Woof, I’m back! Yes, it’s me guide dog Fletcher. First a big woofy apology for the pause in my blog posts. When you read this blog post, I hope you’ll understand why.
It’s been a tough few months this end. Definitely sad times. My human, the pawtastic Fiona, says “we’re juggling a lot of curve balls still”. I’m not sure what she means because they sound fun and it hasn’t been. Two people very close to us got ill earlier this year and then died within twenty-four hours of each other. I saw each of them just hours before they died. I’m in mourning.
I got to guide Fiona around a lot of new places and had to concentrate hard. Some of this was during the “Beast from the East” and “Mini Beast from the East” snow storms. Remember them?! Lots of paws in the snow. And when we got to our destination, sometimes I didn’t get a chance to get in my usual snoozing. For often we were visiting hospital wards which were quite noisy with people coming and going. There were also people ill in beds shouting out unexpectedly. I had to keep one eye open just in case Fiona needed me.
Fast-forward in time and I guided Fiona to the double funeral. Now they certainly didn’t cover this in the Guide Dogs for the Blind training manual. Human no. 2, Andy, was also on paw to lend support. Thankfully no snow this time. Just the start of soaring temperatures. The closed funeral took place at Golders Green Crematorium, London.
I was very good during the service even though Fiona was upset.
I liked the way the sunshine rays touched the coffins.
And in case you’re wondering about the photos. The funeral was very private and the photos were taken to help Fiona later figure out what was going on; her eyesight is very bad and she barely gets an impression of her surroundings. That’s why she needs me. I also provide impawtant emotional support.
Now the two people who died were great travellers and loved visiting places. And Golders Green Crematorium is steeped in history. I don’t know how it came about but we ended-up getting an informal private tour with Eric Willis, Head of Maintenance, who also shared some of his pawsome poetry with us.
It makes me feel a little less sad that the two people close to us had their funeral at the same place as the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, the ballerina Anna Pavlova, the musician Marc Bolan and the writer Bram Stoker amongst others.
The informal tour was a beautiful way to reflect on the dearly departed. I think the spirits of the two people who died somehow made it happen…
Paws in sadness,
Guide dog Fletcher
P.S. Given that the two people close to us died within a day of each other, I’ll also blog tomorrow in remembrance of them.
P.P.S. Our sympathies also go out to our four-pawed friends at the Bunnington Post on the loss of dear Haas.
(c) pawsatthekerb, August 2018; updated September 2018.
paws at the kerb 