Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Harlequin with knife at girl's throat



Back from Denmark, and relieved to be in the cool. It was deathly hot, like you would never imagine any Scandinavian country to be. That said, we had a room at super boutique hotel with a lovely terrace right in the middle of the Latin Quarter (not because it's hisapanic, but because latin was once the only language round those parts), with views over churches and steeples and turrets and towers.

We did a lot of walking, a lot of shopping - for things both old and new - and ate some fine food and drank some lovely beer. We took a waterfront cruise, we went on truly terrifying rollercoasters at Tivoli Gardens, which we agreed has a Portmerrionesque/Man With The Golden Gun sinister edge, we went to various exhibitions and museums, and sweated in the heat. A lot.

It was nice to get away.

Because this week is all about funerals. A favourite uncle of mine died last week, the day before my mum's 70th birthday, so that's cast a long shadow. He was only 78, but had been ill for some time.

We were close too, as when my parents first moved abroad, I lived with him and my aunt for a while. He was fun to be around, had a good sense of humour, would lose patience with inanimate objects at the drop of a hat, was wholly unpractical, would feed any animal that came into the garden, was a gentle soul, an ex-Navy man turned ship's pilot.

With his passing goes another chunk of childhood.

He'll be missed.

2 comments:

Suzy Norman said...

Sorry to hear that, oh dear.

I'd love to go to Denmark. I haven't been to Scandinavia at all! I'm surprised it was hot though. Mr Norman and I were cursing you for being somewhere we thought *must* be cold while we sweated it out at home. Bah.

Kolley Kibber said...

Ah, sorry to hear about your loss, F-C. Uncles can be great. I'm glad he was in your life.

Know just what you mean about the Tivoli Gardens; I've never been anywhere quite like it.

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