I left faithful old Stab at 1 ish on Friday and I was no sooner in the door when my father had me out working and that wasn't what I'd planned to do at all. I did what I had to do and we all went to visit my Gran in hospital at around 8 that night. She was in good form that night, better than usual and she had us all laughing as she recalled her younger days. Interesting to say the least. There was even talk of her coming home this week because her blood sugar had come back down to normal. Little did we know then that she'd die within the next 4 hours.
As you can appreciate, it was a total shock. I remember lying in bed at 6 in the morning and my dad saying get up to do jobs cos of the pressure we'd be under for the next few days. I was gutted, but I never seen my father in such a way. It shook him to the core and I'm not suprised. He was in bits when his father died a few years ago but that was nothing compared to last weekend.
He decided to have the wake in our house so the whole place had to be cleaned for the visitors , which as it turned out, arrived in hundreds and our place was a hive of activity. After the rosary on Saturday night, and with over 100 people in our gaff, myself and my cousins set into the crates of booze that had appeared. It was some session.
Sunday came and I had to go work for my father and for reasons I won't explain, had to be done. I went and did a few jobs when I got up, with a sore head, and I delevered a little calf too. How cool was that? He was a happy little fucker which cheered me up a bit. I went to work then, after a much needed shower and I got home just before they closed the coffin so I was glad of that.
Myself and the cousins then lead the hearse up the road to the chapel for more prayers. We also carried the coffin which we volunteered to do and everyone thought that was a nice thing to do. Another session ensued in our house, which was still packed and the highlight of the evening was my 12 year old twin cousins telling us dirty stories. Funny little fuckers they are too.