Say it with flowers

The funeral goes well. As it turns out Nanny didn't need the extra wide coffin that Gramps had foretold would be necessary due to her arms getting locked in position if she died whilst knitting. They have 'NAN' spelled out in white flowers and I immediately think of the funeral in Royston Vasey with 'BASTARD' spelled out in the back of the hearse. Richard says he will save money by choosing only a four letter word for me - Aunt Jean correctly guesses it may begin with a 'C'.

They play Daniel O'Donnell as we leave the Chapel of Rest - well it made me leave! I spot my sister, Milford's answer to Burke and Hare: big as two people though not technically a grave robber. We exchanged curt hellos. Later we do the same. I said I wouldn't speak two words to her but if 'hello' twice counts then I think I may have broken my vow.

It pours with rain when we reach the cemetery which is always fitting but things seem drier back at the Legion until I get a gin and tonic. I have a momentary lapse and look around to see if Nanny has come in, then pull myself together. Her family are much fewer than in previous years as they all get old and ill and dead. Not always in that order. Many have their hair done by powergen with what looks like a Hi-energy perm. Walter and Doris are there. Doris is a gruff little woman (I think she's a woman). She's losing her sight which explains the wardrobe but it beats the shorts skirts she used to sport. Aunt Lilian rocks her grand-daughter Alys and sings the song about a woman who swallows a fly 'I don't know why she swallows a fly'. 'Because she's a man' I add in my gruff imitation of Doris.

We all laugh, fortified by welsh cakes and tea and we watch the kids run up and down the polished dance-floor. Nanny would have liked that - she wouldn't have liked it if it had been my generation or my aunts - we'd have been told to behave and possibly to sit in order of age or height to look neat and tidy. I say wouldn't it be lovely to have the energy of the kids and how I used to love sliding along the dance floor. Richard adds that I was 28 at the time!