A Fond Farewell

Its been a happy and sad week here in our little town. Last Thursday the QE2 sailed up the Clyde to a big 40th birthday celebration - it was wet and miserable but everyone seemed to have good time. We played safe and watched the big ship from our window , as the kids had already seen the Red Arrows fly past earlier in the day.

We even had our own wee celebration in the house - a tea party, and although we used the good china it did resemble the Mad Hatters Tea party by the end. Still , there were homemade scones courtesy of my younger son, the older one just wanted to eat them!

I had to take plenty of photo's for my Dad, who used to work in the Clyde Shipyards , and who loves ships, so much so he was away on a cruise, and missed seeing the QE2 again. He's seen it twice, the first was away back in 1967, the second in 1992 when it visited for its 25th anniversary.

As everyone was enjoying the visit, tragic events were unfolding, and even now it is very difficult to take in what happened. On Wednesday 19th September 2007 , a local lad of fourteen , died after an altercation at his friends house, apparently between the father and his neighbour. This little town was in shock , and it is still and probably will be for some time . To lose one so young , so ready for life .... terrible .

So last Thursday there were two fond farewells, one to the last great ship that was Clydebuilt, and another to a wee boy who went to watch the football at his pals.