wednesday23
Active Member
The Funeral
This next ‘chapter’ for me to write comes with mixed feelings. In the build up to my old boss’s funeral I was constantly feeling down whenever I thought about it. As the days got closer I started to wonder if I would actually be able to attend. Alex was a real strength during these days. He was always happy to talk to me about it and pop round for a drink on my nights off and was a welcome distraction. I still struggled to believe he was gone; he was to me, like he was to a lot of people, a massive part of Ibiza. The West End didn't seem the same without him and I had even taken to avoiding the Ok Corral and its new red colour scheme.
On the day itself I woke up with a start. I had been on a bit of a bender with some friends the night before and had some of the worst hallucinations of my life, with Rick himself featuring and giving me a good telling to about my recent indulgences! I was relieved when I looked at the clock and realised I had in fact still woken up in good time for the funeral. Next task was to decide what to wear the funeral. Luckily a friend who lived on the island had given me some pointers a few days earlier that in Ibiza funerals aren’t like in England and pretty much anything goes. I decided to go with a summer dress as Rick had always questioned my motives if I wore a dress when I worked for him. He seemed to think it was some evil plot to lure men in!
The day of the funeral unfortunately coincided with another birthday party at my block, the whole pool area had been decorated and everyone was having a great time when we me and Ellie got downstairs. It seemed fitting that all these workers were having a good time on this day, Rick had always had a soft spot for the workers and many had made The Ok Corral their home and Rick their dad over the years, so we said a quick hello before heading to the church in San An.
The service itself was absolutely beautiful. There were funny speeches and anecdotes from friends and both of Rick’s sons made a speech, one in Spanish and one in English. The church was full of many familiar faces and it was nice to see so many people had made the effort to take time off work in their busy period. Lots of those who live in Ibiza all year round work every single day of the summer so it was nice to see them making the effort for Rick and his family.
After the funeral we headed down to a restaurant on the Marina for the wake. The walls were covered in some of the legendary Rick pictures that had adorned the walls of the OK Corral for years and it really nice seeing his smiling face all around us. A generous buffet was put on and Rick’s eldest son told us to take as much food as we wanted as Rick wouldn't want the poor workers starving We stayed for a little while and shared stories of Rick before heading for a walk along the beach front before going to one of our daytime haunts for a drink and raising a glass to Rick. It had been an emotional day and I was glad I had gotten the evening off work. Alex sent me a text to see how I was and we arranged to meet that night. All my housemates were out so he came round to the flat with supplies: beer, vodka, supplements and cigarettes. We spent the rest of the evening chilling until the boys arrived back and then they joined us in a nice relaxed evening. It felt good knowing I had someone to talk to and even better that Alex got on really well with Andris, Juris and Tony and I went to bed that night feeling quite happy and settled back in my life in Ibiza.
This next ‘chapter’ for me to write comes with mixed feelings. In the build up to my old boss’s funeral I was constantly feeling down whenever I thought about it. As the days got closer I started to wonder if I would actually be able to attend. Alex was a real strength during these days. He was always happy to talk to me about it and pop round for a drink on my nights off and was a welcome distraction. I still struggled to believe he was gone; he was to me, like he was to a lot of people, a massive part of Ibiza. The West End didn't seem the same without him and I had even taken to avoiding the Ok Corral and its new red colour scheme.
On the day itself I woke up with a start. I had been on a bit of a bender with some friends the night before and had some of the worst hallucinations of my life, with Rick himself featuring and giving me a good telling to about my recent indulgences! I was relieved when I looked at the clock and realised I had in fact still woken up in good time for the funeral. Next task was to decide what to wear the funeral. Luckily a friend who lived on the island had given me some pointers a few days earlier that in Ibiza funerals aren’t like in England and pretty much anything goes. I decided to go with a summer dress as Rick had always questioned my motives if I wore a dress when I worked for him. He seemed to think it was some evil plot to lure men in!
The day of the funeral unfortunately coincided with another birthday party at my block, the whole pool area had been decorated and everyone was having a great time when we me and Ellie got downstairs. It seemed fitting that all these workers were having a good time on this day, Rick had always had a soft spot for the workers and many had made The Ok Corral their home and Rick their dad over the years, so we said a quick hello before heading to the church in San An.
The service itself was absolutely beautiful. There were funny speeches and anecdotes from friends and both of Rick’s sons made a speech, one in Spanish and one in English. The church was full of many familiar faces and it was nice to see so many people had made the effort to take time off work in their busy period. Lots of those who live in Ibiza all year round work every single day of the summer so it was nice to see them making the effort for Rick and his family.
After the funeral we headed down to a restaurant on the Marina for the wake. The walls were covered in some of the legendary Rick pictures that had adorned the walls of the OK Corral for years and it really nice seeing his smiling face all around us. A generous buffet was put on and Rick’s eldest son told us to take as much food as we wanted as Rick wouldn't want the poor workers starving We stayed for a little while and shared stories of Rick before heading for a walk along the beach front before going to one of our daytime haunts for a drink and raising a glass to Rick. It had been an emotional day and I was glad I had gotten the evening off work. Alex sent me a text to see how I was and we arranged to meet that night. All my housemates were out so he came round to the flat with supplies: beer, vodka, supplements and cigarettes. We spent the rest of the evening chilling until the boys arrived back and then they joined us in a nice relaxed evening. It felt good knowing I had someone to talk to and even better that Alex got on really well with Andris, Juris and Tony and I went to bed that night feeling quite happy and settled back in my life in Ibiza.