For, although the day was sunny and cold and perfect for autumn tidying, the father of a dear school friend passed away yesterday and we left home at midday to attend his funeral.  A dignified ceremony and eulogies to a husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather who lived life to the full and was a man who fully engaged in communal life, charities and family.  In attendance were many elderly ex service men and women who held aloft their banners to one of their comrades.    We returned home to a setting sun, in time to put the hens and ducks away in their houses, to retrieve Naughty Beattie from a break in to the duck pond and for Jeremy to prepare a recently weeded raised bed for onion and garlic bulbs.