Chapter 219 – Rest in Peace

The summer sunshine creates a sweltering and stifling twenty-seven degrees celsius. Flower arrangements burst with colour on the grey stone pathway, and gleaming horse carriages line up quietly, dispersing their passengers into the sanctum. The silence is only broken by birdsong, conveying nature’s final farewell.

Five members of Thompson & French stand around me, including James Mackenzie, Robert MacLeod, Alexander Campbell, John Grant and Iain Falcon. The Undertaker beckons us forward to lift Hugh Hudson’s coffin onto our shoulders, the last of five coffins carried this week, and make our way into the Cathedral.

The service is exemplary, and we depart carrying the coffin across the Bridge of Sighs, laying Hugh in his final resting place, in clear sight of the mighty Clutha. The funeral is a poignant and fitting departure for one of the bravest people I’ve ever met.
Following the benediction, I gesture James and Robert to follow me and walk up to the summit of the Necropolis.

“Gentlemen, we’ve endured trauma, suffering, sickness and death. I am not letting Carey & Fortis kick us out of our City.”, I said.

“Edinburgh is secured.”, said James.

“Excellent news. However, I never thought our Glasgow adventure would be under threat.”, said Robert.

“We are still in the Glasgow game.”, I said.

James and Robert stare at me.

“The trams are coming.”