snapshots

an article on Radio 4, a Funeral Photographer.  taken back to Grandad's Funeral.
picture: my father and i in the Front Bedroom, where the bookshelf has been stored, stuck inside, Sunday School Prize, May Doorbar, awarded to, Ronald Bestwick.Science manuals, boarding school tales, spotters guides.
at the funeral parlour. holding his father's hand.
by the sink, tipping the chip dinner into the bin. we turn the heating on.
aunt, uncle, cousins, funeral directors,  the Lord's Prayer in the back room.
service: regret, weariness, giving at the knees as we leave, and outside, 'My Little Lal'. i am nearly forty years old, all the younger children towering over me.
graveside, blown about. drinks in the pub. back in the car, in the rain. it always rains in Stoke. except when it snows.
out of the shower, the radio off, my Youngest banging on the door. he has his drum.