Thursday 19 January 2012: All on ice...

692/365: ... gulls on an icy pond at the Mary Stevens Park in Stourbridge (for once, better large).

Took this when I went for a quick walk around the park with my Mum after going to the funeral for my Godmother, my Auntie Eileen (who I believed to be my fairy Godmother when I was little). The bit of sunshine that had come out while her funeral was happening rapidly disappeared afterwards and grey, cold showers replaced it.

The funeral itself - well, one of those 'I'm glad I went but it wasn't good' moments. It was one of those services where it was clear that the vicar knew next to nothing about the person and they could have been reading from a script where *insert name here* was about as personal as it got:

'Everyone's unique, so everyone will have had their own unique relationship with *insert name here*, so I will leave you to think about your relationship with *insert name here* and all that *insert name here* meant to you. Let us give thanks for *insert name here*, for all they did in their life and all the different roles *insert name here* had during that life time of *insert lifespan here* years...'

*sigh*

So, we both felt the need for some fresh air afterwards. Saying goodbye is always hard - you say goodbye to a part of what makes you 'you'.

Anyway, I ended up leaving Stourbridge after lunch with Mum and managed to get myself stuck in the stickiest traffic jam ever on the M5... the sat nav helpfully letting me know about the 'severe traffic delay' after I was well onto the sliproad and headed into stationary vehicle land, so couldn't divert. Between two junctions my maximum speed was a shade under 5mph, and the sat nav kindly asked if I wanted to switch to pedestrian mode! The sat nav also disgraced itself in the morning when it turned itself off for no reason and I had no clue where I was going. Fortunately, Nick had left his sat nav in the car and for a while I used that one until mine reappeared from its sleepy state. Despite its betrayal, the fact that its estimated time of arrival was 10 minutes less than Nick's sat nav, I forgave it. I'm very shallow, so it turns out!

A three hour journey home, and the fingertips of a migraine pressing on my brain...

PS I feel I've earned the right to collapse in a heap this evening.
PPS As has Nick who had an interview for a sculpture he'd been shortlisted for - fingers crossed for him!
PPPS Felix gave the little girl her present though apparently didn't wear the hat, but did the dance and song instead. She gave him a kiss. But is marrying someone else. :o)

• Canon EOS 50D:
• f/5.6:
• 1/500":
• 200.0mm:
• ISO 400

• viewed 377 times :
• 26 comments :
• show tags

• about sarahhorrigan :
• view blipfolio