nice to catch up but not in nice circumstances

Yesterday we headed up to Oxford, unfortunately it wasn't for a jolly, we were going up to Art's sister's funeral. She passed away mid April from complications due to a fall from an Epileptic fit while living in Ireland, she was in her mid-twenties. We all met at the crematorium in Oxford & the turn out was huge, it was standing room only.  The rest of Art's mates, Adam & I were all crowded into the observation balcony upstairs cos there were no seats left downstairs. The celebration of her life was so touching with inputs from her family & friends who did so well to keep it together while talking.  She was so young & will be greatly missed that's for sure. Afterwards the wake was held at a nearby pavilion with lots of veggie food (all of Art's family & lots of his friends don't eat meat but there was the odd real meat sausage roll doing the rounds, shh!! It was quite funny cos during the talks about Jane's life it turned out that she was quite partial to the odd sausage roll too, love it!). There were lots of pictures of Jane & her beautiful smile around the room & the stereo was playing songs that reminded everyone of her. Art & his family were so touched at everyone making such an effort for them but they all know we're here when times get hard in the future & unfortunately, they'll get a bit tougher before they get easier.


Afterwards we headed to a pub b&b we'd reserved a room at called The Fox in Souldern (such a pretty village).  When we entered we couldn't believe how small it was, the bar was a little horseshoe shape in the middle & there a couple of tables either side.  Everyone stopped & stared when we walked in so it was a bit of a local pub for local people I think! We decided not to be sociable (which was a mistake when I realised I'd missed out on a pint of Tribute my favourite ale) cos a new series of The Apprentice had just started & we wanted to catch the episode (sad or what?!) so we scurried off to our room.  It was lovely inside, if a bit odd, cos the bedroom & bathroom were all open plan!  It's a good job we've been living together so long & we don't have secrets anymore!
I was very excited about breakfast this morning cos I'd ordered a proper Full English with the works, black pudding, the lot!  I'd forgotten how good proper black pudding tastes cos I'm so used to a Wetherspoons breakfast & theirs is nowhere near as scrummy! Adam was the healthy one though & had scrambled egg on toast & cereal while I tucked in to fried eggs, sausage, bacon, mushrooms, black pudding, backed beans & fried toast! Yoink to the diet again!

Once we'd finished breakfast we headed to Bicester Village to see what we could get at a discount. Adam saw another suit he liked for the wedding but they only had the jacket & waistcoat in his size & not the trousers so better luck next time!  I didn't really see anything that took my fancy & I'm trying to be really good while I start the final countdown to paying off my credit card (3 more payments to go wahoo!) so I mainly kept my eyes shut if I saw anything that I thought I might fall in love with!
It was nice getting home on a Thursday afternoon & not have to worry about work tomorrow (got another day off!) so we sorted stuff out & had a very light tea (I'm still stuffed from breakfast! Ha!)



roaming reporter KtPx