Gentilesse
The BBC has got a poetry season running. They’ve been dusting off dead rhymers from ages past and pushing them out in front of the cameras. But they’ve left the memory of Geoffrey Chaucer undisturbed and unsung, for all that he was the first poet to be buried in Westminster Abbey’s Poets’ Corner. When I […]
There’s no place like it
There’s an excellent series of photos on the Undertaken With Love Flickr site telling the story of a home funeral. It’s thought provoking in any number of ways. See how engaged the children are. And you can see from everyone’s faces how emotionally healthy the whole business is. Now, I know I bang on a […]
The public’s right to be right
Ask them and they’ll tell you. What do clients want? Choice. Funeral directors have got the message. They’re doing the lip-service. How do they stand on delivery? Not terribly well, most of them, and for sound business reasons. As soon as you start to unbundle funerals and let clients source their own merchandise and service […]
What does dying feel like? (4)
In late December 2007 blogger Carla Zilbersmith, actor, singer, director, was diagnosed with ALS, a fatal motor neurone disease. Here’s how she greeted the diagnosis: Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s bullshit that I have to go this way. I don’t like it one bit. But that’s the hand I’ve been dealt and all […]
