Jimmy's brother Lawrence died a couple of weeks ago; his funeral was on Friday.
In my early days of blogging I used to write freely about family events, including bereavements, but as I became more aware of readership, I became reluctant to write about such things. It doesn't seem right to turn what is very personal into material for a blog which has entertainment as its main reason.
But the funeral was truly remarkable. We went up to the house, seeing dozens of people gathered on the corner of the road. By the time that we passed the shop in the limos, there were many more. Many of them were very familiar faces to me, many more were total strangers. Key Stage 2 children from the local school stood outside, too. There were even a couple of photographers, one a family friend, one rumoured to be from the South London Press.
The chapel at the crematorium was full. Not only with people sitting, but people standing in twos the length of the aisle. The celebrant asked contributors to speak into the microphone for the benefit of those standing outside.
There is a thread in tribute at Urban75. I can work out who one of the contributors is, but do not have a clue as to who the rest are, although I guess I may know some of them. I left the do quite early, having a very strange reaction to my Guinness, which just knocked me out. Jimmy didn't leave until 1 am, and has been suffering since.
The family will never be the same again, nor will our local area. People say there is no such thing as community, but if you had been out on New Park Road on Friday, you would know that community exists.
