Mr Bloom is still rattling along with Martin Cunningham, Mr Power, Simon Dedalus in the creaking carriage to the burial of Paddy Dignam.
They go past many known places (National school, Meade's yard, St. Mark's, Queen's theater, ...) as well as numerous statues & landmarks (Sir Philip Crampton's memorial fountain bust, Smith O'Brien, a statue by Farrell, the hugecloaked Liberator's (aka Parnell's) form, Gray's statue and Nelson's pillar).
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson's_Pillar) (Source: http://www.joyceimages.com/chapter/6/?page=2)
The sight of the large bill board of Eugene Stratton and Mrs. Bandmann Palmer reminds Bloom of the visit pending that afternoon. He's coming in the afternoon. Her songs. Just as Bloom is thinking of Boylan, a man, wearing a hat by Plasto, passes by. Cunningham and Power say 'How do you do?' Blazes Boylan acknowledges their greetings, and moves on. Bloom looks at (reviews) his nails to avoid looking at Boylan. He (Bloom) thinks of Boylan as the worst man in Dublin. The others know that Boylan is arranging a concert with Molly, Bloom's wife. Though Bloom answers their questions about the concert, he is preoccupied with what would be happening at home right then, with the picture of Molly and her singing, Vorrei e non.... (At first Bloom makes a mistake in recalling the famous aria from Don Giovanni as Voglio e non Vorrei, but corrects himself immediately.)
It is not only of Molly that Bloom thinks of. Mr. Power's referring to Molly as Madame, makes him wonder whether it is true about the woman he (Mr. Power) keeps. Later he thinks of Martin Cunningham's awful drunkard of a wife, who was leading him (Cunningham) the life of the damned.
Bloom tries telling a story, an awfully good one that's going the rounds about Reuben J and the son. Unfortunately he is not a great storyteller. To add to that he is interrupted continuously by others. They all knew the story of Reuben J's son jumped into the Liffy and was saved by a boatman. There is laughter in the carriage for a while till Martin Cunningham reminds them that they better look a little serious as they are, after all, on the way to a burial. The talk then moves to the unexpected death of Dignam with Bloom declaring that the sudden death was in fact the best death. There is silence in the carriage. Bloom defends his words by saying, "No suffering, .. A moment and all is over. Like dying in sleep." Still no-one spoke.
Round the Rotunda corner, a tiny coffin goes by reminding Bloom of Rudy's death. While Simon Dedalus thinks that it's well out of it, Mr. Power declares that the worst of all is the man who takes his own life. Though he does not know that Bloom's father had committed suicide, Cunningham knows this and says, "It is not for us to judge." Bloom thinks of the suicide, the inquest, the evidence given by the Boots boy from the hotel, and the letter addressed as For my son Leopold.
As the carriage comes to stop, because of a drove of branded cattle passing by, Bloom comes up with some ideas of what the corporation could do so that such traffic jams do not occur: run a tramline from the park gate to the quays, ... all those animals could be taken in trucks down to the boats (to be sent to England); to have a municipal funeral trams like they have in Milan. It would be more decent than galloping two abreast. Mr. Dedalus granted that there's something in that.
Joyce hints at a number of songs on these pages: Rattle his bones over the stones. He is only a pauper, whom nobody owns. (Penguin 120.6); Has anybody here seen Kelly? Kay ee double ell wy. (Penguin 121.29)
