, which had been his school hymn. No going on his own to the crematorium. He had been at too many services where everyone has said farewell at the church and the centre of attention has trundled off to the crem on their own.  Apart from that, we were on our own. We made it up as best we could. Lindsey, Stella and the vicar have worked very hard.

Lindsey brought Stella up to Mount Helen.  Rupert and Hugo were pleased to see Lindsey - until they saw that Stella was there too!! They do love Stella.

In the meantime, cousin Paul has rocked up from the UK. He arrived on Friday morning and leaves tomorrow evening.  A short visit!  Obviously he had come for the funeral but we thought we ought to be a bit entertaining as well.  So on Saturday we went out to lunch. On Saturday evening everyone at the Mount Helen house came to our place for dinner.  On Sunday we took Paul and Stella to Lal Lal for the (small) annual community market, then we went to Buninyong to look for their spring market.  Couldn't find it. So we had coffee and cake instead in the Pig and Gooses.  Then discovered that the spring market was in the botanical gardens.  Couldn't be bothered hunting for it so all went home.

Jim and I have bought trousers and I've bought a shirt for the funeral.  I wish you to understand that I bought a proper, linen shirt for real money.  None of this $10 from Kmart stuff :-D

Lindsey and Stella have gone back to Mount Martha for a final chat with the vicar. Ian and Paul have gone to Melbourne. Jim and I  are up at Hill House.

We all convene at Mount Martha tomorrow lunchtime to send Tony on his way.

Last day in Japan

We got up on Monday morning and had breakfast.  Then Lindsey and Sandy took themselves off to a multi-storey electronics shop for a look around.  I didn't go with them.  I have absolutely no room in my suitcase for anything else and didn't want to be tempted by shiny, electronic things.  Instead, I sat about in the hotel room, updated the blog, messed about on the internet and generally just enjoyed doing Absolutely Nothing.

Then they came back!

We had to check out by midday so left our luggage at the hotel and went to look at this building, the Umerta Sky Building:

You get up to the observation platform by escalator and glass lift:

Up we go, followed by the fast escalator to the top

There is a rooftop garden above the observation platform but it is closed for repairs after Typhoon Jebi damaged it early in September.  That's OK.  The observation platform gave us some lovely views of Osaka

Another Ferris wheel.  I haven't been on this one.
On the list for next time I am in Osaka

The well in the centre of the observation platform

We had some lunch and then went back to the hotel, which is really only a five minute walk away.  We had about an hour until our shuttle bus out to the airport.  So we had afternoon tea:

Lindsey's tea:
English breakfast tea, teapot sat on a candle warmer,
frothy hot milk in a china jug
water in wine glasses.
Lindsey's tea, and Lindsey's photo

And then we went home.  Bus to the airport, where we bade a fond farewell to Sandy. Cocktails for Lindsey and me prior to boarding (Moscow mule, anyone?  No, not me. Lindsey.  I had a gin and tonic). Then flight to Hong Kong, flight back to Melbourne, from where Lindsey went to Mount Martha to help sort things out with Matthew and Stella.

I took the airport bus back to Ballarat. Jim got spectacularly lost getting to the station but found it eventually. Back to Lindsey and Ian's place, where Rupert and Hugo were slightly pleased to see me (springs on paws, bouncing, much great tail wagging - and where are our presents???)

Many thanks to Lindsey and Sandy for a great couple of weeks touring around Japan, and to Austin, Kaori and Tatsuki for topping and tailing our holidays so well

Tony

As you may be aware, Tony was diagnosed with lung cancer some time ago.  For a very long time it sat there, minding its own business, not really doing anything particularly interesting.

Then it started to grow. Tony and Stella between them decided that it was better not to take any invasive action.  In fact, not really to take any action at all.  He was 87, already quite frail and any action that could be taken would probably make matters worse.

He continued to get more frail but otherwise seemed OK. His appetite decreased to almost nothing and he had got very thin, but he was managing with resource drinks, chocolate, ice cream, milo and red wine.

He was more or less OK when we left Melbourne not quite three weeks ago. The day we left he was talking about having a pub lunch when we got back.

He was more or less OK when I spoke to him six or so days ago.

Then he started to fade very quickly. He stopped getting out of bed.  He pretty much stopped eating and drinking.  It was clear that he didn't have long to go.  But it looked as though he would easily last until Lindsey and I got back. Even yesterday, when lots of the family went to visit, it seemed as though he had a week or so to go.

