A Celebration of a Life
Yesterday was Brian‘s funeral in Amersham. Or more properly, it was a humanist celebration of a life lived well and to the full!
I’ll remember it for ever, just as I’ll remember Brian for all he did for me, both in business and personally in the last few years.
I think though he would have approved of some of the more light-hearted things that were done and said. Someone said, that it was a pity that the funeral cars were Mercedes and not Jaguars, as Brian was very much a fan and had owned several of the latter. I think, he would have hated it, if his funeral had been bland, well-meaning and lacking any humour and fun.
I normally don’t wear a black tie for funerals, but a flowery Ferragamo one, that I bought in Florence, soon after C’s death. However out of respect for Brian, I did wear black yesterday, but decided to change it just before I left to get the train back to London. I then asked his daughter, if I should have worn it. She said yes and showed me her nail varnish. She said Brian called it Tart’s Red. Sometimes when she tried another shade, she’d show it to her father and he’d say, he preferred the Tart’s Red. Yesterday, all his girls, as he called them; his wife, his daughter and two grand-daughters, had had their nails in Tart’s Red in respect for Brian.
But did Brian have the last laugh?
It was said in the service that he was a Spurs supporter. But coming from Edmonton, this should have been obvious, even if he didn’t tell everybody about it.
I said in an e-mail last night, that I would put a small bet on Spurs to beat Milan in memory of Brian. Spurs won, but I didn’t put the bet on.
Larger Child Heart Surgery Centres
There is a debate about whether we should have fewer and larger centres for child heart surgery. The BBC is saying that some centres will be closed.
As someone, whose granddaughter was born with a serious medical problem and underwent serious surgery at a few days old, I can understand some of the emotions involved.
But too much of the arguments about more centres are about local pride and parents wanting to have their child referred to a local hospital.
But as someone, who has lost my wife and son to cancer in the last three years and has suffered a stroke, I would travel hours to get the best.
In my son’s case he was in a local hospital in Manchester, which was just too small to have the expertise to diagnose his pancreatic cancer and the diagnosis was not made until he was in Addenbrooke’s some time later. These smaller hospitals should be closed immediately. But then votes and local pride always override scientific correctness.
Should Sex Offenders be on the Register for Life?
The UK Supreme Court has said that they shouldn’t and Scotland has already allowed appeals. According to the BBC, the government is now going to allow appeals in England and Wales.
I welcome this as despite the well-known proverb about leopards, we all know of people, who have modified their behaviour from what was definitely beyond reason to one of being an asset to society.
So if people can do this in areas such as violent crime or serious anti-social behaviour, what is to say that some sex offenders modify their behaviour to be no danger to anybody. Obviously, some will never be safe, but others may well be and should be given the right of appeal.
But I suspect that the Vengence Tendency will feel that no change should ever happen.
The Anonymous Widower 