Bairnsdale and Back By Train
Feb. 22nd, 2007 09:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maxcelcatA few Friday's ago (must be nearly three) ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
evildoom_bunny and I had to go to Bairnsdale. Not for happy reasons - the father of one of my aunts (the grand father of my cousins) had succumbed to old age. We went up for the funeral.
Bairnsdale is a long, long way from Melbourne.evildoom_bunny and I both have cars of various vintages, but the thought of driving all the way there in my 18 year old un-air-conditioned Subaru didn't appeal! Not to mention the likely non-survival of said vehicle. So we decided to hop on the train.
So there we were at Flinders Street Station at 7.54AM, waiting for the V/Line train. Did I mention it's a heck of a way to Bairnsdale? We arrived, on time, via Dandenong, Tarralgon, Moe, Sale (not necessarily in that order) at 11.25AM!
The funeral was interesting - in parts. That side of my family are Norwegian (for obscure historical reasons I won't go into) so there was singing of hymns in Norwegian etc. In fact, the grandfather in question delighted in the first name "Thor", which is actually pronounced "Toor" or "Toour" perhaps. This all took place in a church, which made the atheist in me a bit uncomfortable. But I was mostly there for my many cousins and their many kids.
I had a small part in the ceremony - carrying Thor's coffin from the hearse to the grave. Which is always an intense experience. The ground there was soooo dry, the soil that had been dug was almost sand, and blew around in the strong breeze. We took turns dropping soil onto the coffin after they'd lowered it into the ground. Although I was reluctant until Indi, my little relative who adores me, insisted.
And then, after barely five hours in Bairnsdale, we got back on the train back to Melbourne.evildoom_bunny and I were joined by my brother, my cousin and a first cousin once removed! So we took over a total of ten seats - four on one side of the aisle, and six on the other, and made ourselves comfortable.
All in all I spent seven hours of that day on trains. But hey, these things are important.
evildoom_bunny and I had to go to Bairnsdale. Not for happy reasons - the father of one of my aunts (the grand father of my cousins) had succumbed to old age. We went up for the funeral.Bairnsdale is a long, long way from Melbourne.
evildoom_bunny and I both have cars of various vintages, but the thought of driving all the way there in my 18 year old un-air-conditioned Subaru didn't appeal! Not to mention the likely non-survival of said vehicle. So we decided to hop on the train.So there we were at Flinders Street Station at 7.54AM, waiting for the V/Line train. Did I mention it's a heck of a way to Bairnsdale? We arrived, on time, via Dandenong, Tarralgon, Moe, Sale (not necessarily in that order) at 11.25AM!
The funeral was interesting - in parts. That side of my family are Norwegian (for obscure historical reasons I won't go into) so there was singing of hymns in Norwegian etc. In fact, the grandfather in question delighted in the first name "Thor", which is actually pronounced "Toor" or "Toour" perhaps. This all took place in a church, which made the atheist in me a bit uncomfortable. But I was mostly there for my many cousins and their many kids.
I had a small part in the ceremony - carrying Thor's coffin from the hearse to the grave. Which is always an intense experience. The ground there was soooo dry, the soil that had been dug was almost sand, and blew around in the strong breeze. We took turns dropping soil onto the coffin after they'd lowered it into the ground. Although I was reluctant until Indi, my little relative who adores me, insisted.
And then, after barely five hours in Bairnsdale, we got back on the train back to Melbourne.
evildoom_bunny and I were joined by my brother, my cousin and a first cousin once removed! So we took over a total of ten seats - four on one side of the aisle, and six on the other, and made ourselves comfortable.All in all I spent seven hours of that day on trains. But hey, these things are important.
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no subject
Date: 2007-02-22 01:31 pm (UTC)Sometimes...
Date: 2007-02-23 06:01 am (UTC)Say I have a cousin sitting here next to me. We both have two pairs of grandparents, however we only have one pair of grandparents in common. Thor was from the other set - the father of my Aunt, who is my aunt by marriage. In other words, she married my dad's brother.
Does that make sense?
Re: Sometimes...
Date: 2007-02-23 10:50 am (UTC)Re: Sometimes...
Date: 2007-02-25 05:21 am (UTC)My Dad and indeed my (now deceased) Uncle were bog-ordinary Aussies of mixed extraction, Irish, English, all the usual muck. By various random events I won't go into my Uncle ended up married to a Norwegian lady who he met in London... *sigh* My family is so friggin' complicated it defies description. Yesterday at a family do I came across a cousin I haven't seen since the mid nineties, took me a moment to figure out who she was!
Does that make it any clearer????
Re: Sometimes...
Date: 2007-02-25 02:27 pm (UTC)Ah, I see where I've gone wrong. :D I made the assumption that "that side" meant half your family. This is clearly untrue. :D I get it now!
Re: Sometimes...
Date: 2007-02-26 03:56 am (UTC)