The only issue was that Stella was finding it difficult to manage overnight. During the day there were people about. At night she couldn't help him get up to go to the toilet, or to sit up for a drink.  Wendy has been down there for a few nights and last night Belinda was there.

I don't think, in fact, that it was the lung cancer that was causing the downward move.  He has had terrible head pain since he had shingles 6 or 7 years ago. He couldn't hear very much any more.  He couldn't play his flute. I think he was probably about to have his driving licence removed.  He had packed his bags and was ready to move on. No longer any will to live.

Even so, we were not expecting the phone call just after midnight (Japan time) this morning to say that he had died. We think that it might have been a heart attack that carried him off unexpectedly. Stella says that he woke up very agitated, desperate to get out of bed, everything was hurting. She persuaded him to lie back down and he just faded away.  Luckily Belinda was there. Simon and Jacob drove down when they heard the news.  Many of the family are there today.

Lindsey and I will fly back to Melbourne (as planned) this evening. It sort of worked out better that we weren't there for the occasion, otherwise we too would have gone today and I think Stella would have been a bit overwhelmed with visitors. As it is, we can spread the visits out a bit.

I can tell you, however, that a death in the middle of the night is VERY noisy, even if it isn't particularly noisy for the one has died.  Phones ring. And ring again. Messages come in. Messages go out.  Once everyone has calmed down and gone to bed and then woken up again, more phones ring and things need to be done and many conversations happen.

Poor Sandy was sharing a three bed room with us last night.  I don't think she got much sleep!

Stella and Tony at Le Petit Tractor last summer

Vale, Tony.  A long life, lived mostly with enthusiasm

Osaka

We all caught the train into central Osaka in the morning.

We started in a long, long shopping arcade.  It was very busy!

Photo by Sandy

We spent quite a bit of time there, stopping to admire various shops, to have coffee - and to eat chips. A shop that makes its own chips/crisps to order. And very delicious they were too

Child, interrupted eating :-D

As we got towards the end of the arcade, Tatsuki got more and more excited.  Then he started running towards a bridge.  Because over the bridge was this:

It's a ferris wheel which goes up the side of the building, on the left, then goes over the top the building and then comes down on the right hand side.  In order that the passengers don't get tipped over, the capsules adjust their orientation, making odd noises as they do so.  Tatsuki loves ferris wheels. He especially loves this one.  Kaori does not love it.  She did not go on. But the rest of us did

Tatsuki and Austin having fun.
I was in the capsule with them. Lindsey and Sandy were in the one behind us.

Look! A boat down below.  We should go on that later

Getting up quite high

At the very top

Then we went on the boat.  Tatsuki declared that boats were very scary and refused to go on.  Weird ferris wheels - not scary; perfectly ordinary boats - very scary :-D   He and Kaori waited by the bridge for us

A spot of lunch and another potter about, then Austin, Kaori, Tatsuki and I went back to the house while Sandy and Lindsey went to find a place to buy an extra suitcase (I said we should have brought an empty one when we set off :-D )

Don't eat the fugu.
They're very dangerous!

And so to bed after a very busy day.

This morning Austin, Kaori and Tatsuki went home.  Lindsey, Sandy and I relocated to the Westin where we dropped off our cases and then hit the shops.  We found the Osaka Kiddyland. We found the gigantic book shop. We had lunch in a food hall. We found the main Osaka Loft (a kind of discount department store). We had dinner in the hotel.  Not a bad way of spending our last full day in Japan for this trip.

The view from our room:

May I draw your attention to the lack of traffic on the bridge?
Most people seem to be on the trains which are packed!

Mostly on the move

We left our apartment in Hiroshima at 10:00 and made our way to the station, where we had breakfast in a rather nice cafe. It's a book cafe.  You can have eggs on toast with coffee and then potter around and buy books.

We didn't buy books. We went for a wander in the station department store and then took our shinkansen to Shin Ōsaka. I'm not sure what everyone is doing this weekend, but the shinkansen was very crowded!

Lunch in Shin Ōsaka and then on to Ōsaka by train, and another train to the local station to where we are staying.  Trying to find our house was something of a challenge. Google maps, Apple maps AND the Airbnb directions all took us to a location that clearly wasn't where our house was.  I wonder if the GPS system was playing up yesterday afternoon because none of the reviews on the Airbnb site mention any difficulty in finding the place.  Had we followed the host's directions, I think we would have been ok - but I couldn't access them on my phone or iPad.  Anyway. We got here eventually, although we're not sure quite how we persuaded our devices to come here.  We even found a rather large supermarket when we went out exploring later. But there's no nearby convenience store, which is quite unusual in Japan.

