Teller of tall tales. The General. The Wee Manny. A Rascal. A Traveller. An Adventurer.
It has taken me all this time to begin this post and per usual I'm drawing on one I wrote almost ten years ago.
I went to today's funeral (the first of the year) with
the Wee Manny. He arrived at our house more than an hour early all
suited and booted. In our part of the world, by the time a man is in
his middle age he has his funeral rig ready at all times. This outfit
will consist of a dark suit, a dark tie, black if the funeral is that
of a close family member and, given the Irish climate, a heavy dark
overcoat.
It was a battle getting Bert to wear his suit
but he allowed himself to be persuaded. The funeral suit is a much
easier option than trying to find other items of dark (clean)
clothing. And the dark tie is always in the inside jacket
pocket.
The reason I went with The Wee was because Bert
was picking Hannah up from work and the Wee and I, both being Virgos,
are particular about punctuality. We were there at least half an
hour before the proceedings began. The Cuningham Memorial is very
close to where I live yet this was the first time I'd ever been
inside it. The interior is traditional, with heavy roof beams
and beautiful stained glass. The pews are those old-fashioned ones
with doors. Ours seated just three people. As always, on entering the
church, I had to stop myself looking for the holy water font and in
the pew I noted the absence of kneelers. Presbyterians do not kneel.
At least I did not attempt to genuflect as I entered the pew. I did
that once but I hope no one noticed. That was at Church of Ireland
wedding so you'd almost get away with it.
As we sat in
that pew I reflected that The Wee is actually my oldest friend. Not
old in terms of age, but old in the length of time we've known each
other. I met him nearly forty years ago and knew of his existence a few years before that. The Wee was one of the cool dudes,
living mostly outside Ballymena, in London, Amsterdam and other
interesting places. I first met him in Dublin while I was visiting my
sister who was at Trinity College. He and I had a mutual friend and
the three of us went on a pub crawl. Little did I know that The Wee and I would still know each other forty years on and that we'd go to funerals
together and that we'd have spent the time before discussing our
favourite baking dishes and other mundane things. He introduced me to
Bert nearly thirty years ago so I expect I'll have to be friends with
him forever.
Turned out forever wasn't as long as I thought it would be. Robin, you will be missed and we will be talking about about you and your exploits forever.
