Friday 18th July - Fergus's funeral, Whitstable by the sea side and thunderstorm

Today is the day of Fergus Laidlaw's funeral. At 10:30 the hearsette arrived with two frock coated undertakers in top hats. At the beginning the assistant bowed to the hearsette and then proceeded to walk down the road in front of it while we all tailed along in the taxi. After getting a good way down the street the hearsette stopped and he got in and we drove the rest of the way to the chapel.

The Garden of England chapel

Fergus's flowers

Fergus's hearsette

The service all went smoothly.

































Afterwards we all went back home to get changed and then drove off to Whitstable down by the sea for a seafood lunch. The restaurant was called the "Harbourside Garden Cafe".

While sitting there waiting for our meal to arrive an old Thames sailing barge called the S B Greta came sailing slowly into the harbour - a beautiful sight! Reminded me of a story that I read from the Parnell Public Library when I was a kid about a similar barge called "Dauntless".

After lunch we went for a walk round Whitstable village's quaint narrow streets and little shops. Down by the harbour we found "Dead man's Corner" on Dead Man's Deck!

Above is the Prince Albert pub and Whitstable High Street

Here is Mary-Ann posting her mail and  ...                           ... here is Emi down by the sea side.

Here is bexley Street in Whitstable.

Then we drove off to Canterbury to explore a market. We bought some cheeses and beer and came home.

That night we had a terrific thunderstorm. We took this photo just before it started right on dusk.