Jim.

Unusual way to spend a Saturday, but it was good.

We said goodbye to a very dear neighbour. Jim was nearly 101 and a much loved legend in our neighbourhood. He'd lived in his house since 1955, although the last couple he'd been in a care home. The isolation of Covid took its toll. Jim was of a generation we are slowly loosing. He never drove, he walked or cycled  everywhere, he and his late wife Kathleen had a tandem bike in their younger days. He'd walk the mile up to the village daily with rucksack on his back, and put his longevity down to the daily pint of real ale he's enjoy in the pub before his walk home.

He was our 'Hero' for the day when we had the VE Day street party in lockdown, and only today did we realise how much he appreciated that when his daughter paid tribute to him, and thanked the neighbours for all we'd done for him.

A burial, then refreshments in the church. A church that holds so many memories for myself. Both my girls christened, and Jodie married from there, not to mention the Christmas Eve crib service we attended for many years. I'm not religious, but there is something very special about the Church in a village community.