Friday had been such a full day and we knew Sunday would be pretty intense, so we decided to stay close to “home” on Saturday, especially since the weather was damp (though not too cold).
We reconnoitered the station from which we needed to travel to Hatch End on Sunday; checked out the traditional shopping area around Wembley Central; scoped out the stores in the Wembley Designer Outlet mall that is right by the hotel; and had a cup of coffee at the public library coffee shop (around half the cost of a cuppa at the nearby Starbucks). The only other excitement for the day was a pretty tasty dinner at another of the chains in the Designer mall, Wagamama. Angie had chicken ramen and I had chicken and ginger udon.
The weather had clearly worsened overnight and it was raining pretty hard on Sunday. It was also pretty chilly, as we discovered on our walk to the station. It was not going to be fun at the stonesetting for my mother (notwithstanding that such things are not fun at the best of times). My sister Susan had arranged for some friends of hers to pick us up at the Hatch End overground station to take us to the cemetery. I don’t really know what to write about the stone setting ceremony for my mother. This event usually happens about 11 months after a death and is the official unveiling of the memorial stone. Usually, in the synagogue federation here, there is a short prayer service in the prayer hall (heated thank goodness, since it was really cold, probably in the 40s) and then some more prayers at the graveside, but since the weather was so foul the beadle reordered things a little bit so that most of the ceremony took place in the prayer hall. We still had to walk to the graveside (a not insignificant walk, especially on such an awful day) and nearly everyone in attendance did come, even though it had been announced that people didn’t need to if they didn’t want to. It meant a lot to me to see nearly everyone in attendance at the graveside too, including some cousins from my father’s side.
It also meant a lot to me that two great friends from high school and two really good friends of my brother Robert were in attendance. I particularly enjoyed (for want of a better word) the small gathering at my sister’s house that was attended by my brothers Peter and Stephen, nieces, nephew, and some cousins. It was hard for me to let this time with family come to an end because I am not sure when I will see some of my relatives next. I am glad we will have one last dinner with Susan and Melvyn tomorrow.
We didn’t do much with the rest of the day but head to an American restaurant at the outlet mall to eat something and watch the Tottenham game (we won, didn’t necessarily deserve it).