Sunday, September 10, 2006
A Weekend - Smye Way
As some of you know and some of you don't, my Uncle Tim past away last Sunday afternoon.
He is a legend and will certainly be greatly remember by everyone who knew him and I'm sure he's with God now.
And this weekend was his funeral. However, it has turned out to be a weekend to remember and has absolutely reminded me that having a huge family may have it's down points some of the time, but the high points far outweigh the bad points.
Better start from the beginning...
4am. Friday
Whenever I have to catch flights, it always involves getting up at a stupidly early hour and then having to wait for people to get ready before you can go. Well, I was the person who they were waiting for so I couldn't really complain at that one.
I've only ever been in a plane 6 times and have never flown up the length of England before and the flight up didn't disappoint. The weather was fantastic - so good that you could clearly see even the smallest detail from the plane. My brother and cousin decided to give us all a guided tour of Bristol as we circled around it.
"There's the Suspension Bridge."
"Oh, there's Ashton Gate."
Seeing the city where you live from such a height is pretty damn sweet.
You really, really don't know how green England is until you see cities like Cardiff, Liverpool and Manchester surrounded just by green.
Also, you don't realise how fun it is to wind up people who are scared about flying (my cousin Josh) until you actually do it and he starts making high pitched yelps when the plane takes off and lands.
Site Seeing
We met my uncle Greg (he's on TV don't you know) at Edinburgh airport with his lady friend and they wanted to go and see the Rosilyn chaple, which is the chaple at the end of the Di Vinci Code. It was a good idea cos the chaple and grounds are amazing. Lots of stone carvings, brilliant stained glass windows and a great view from on top of the chaple which over looks a forest.
And you knew it was for tourists cos everything in the souvernire shop was a complete rip off.
But they did have soup in a basket...
Catching Up With The Family
We went back to my Aunties house and decided it would be a good idea to eat.
So we ordered 9 pizzas.
This is how many people were in the house! And this was only the beginning.
Also, you know how you also have family members who you just don't ever see. Well, one of my Aunties has 5 children who just can't ever be bothered to show up for much. Miracle of miracles they managed to make it all the way to Scotland... and did I recognise all of them? Heck no!
I spose it's the thought that counts... and the fact the weekend coinsided with a wedding one of them were going to anyway probably made it easier for them to show up.
Funeral
Tim was a bit of a stockly built man and I'm not too sure if either of my brother's realized exactly how heavy the coffin was going to be until they woke up the next morning with bruising on their shoulders. I guess I should've noticed by the expression on their faces that it was pretty heavy... I didn't want to carry it...
I'm not sure if you've ever dropped a coffin before but I expect it's not the best idea. I think I'd rather declare a reason why 2 people couldn't be married during a wedding.
Lots of people were there which is always nice and we even had beagles (sorta like trumpets) being played by two Royal Marines. My Uncle was in the RM and was a band leader. (he was actually in the Guiness Book of Records as the shortest ever Marine)
After the funeral we went to a eat and mingle etc and had a live band playing all sorts, like Blue Peter and... erm... other stuff which I don't know the name of. It was cool. One guy had a trumbone which was about as big as himself. Trying to make up for something perhaps... hmm...
Funnies
So you think I'm wierd? You'd be right. But all in all I'm pretty normal when compared to some others in my family.
Case 1:
Josh - he had a sherriff badge on his belt, so was claiming all week that he was the sherriff of the town and no one should mess with him. When asked to rub the badge, he did. It was very funny. Think 'Andy Norm' and you are about 90% of the way there.
"How far is it to Derby?"
"How do they speak in Manchester?"
Classics.
Case 2:
Martin - my cousin wanted us to stay quiet as we walked from the house to the hotel on Saturday night at about 11:00pm. We lasted about 5 minutes until we broke into song. He lasted about 5 minutes 10 seconds.
Case 3:
Daniel - Dad had printed a pic that Tim had taken of him with 3 of my brothers (below). Daniel is the one on the far right. I'm not sure exactly what brought it on, but he decided to tell us all about his apparent 'stiffy' in the pic. So for the rest of the weekend he was subject to joke after joke after joke.
'Daniel's love for machines started at an early age'
'Daniel seemed to enjoy the trip on to the ship a bit too much'
Daniel: I think you're all getting a bit too excited about this now.
Tom: Well. We weren't the first!
Hotel + Us
We all thought it would be a good idea to hang out in the hotel lobby by the bar and as you do, we made a circle of 20 chairs so everyone could join in.
Unfortunately, the hotel staff were feeling a bit gay.
Apparently the circle was 'inappropriately large' and we had to put the chairs back lest we intimidate the locals.
I'm not sure if you've ever been told your in an 'inappriopriatly large circle' but it was pretty funny considering my family is massive. And the fact they used the words inappropriately large in the same sentence.
________________________
We also wanted to watch good ol' Jonathan Ross on the TV at 12:00am. So we turned the TV up to hear it.
'Sorry Sir, but the TV is too loud and you have rooms above you. Can you turn it down.'
Erm. WE could barely hear the TV from 3 metres away so I somehow doubt they're gonna have much trouble with it up stairs, muppet.
The hotel also didn't do cooked breakfast. How pants.
Flight Home
All in all, it was a great weekend and I know Tim would've been proud of all of our antics!
He is a legend and will certainly be greatly remember by everyone who knew him and I'm sure he's with God now.
