Attending A Funeral

I went out to attend the funeral of Bernard Shaw just past noon. I went to Crematorium Alkmaar by train, bus, and walking. I spent around an hour. The Funeral was supposed to start at 1:15pm then reached there just on time. There were 40 or 50 people. First, his wife delivered a memorial address in Dutch. A monitor showed a lot of memorial photos. His daughter, brother, and someone gave us anecdotes about him. Bernard is English so some relatives were speaking in English but it was hard to understand. The attendees were laughing about his funny stories. During that time, a fat man who sat in front of me broke his chair’s backrest accidentally. Everyone held back laughter about it. Anyway, I understood what a great person he was. Actually, I got to know him only several months ago at the bar My Way but I played shed tears. He died at the age of around 80 so it should be considered as a natural death though. We moved to Grand Cafe Fase Fier at Castricum. Bernard’s grandson’s ex-girlfriend brought me there in her own car. I got much beer, wine, and snacks for free. Bernard’s wife Nelke said, “I was surprised you attended his funeral”. It was a valuable experience for me. I dropped asleep around 10pm.

Tomoni Shintaku

Contemporary artist based in the Netherlands. I’ve learned at an Art College and Culinary Institute. I attempt to connect ART and FOOD.