Funeral For A Friend

John was at school with my father and they remained friends long afterwards. Having heard of his recent passing via the school website, we travelled down to Chester today for the funeral. He was a proud member of the Chester Association of Old Kings Scholars (CAOKS) and we were encouraged to wear our CAOKS ties if we were also old boys of the Kings School Chester. Wearing of Chester City Club (he was a longtime member and also served a term as President) ties was also encouraged.
We called in to see mum first and to tell her where we were going as she would have known John very well. Not sure if she understood any of what I told her though.
Back in the 60s and 70s our families used to holiday in Abersoch, North Wales during the summer and it was good to talk to John’s daughters after the funeral and reminisce about those days.
But the biggest surprise was catching up with another chap whose family also holidayed in Abersoch. A little older than me, we did enjoy a few summers in the mid 70s when we hung out together, sailing dinghies and, latterly, riding around on our motorbikes. That was nigh on fifty years ago, and I hadn’t seen hide nor hair of him since, though I did occasionally wonder what had happened to him as his parents lived near Kendal and we’d see them occasionally in town.
Well, I was quite surprised to learn that not only is he still into his motorbikes - like me - but that he now lives just outside Kendal! It must have been fate that we should meet again at the funeral of a man who was friends with both our fathers!
Needless to say, numbers have been exchanged and a tentative plan made to meet up at the Wray Bike Night next week. That may depend on the weather, but I’m sure we will get together in the near future for a good catch up. We certainly can’t afford to leave it another fifty years…