And this weekend was his funeral. However, it has turned out to be a weekend to remember and has absolutely reminded me that having a huge family may have it's down points some of the time, but the high points far outweigh the bad points.
Better start from the beginning...
4am. Friday
Whenever I have to catch flights, it always involves getting up at a stupidly early hour and then having to wait for people to get ready before you can go. Well, I was the person who they were waiting for so I couldn't really complain at that one.
I've only ever been in a plane 6 times and have never flown up the length of England before and the flight up didn't disappoint. The weather was fantastic - so good that you could clearly see even the smallest detail from the plane. My brother and cousin decided to give us all a guided tour of Bristol as we circled around it.
"There's the Suspension Bridge."
"Oh, there's Ashton Gate."
Seeing the city where you live from such a height is pretty damn sweet.
You really, really don't know how green England is until you see cities like Cardiff, Liverpool and Manchester surrounded just by green.
Also, you don't realise how fun it is to wind up people who are scared about flying (my cousin Josh) until you actually do it and he starts making high pitched yelps when the plane takes off and lands.
Site Seeing
We met my uncle Greg (he's on TV don't you know) at Edinburgh airport with his lady friend and they wanted to go and see the Rosilyn chaple, which is the chaple at the end of the Di Vinci Code. It was a good idea cos the chaple and grounds are amazing. Lots of stone carvings, brilliant stained glass windows and a great view from on top of the chaple which over looks a forest.
And you knew it was for tourists cos everything in the souvernire shop was a complete rip off.
But they did have soup in a basket...
Catching Up With The Family
We went back to my Aunties house and decided it would be a good idea to eat.
So we ordered 9 pizzas.
This is how many people were in the house! And this was only the beginning.
Also, you know how you also have family members who you just don't ever see. Well, one of my Aunties has 5 children who just can't ever be bothered to show up for much. Miracle of miracles they managed to make it all the way to Scotland... and did I recognise all of them? Heck no!
I spose it's the thought that counts... and the fact the weekend coinsided with a wedding one of them were going to anyway probably made it easier for them to show up.
Funeral
Tim was a bit of a stockly built man and I'm not too sure if either of my brother's realized exactly how heavy the coffin was going to be until they woke up the next morning with bruising on their shoulders. I guess I should've noticed by the expression on their faces that it was pretty heavy... I didn't want to carry it...
I'm not sure if you've ever dropped a coffin before but I expect it's not the best idea. I think I'd rather declare a reason why 2 people couldn't be married during a wedding.
Lots of people were there which is always nice and we even had beagles (sorta like trumpets) being played by two Royal Marines. My Uncle was in the RM and was a band leader. (he was actually in the Guiness Book of Records as the shortest ever Marine)
After the funeral we went to a eat and mingle etc and had a live band playing all sorts, like Blue Peter and... erm... other stuff which I don't know the name of. It was cool. One guy had a trumbone which was about as big as himself. Trying to make up for something perhaps... hmm...
Funnies
So you think I'm wierd? You'd be right. But all in all I'm pretty normal when compared to some others in my family.
Case 1:
Josh - he had a sherriff badge on his belt, so was claiming all week that he was the sherriff of the town and no one should mess with him. When asked to rub the badge, he did. It was very funny. Think 'Andy Norm' and you are about 90% of the way there.
"How far is it to Derby?"
"How do they speak in Manchester?"
Classics.
Case 2:
Martin - my cousin wanted us to stay quiet as we walked from the house to the hotel on Saturday night at about 11:00pm. We lasted about 5 minutes until we broke into song. He lasted about 5 minutes 10 seconds.
Case 3:
Daniel - Dad had printed a pic that Tim had taken of him with 3 of my brothers (below). Daniel is the one on the far right. I'm not sure exactly what brought it on, but he decided to tell us all about his apparent 'stiffy' in the pic. So for the rest of the weekend he was subject to joke after joke after joke.
'Daniel's love for machines started at an early age'
'Daniel seemed to enjoy the trip on to the ship a bit too much'
Daniel: I think you're all getting a bit too excited about this now.
Tom: Well. We weren't the first!
Hotel + Us
We all thought it would be a good idea to hang out in the hotel lobby by the bar and as you do, we made a circle of 20 chairs so everyone could join in.
Unfortunately, the hotel staff were feeling a bit gay.
Apparently the circle was 'inappropriately large' and we had to put the chairs back lest we intimidate the locals.
I'm not sure if you've ever been told your in an 'inappriopriatly large circle' but it was pretty funny considering my family is massive. And the fact they used the words inappropriately large in the same sentence.
________________________
We also wanted to watch good ol' Jonathan Ross on the TV at 12:00am. So we turned the TV up to hear it.
'Sorry Sir, but the TV is too loud and you have rooms above you. Can you turn it down.'
Erm. WE could barely hear the TV from 3 metres away so I somehow doubt they're gonna have much trouble with it up stairs, muppet.
The hotel also didn't do cooked breakfast. How pants.
Flight Home
Pilot: I'm sorry ladies and gentlemen but we are still waiting for 5 people to board the plane before we can take off. We shall wait 5 more minutes but then we shall have to unload the luggage just to take theirs out.
1 minute later...
Plane Load of People: *applause and cheering* for all of the 5 people who manage to make it in time.
All in all, it was a great weekend and I know Tim would've been proud of all of our antics!
# posted by TommyDB @ 11:00 p.m. 
