A camper hearse
It was a touching little story and it was all over the papers a week ago: A mechanic appears to have predicted the circumstances surrounding his own death when he died from a heart attack after completing work on converting a VW campervan into a hearse. Mick McDonald, 50, had joked that the job would […]
The eloquence of silence
Posted by Georgina Pugh On Friday the autumn sun was just too much – I had to leave my cave like dwelling and head out somewhere you can touch the sky. On the advice of a friend I found myself at the edge of the North York Moors, just past the aptly named ‘surprise view’ at […]
Meaning in metaphor
We are driving to the crematorium for the committal. It’s late afternoon. A shower of rain is clearing as we breast a rise in the road and there in front of us is a rainbow. ‘Look!’ It’s a sign. It’s common at funerals for people to see a sign. Call it superstitious, call it what […]
Always go to the funeral
I believe in always going to the funeral. My father taught me that. “Always go to the funeral” means that I have to do the right thing when I really, really don’t feel like it In going to funerals, I’ve come to believe that while I wait to make a grand heroic gesture, I should just stick […]
RIP Lady Sybil ur in good hands
Dismalistas held rapt by the nativity of the first new-generation Crawley in the we’re-all-in-it-together tellydrama Downton Abbey, but who were then dumped into deepest grief by the death of Lady Sybil, will have felt their ears prick up at the announcement of the arrival of “Grassby’s men” to remove her body. Yes, Julian Fellowes, the […]
What’s for afters?
Much attention has been accorded to Eben Alexander’s account of his recent near-death experience. While NDEs are two a penny, this NDE was experienced by a Harvard-educated neurosurgeon, no less. This lent Alexander’s NDE a clear edge in terms of credibility. It is easy enough to write off the NDEs of ordinary people as delusions. […]
People should smile more
Posted by Evelyn I had some lovely good news today about the safe arrival of a very precious baby girl and this song came to my mind. Maybe I can’t change the world…..but today I smiled, people should smile more. People should smile more Im not saying there’s nothing to cry for but you’ve got […]
Thoughts of a funeral-goer
Posted by Lyra Mollington Editor’s note: before reading Lyra’s latest thoughts, it may be helpful to read last week’s Thoughts of a funeral-goer. When we saw a sign for the crematorium on the outskirts of Aldershot, my heart sank. Not a café in sight – only garages and car showrooms. Barry’s face lit up for a […]
Catch 22 for the disadvantaged
A sad story here, and a sorry end we are likely to see more of. It was a Conservative government that introduced the Social Fund Funeral Payment at a level that ensured that the underprivileged and disadvantaged were not humiliated and marginalised when they had insufficient to pay for a funeral. How times have changed. Public […]
Hot and noisy
From time to time we consider the purpose of a funeral as an event which enables mourners to express complex, disorderly emotion. Funerals in countries untouched by, or resistant to, chilly Nordic Protestant norms of self-restraint are notable for an exuberance which chilly Nords tend to regard as unbefitting, chaotic and emotionally incontinent. It’s not […]
