A Funeral For A Friend
Mar. 12th, 2025 10:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lupestripeThis morning was Entei-rah's funeral in Stockport, with us having travelled over to Manchester last night. En route, we had to call off at Marks and Spencer as Wolfie's suit was looking somewhat threadbare and I needed to buy a brand new white shirt as all of mine seem to have gone missing. We gave ourselves plenty of time, but even then had nearly an hour to kill as we were done so quickly. We were advised to pick up a Sparks card, which saved us 10% on the shop, while I also picked up a new wallet and belt, my current two being buggered lately due to repeated use. To kill the time, we sat in the Marks and Spencer cafe where I had a fruit scone, my first in many years, and I realised it was something else I missed about the UK.
The trip over was painless enough, although the train was quite busy initially, and once we had checked into the Ibis Styles on Portland Street, we soon headed over to The Molly House to meet Pysthu and Baloki. We grabbed a swift pint here before going over to Yard and Coop for fried chicken. This was quite nice, although the chicken was a little dry, perhaps on account of being the last customers of the day. We did get lots of free chicken though and I also took photos of the lecherous fox pictures leading to the urinals and the big chicken statue outside next to the sign that said 'Do Not Ride The Cock'. After this, our friends bailed and we grabbed a final beer in another bar, but our stomachs were betraying us by this point. We therefore headed back to the hotel after this to shower and shave. We ended up watching the reality TV show 'Meet the Rees Moggs' which was showing the time when Jacob lost his seat in the election last July. I found it a captivating and glorious watch, even if JRM did come across as more human as a result of the documentary.
I was impressed with the hotel, despite its bizarre meterological theme, and we got up early to grab some breakfast ahead of the funeral. A full cooked breakfast for £12.95 was decently priced and once primed, we put on our suits, checked out and grabbed an Uber. The driver was a bit of a character and at one point had an aggressive altercation with a driver when trying to merge, but he got us to the crematorium on time, where many of our friends were waiting. It was good seeing Bungle, Tungro, Washu and Panthras again, despite the circumstances, but we didn't get chance to speak to them much. In the pub after the event, we did get to speak to Adia and Soma in-depth though, as well as Ent's wife Angela.
The service itself was a touching tribute to our friend, although furry wasn't really mentioned as Angela didn't really want to have to explain it to her family and his computer buddies. There was a lot of Watership Down references, along with his interest in computer science, while the montage of pictures was very poignant. The celebrant was very good too, with the whole ceremony being very moving. I was also surprised to discover it was being live-streamed for the people who couldn't make it, which was a nice addition. Of course, his positive attibutes were the main focus, but I am glad his grumpiness and stubbornness were mentioned too. It felt like a more rounded tribute to the rabbit we knew.
We spent three hours in the bar afterwards, having a few drinks and a sandwich for lunch. This was a happier affair, full of reminiscences and memories, although I fear I was perhaps a little too joyous. This is my way of dealing with grief, but I can understand how it can come across. I also spoke to Andrew, who I remembered as Ent's best man at his wedding, as well as a few members of his family.
Everyone split at around 2pm and Taneli kindly gave us a lift back into the city centre, where we had to pick up our bag from the hotel. He parked up and walked with us, Patter joining too, before the fox headed off once we had changed into our regular clothes in the hotel lobby. Taneli had agreed to drive us back to Pudsey but as we were so close to the Brewdog Outpost and we had our beer visas with us, we thought we'd might as well stop in for one. This we did and it was great catching up with Taneli on all manner of things before he drove us back home. En route, I needed a pee so we had to gatecrash a McDonald's on the eastern fringe of Manchester while we called in at Popeyes on the way back too so Wolfie could try it. He was quite impressed, while I had the buffalo ranch burger, which was suitably tangy. The fries were also crispier than they had been when I tried Popeyes the first time last month, so I was largely impressed.
Taneli came back to ours for a cup of tea before leaving around 9:15pm. All in all, it has been a difficult day with grief but a wonderful tribute to our friend Ent. I was going to buy a Greggs in his memory, but we ended up having so much food, I decided against it. Still, despite how tough it has been, I am glad we made the journey over to say goodbye to our friend.
The trip over was painless enough, although the train was quite busy initially, and once we had checked into the Ibis Styles on Portland Street, we soon headed over to The Molly House to meet Pysthu and Baloki. We grabbed a swift pint here before going over to Yard and Coop for fried chicken. This was quite nice, although the chicken was a little dry, perhaps on account of being the last customers of the day. We did get lots of free chicken though and I also took photos of the lecherous fox pictures leading to the urinals and the big chicken statue outside next to the sign that said 'Do Not Ride The Cock'. After this, our friends bailed and we grabbed a final beer in another bar, but our stomachs were betraying us by this point. We therefore headed back to the hotel after this to shower and shave. We ended up watching the reality TV show 'Meet the Rees Moggs' which was showing the time when Jacob lost his seat in the election last July. I found it a captivating and glorious watch, even if JRM did come across as more human as a result of the documentary.
I was impressed with the hotel, despite its bizarre meterological theme, and we got up early to grab some breakfast ahead of the funeral. A full cooked breakfast for £12.95 was decently priced and once primed, we put on our suits, checked out and grabbed an Uber. The driver was a bit of a character and at one point had an aggressive altercation with a driver when trying to merge, but he got us to the crematorium on time, where many of our friends were waiting. It was good seeing Bungle, Tungro, Washu and Panthras again, despite the circumstances, but we didn't get chance to speak to them much. In the pub after the event, we did get to speak to Adia and Soma in-depth though, as well as Ent's wife Angela.
The service itself was a touching tribute to our friend, although furry wasn't really mentioned as Angela didn't really want to have to explain it to her family and his computer buddies. There was a lot of Watership Down references, along with his interest in computer science, while the montage of pictures was very poignant. The celebrant was very good too, with the whole ceremony being very moving. I was also surprised to discover it was being live-streamed for the people who couldn't make it, which was a nice addition. Of course, his positive attibutes were the main focus, but I am glad his grumpiness and stubbornness were mentioned too. It felt like a more rounded tribute to the rabbit we knew.
We spent three hours in the bar afterwards, having a few drinks and a sandwich for lunch. This was a happier affair, full of reminiscences and memories, although I fear I was perhaps a little too joyous. This is my way of dealing with grief, but I can understand how it can come across. I also spoke to Andrew, who I remembered as Ent's best man at his wedding, as well as a few members of his family.
Everyone split at around 2pm and Taneli kindly gave us a lift back into the city centre, where we had to pick up our bag from the hotel. He parked up and walked with us, Patter joining too, before the fox headed off once we had changed into our regular clothes in the hotel lobby. Taneli had agreed to drive us back to Pudsey but as we were so close to the Brewdog Outpost and we had our beer visas with us, we thought we'd might as well stop in for one. This we did and it was great catching up with Taneli on all manner of things before he drove us back home. En route, I needed a pee so we had to gatecrash a McDonald's on the eastern fringe of Manchester while we called in at Popeyes on the way back too so Wolfie could try it. He was quite impressed, while I had the buffalo ranch burger, which was suitably tangy. The fries were also crispier than they had been when I tried Popeyes the first time last month, so I was largely impressed.
Taneli came back to ours for a cup of tea before leaving around 9:15pm. All in all, it has been a difficult day with grief but a wonderful tribute to our friend Ent. I was going to buy a Greggs in his memory, but we ended up having so much food, I decided against it. Still, despite how tough it has been, I am glad we made the journey over to say goodbye to our friend.
