A Long Farewell

The funeral was a sombre affair filled with beautiful memories of Billy and how he was in life - a prankster, an animal lover and someone who would always be there to offer advice if you needed it. His young daughter Olivia, who has only just started secondary school, took proceedings very heroically and it was great to chat to her again, despite the circumstances. The chapel in the crematorium was full so we had to stand at the back, such was his popularity. The service was tasteful and poignant, but there was an air of great sadness like I have never experienced before.

Afterwards, we went to the Middlewick Social Club for the wake where we chatted to his distraught fiancé and various members of his family. The atmosphere here was far lighter than in the crematorium, although I could have done without a pint at 11am. The club itself was a traditional working man's club but despite the authoritarian long grey tables, it wasn't grim. Indeed the bar served awful beer but the orange decor and large stage suggested this would be quite a good place to spend an evening. Billy used to frequent it often.

I needed to leave quite early as I am heading back to Leeds now on the bus. It's roasting. I saw some top graffiti in the toilets of Middlesbrough bus station earlier. The first said 'BNP - English and Proud' but someone had later crossed out the word 'Proud' and replaced it with the word 'Cunts'. The second asked 'Where's all the jobs for English people?' with someone correcting the obvious grammar error to 'Where are all the jobs for English people?' I think that says it all.

By the way, Billy died of a heart attack, probably brought about by stress. His fiancé had had aggressive cancer and was frequently having chemotherapy over the last 12 months. It's a testament to what stress can do to the body and is concerning for someone like me who gets angry far too easily. It is definitely a sobering warning for us all.

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