A Cold And Somber Day.

A day to shiver and pray.

At about ten this morning I dropped in at the doctor's in order to get a villager's prescription filled. A big event as I have to first drive to her house, collect her medical aid card, drive back to the village and queue at the doctor's, drive back to hand over the pills and then drive home. A nice little round trip.

It was blisteringly cold with the temperature gauge in my car never leaving the minus 4 degree mark. That might also explain why hardly anyone was in the waiting room. In icy weather one prefers to languish ill at home!

One of our neighbours had passed away last week and I knew the funeral was going to take place at eleven this morning. I made it with five minutes to spare. Despite the icy weather and the knowledge that the service would be performed outside the church ( ! ) a lot of people showed up. We all looked alike in our black outfits. Well, mine was more brownish but close enough.

Through my work I have ended up attending a lot of funerals and although it is a rite of life, it isn't this B's knees. In a small place such as ours one can't help but read many a thought...
" who is going to be next " which sounds terrible but the priest usually makes a point of reminding all and sundry of it:

" Let's pray for the soul among us who will be next to join heaven "

Honestly, the first time I heard this I freaked out but now I am used to it. Apart from the priest the only constant at these funerals is the undertaker. A dashingly handsome fella in his thirties who always makes sure that everything runs smoothly. At today's funeral everything did and let's hope it will be a long while until the next one.

Biggi