MK meanderings; farewell to Barbara; new flat

Finding myself with a free day in MK a few weeks ago, finally ventured into Buddies Diner, next to the Old Stratford Travelodge, for a late second breakfast (as ranted about previously, they don’t actually open at breakfast time). Their coffee is of the jug on a hot plate variety and arrived in an over-large cup with a free refill. I ordered pancakes and bacon, which were perfectly nice but was coerced into ordering a seemingly obligatory potato product in addition, so ended up with a pile of entirely unwanted hash browns on the plate. Who can actually eat that much? I did see two women sitting near me being served with a vast breakfast each though, plus a plate of hash browns on the side, so perhaps some people can.

After leaving Buddies, took a head-clearing walk from the Travelodge through Stony Stratford Nature Reserve and past Wolverton Mill. Encountered the Iron Trunk Aqueduct, and bravely scurried through the narrow and claustrophobic tunnel under the canal (referred to in this blog post) to join the canal towpath, which I then followed into Wolverton and then back to Stony along Stratford Road. This last section was a bit of a slog, one of those where you realize you’ve actually had enough of walking, but have no other way of returning to the point you started from. Doubtless good exercise though. I saw a heron early on in the walk, and asked its opinion on my housing crisis, but it didn’t volunteer much.

Last Friday was Barbara’s funeral service at St Mark’s Crescent Methodist Church in Maidenhead. Barbara wasn’t a regular attender at church services but had apparently visited the church quite often as some of the groups she was involved in met there. Arrived early and met Barbara’s friend Doreen in the car park, whom I’d met briefly some years ago when Mum, Ray and I met up with her and Barbara at the Courtyard Theatre in Hereford while they were attending the Three Choirs Festival. The service was nice and Ray gave a lovely tribute to Barbara. The second hymn, For the Beauty of the Earth, was slightly embarrassing as hardly anyone seemed to know it – I have a vague memory of having heard it before but it isn’t a very memorable tune.

After the service, we had to make our way across town to the committal at Braywick Cemetery, where Barbara's parents, as well as both Ray's sets of grandparents, are buried. Thankfully, as it saved me the drive, Ray gave me and his cousin Michael a lift; lane closures in Maidenhead town centre resulted in us cutting in in front of the hearse, which led Ray to contemplate whether he’d shown sacrilegious disrespect. The committal was a mercifully brief ceremony as it was becoming dank and cold by that time. Afterwards we made our way back to the Clarks’ house in Lancaster Road for food and drink. Although I had been determined to attend the funeral to pay my respects to Barbara, I’d been somewhat apprehensive at meeting Ray’s family again as, apart from Barbara, I hadn’t seen any of them for around seven years, though I had sent Ray Sr and Carol a long-overdue New Year note following Barbara’s death. As it happened they were all lovely and I ended up staying at the house and chatting for around three hours.
Caroline's daughter Kirsty was playing Minecraft during the get-together at the house, which led to a bit of discussion. Have just watched a beginners' tutorial on YouTube, but can't say I'm really tempted. Seems to be quite a bit of work involved, what with having to gather wood to build yourself shelter, etc.

An inch or so of snow on Monday night - it had pretty much all melted by midday on Tuesday though.

Big news is that I have, for better or worse, taken out another tenancy in MK. After going backwards and forwards as to the pros and cons, and viewing various flats which for one reason and another I didn’t take, and missing out on several I phoned about because apparently there’s such a rush on rental properties at the moment, managed to get to be first in the queue on a two-bed with a balcony in the Wolverton Park development next to Wolverton railway station. I don’t need two bedrooms, but one-beds appeared to be at a premium and Ruth and I had agreed that we could just about cope with upping the amount we were willing to pay just a bit. I had seen and liked the look of the development when walking the canal path with Ray in March 2012. Wolverton is MK’s northernmost suburb and definitively out of walking distance of the OU, but that matters less now I’m more familiar with the town; am intending to continue with the bus/walk combo.

Checked into the flat yesterday so am now in possession of the keys, though don’t actually move in until Friday, when Ruth has efficiently sorted man with van to carry the stuff I’m bringing. Feels slightly farcical to be carting stuff back up here when I carted it all back home to Reading a year ago, but am determinedly not pondering that.