The GFG Blog
2014Jan
Funeral wishes are no more than wishful thinking
Charles
Jan
29
8 comments
‘You can decide everything in advance if you wish, down to the kind of music you’d like – and there’s no charge for changing or updating your wishes at a later stage.’ Golden Charter ‘…pre-planning your funeral is actually a thoughtful and responsible way to show that you care your family
Window dressing
Charles
Jan
28
27 comments
An email arrived here recently from a person who has been struck by the way undertakers dress their windows. ‘Dreadful’ is one of the adjectives she used, ‘depressing’ another. She’d like to set up a small business and put them right. Whether or not undertakers’ windows are on the whole
Famous last words about
Charles
Jan
28
No Comments
“When they told me they were going to induct my friend George Harrison into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame posthumously, my first thought was – I bet he won’t show up.” From Eric Idle’s eulogy to George Harrison
All that we are not
Charles
Jan
24
6 comments
Back in the day – it feels like pre-history but it’s only 5 years – there was very little buzz around death (poor metaphor, I know). Now there’s an ear-shattering din. Back then, in a spirit of open-minded curiosity, I’d blog up anything that caught my eye — arty stuff,
Groundhog week
Charles
Jan
23
15 comments
22 Jan is reckoned the worst, most depressing day of the year. This week is as bad as it gets. Nodding in agreement? Reasons to be cheerless, according to Dr Cliff Arnall of Cardiff university are: weather, debt, time since Christmas, time since failing new year’s resolutions, low motivational levels and the
The stalemate of funeral choice
Charles
Jan
22
2 comments
Posted by Richard Rawlinson Cherishing freedom of speech we often quote the line, ‘I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it’. So democrats proselytise in order to influence others, and sometimes those influenced leave one tribe and join another. A far
Philip Treacy remembers Issie Blow
Charles
Jan
21
No Comments
Posted by Richard Rawlinson Running until 2 March at London’s Somerset House, Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore! is an exhibition celebrating the extraordinary life and wardrobe of the late patron of fashion and art. To promote the show, one of her many protégés, milliner Philip Treacy, talks here. As the interview progresses,
In your prayers
Charles
Jan
20
No Comments
Some sharp comment here in Monday’s Times by David Aaronovitch: Death prattle Pieties are by no means always religious. I don’t know when the practice began in this country of appending “our thoughts are with etc” to any tribute to the recently departed, but it has gone too far. No
Down To Earth is looking for a manager
Charles
Jan
20
1 comment
Down to Earth manager Full time, £30,656, One in five people cannot afford a funeral. QSA seeks a full-time manager to deliver an award-winning project, Down to Earth, which provides independent funeral advice for people on low incomes in east London. The position includes management, planning and delivery,