Austin, Kaori and Tatsuki arrived at around 10:30 in the evening. We had notified Austin that the directions were a bit suspect and had shared our actual location.  Fortunately he and Kaori managed to get here without much trouble.

So here we are.

Ōsaka.

It's our last weekend.

And it's raining!  It's the first real rain we've had since we got here. I may have to dig out my rain jacket for the day.

Iwakuni and Miyajima

Sandy has a friend who knows someone who lives near Hiroshima. Hitomi.  So Sandy and Hitomi got in touch with each other and arranged to meet while we were here.  Yesterday, she came and took us out for the day.

I wasn't absolutely clear where we were going but it turned out to be an amazing bridge near Iwakuni, the Kintai Bridge

On the other side of the bridge is a beautiful park, and a cable car up to the Iwakuni Castle.  Of course, we went on the cable car up to the castle

After a restorative ice cream, we went on to Miyajima.  Miyajima is an island and you reach it by ferry.  Happily, our JR passes cover the Miyajima ferry. Miyajima is famous for its floating torii gate and its shrine.  It was very busy with school parties and with tourists.  I think it is the place where we have seethe most Western tourists.  A few in Tokyo, a few in Kyoto, a few more in the Hiroshima Peace Park. Lots and lots in Miyajima.

And there are deer roaming around, much as they do in Nara

Sandy and Hitomi - lunchtime!

Lindsey and me
Photo by Hitomi

Sandy
I think Hitomi took this photo

It was a great day.  Sandy, Lindsey and I were hugely grateful for Hitomi's hospitality. We might have got to Miyajima. Lindsey knew about it and you can get there by train (and ferry) from Hiroshima. But we wouldn't have got to Iwakuni. We didn't know it was there.

We were all quite tired when we got back to our flat.  Poor Hitomi, who did all the driving, must have been exhausted.  And she had to go to work this morning.  We are pottering around in our flat, drinking tea/coffee and contemplating our move later today to Osaka for the final leg of our trip

Hiroshima

Guess where we are.  It's not Melbourne!
Photo taken from the bus

In Hiroshima, there are tourist hop on hop off buses that leave from the station. There are three routes, all of which go to the Atomic Bomb Dome and to the Peace Memorial Park.  Otherwise they go to slightly different places. I have to say that they are not very expensive (around $AU8 for a day pass). But you can use your Japan Rail Pass (if you have one) so using the tourist buses cost us nothing.

We started out at the castle:

Lindsey at the castle steps

Looking out over Hiroshima from the top

Looking over the moat

Then we moved on to the Atomic Bomb Dome.  The atomic bomb detonated over the building, 600m up. It didn't do it much good!

There wasn't much left of central Hiroshima after the bomb had gone off and they set to to rebuild it very quickly after the dust had settled. Now you would hardly know, except that in the Peace Memorial park there are many memorials, statues, fountains and other marks of respect and remembrance.

Looking towards the Eternal Flame, which is in the centre of the waterway 

There is a dedicated children's memorial and there were many groups of school children around it. When we got there there was a class of children dressed in blue, playing their recorders in front of the memorial. When they had finished they bowed, and moved aside for the next school group to take their place.

We visited the Peace Museum after wandering through the park.

I have been asked if I found it sad and I didn't, not really.  I found it all very peaceful and gentle.  I didn't need to see the relics that were left behind after the bomb to know that dropping any kind of bomb on a city, and especially a nuclear bomb, is not a Good Plan. I am glad I did see them, though.

We had lunch in a Coco Curry, where they do vegetarian curries. I didn't have a curry, vegetable or otherwise.  I had a chicken caesar salad :-D

Sandy, with the vegetarian-specific menu
Photo by Lindsey

After lunch we hit the shops, had coffee in a Tully's coffee shop, took the tourist bus all around its circuit to back to the station, sorted out our tickets for Friday and walked back to our little flat, via the supermarket.  Vegetable stew for dinner, with little steaks on top for Lindsey and me.

It was a good day. The weather was lovely and the Peace Memorial Park is beautiful.  Oh, and I managed nearly 15,000 steps and 13 floors.  I hadn't thought about climbing up the castle stairs when I said I didn't expect to get many floors!

The Three Amigos in Hiroshima
Photo by Sandy