Waiting

I set off early for the repatriation of Marine James Holloway so got to Royal Air Force Brize Norton in time to see the C17 aircraft landing at 13:25.
A few other Riders were there early too so we stood around chatting until we wandered along to the Memorial garden on the route of deceased repatriated service personnel being brought back to the UK.
It is the first one I've attended and was told the cortege usually passes at around 15:00 to 15:30. Today the family came at 16:15 and the cortege 5 minutes later escorted by police bikes and cars.

The family stood with us while the bell tolled and the hearse stopped alongside where we were standing, all of us to attention and those wearing regimental/service headwear saluting.
I did not take a photograph of this, too disrespectful, so this photo was taken while we were waiting.
His poor mother was in tears of course, such a sad occasion.

With it being so late I caught some awful traffic on the A40. It was dark by then of course and there is a long stretch which is continuous double white lines so overtaking is not allowed.
It was a long crawl and the last 6 or 7 miles took me nearly an hour so it was a quick dash home "Hello and Goodbye" and off to Tesco for the poppy stand. There was me and Mike but luckily Taff and his wife Sandra turned up too so I was able to leave early.

A long day but it was worth it to pay respects to a fallen Marine Commando.
Also to meet another CTX1300 rider, we are an extremely endangered species in the UK, only about 10 of us. See extra.

(P.S. this is the ceremony that used to take place at Royal Wootton Bassett until RAF Lyneham closed and repatriations were moved to Brize Norton).