Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
over twenty years ago; a big, smiling bear of a man, together with his wife Monique, he was
a fantastic and generous host who could never do enough to help, whether it was making me
feel part of the family or, as a widely travelled import/exporter, sourcing material to fence
our horses in, a full-time job in itself. He had started going downhill very quickly during the
summer, a serious liver problem ageing him ferociously, though it was never clear exactly
what the problem was; a rare tropical disease picked up on his exotic travels they thought, or
just voracious cancer. It was eventually diagnosed as the latter but far, far too late.
The indecent haste of Thierry's death was matched by the funeral service itself; he wasn't
a religious man so there were no spiritual fillers to pad the thing out. Natalie spoke about
what she remembered of her beloved uncle, a moving heartfelt few minutes which struck a
chord with everyone and drew admiration from all present too as Natalie, fighting back the
tears, reminded them all of what a big part he'd played in their lives. Samuel cried throughout,
while Maurice watched him closely, unsure of his own feelings and too young to understand
properly what was going on. Thérence remained silent in my arms watching his mummy a
few yards away not only hold herself together, but have the entire room in the depressingly
modern and clinical crematorium utterly rapt.
Back at the house for the wake, the talk was of Natalie's 'performance', how moving it had
been. But there was laughter too and, this being a large French gathering with food involved,
there were strong opinions thrown about, but generally the talk was of Thierry and the con-
clusion reached by most was this: 'He worked too hard,' they said. 'He did far too much trav-
elling,' they agreed. 'It was bound to take its toll,' they chorused.
I caught my mother-in-law's eye. Danielle had been saying for months now that I had to
ease up on the travel, that what I did wasn't sustainable.
'You hear that?' she said. 'You hear what they're saying?'
'Yes.' I replied, not wanting to get into this discussion. 'Too much travel, worked too hard. I
hear it.'
'Well?' She looked me straight in the eye, demanding an answer that I couldn't give.
