I never did find the right words to the poem, so will have to improvise. Its been a few years since we shared a wee moment while I recited the poem and Christel corrected my awful German. Now her daughter says she may not go to the funeral as she is afraid she will have a panic attack and make a fool of herself. There will be about 3 people I know who will be there, so I will probably address my babbled speech to Christel in the coffin. I feel like sharing those final memories with you all who have supported me through this and hope you don't mind.
Some of you probably know I met Christel when I needed a room for 4 months in 2006. It was the garlic chicken thighs that convinced me to take on her spare room. She thought I looked hungry.
We shared a love of music. I knew Pavarotti from his duet with U2 on Miss Sarajevo and she knew him from his operas.
We went to a concert at the Barbican and she applauded so hard she broke her glass ring with her silver ring and didn’t care because she was so happy and excited.
We went to Westonbirt in the early months and she spent so long setting up a photo of me with the maple leaves around me to match those to my fleece that we got an audience who all went to recreate the same shot when she finished.
Right to the end her love of music kept her going. One year she was ill for 2 months or something and did not want to go to a concert at our sheltered housing, but with a cajoling she went anyway. As soon as the singer came on, she was conducting and flirting as if she had never been ill.
She actually said she did the antique fairs more for the haggling than the money, and gave a way a 20 quid necklace to a young lassie just because she liked it so much.
A wee poem before I shut up.
It was by Goethe, Germany’s answer to Rabbie Burns. There was a minor disagreement as to who was the better poet.
Ihre Blue Augen
Wass je ehre gesehen
Sei Wass ist woller
Es war doch so shoen
Rough translation is: You blue eyes
Whatsoever you saw,
Whatever it was,
It was oh so beautiful.
She was a one off. Warm, generous, talented, cultured, cheeky and kind. My brother and his wife only met her once and spoke on Zoom a couple of times, but Maureen said she loved Christel the minute she met her.