“Dying is easy…
…it’s living that scares me to death.” Annie Lennox If your mind is active and you have a minute to do nothing better with, you might like to accept the Gail Rubin challenge, pop over to her blog and supply your on variant on the many “Living is easy…” quotes. If Gail is not on […]
No place for sissies
Not many people cite or quote holy texts any more, but a deep human appetite for words of transcendent, mystical wisdom lives on. Twitter is full of people regurgitating inspirational quotes by secular saints (loadsa Gandhi, of course). Once in a while a Facebook friend is afflicted, and of course I block them at once. But […]
Where would we be without a sense of humour?
Germany! It’s an old Willie Rushton joke. And of course there’s no truth in it whatever. I have been contacted by a Year 12/13 student in Germany. Her name is Julia and she is working on a project which I want you to help her with – if you can. Julia’s working title is “How […]
Laughing it off
I’m not supposed to be here (see previous post) but I can’t resist abandoning packing my water wings for a moment in order to give vent to what may or may not be justified crossness. Funerals have, by many people who ought to know better, been subjected to a reductio ad absurdum: three songs and […]
Trendy
There’s a nice cartoon in the Christmas Spectator. It’s so verbal I can reproduce it in words. If you’re arty, draw it on the blank sheet above. The Grim Reaper has come for a man, who is standing in his doorway. Reaper G responds to a query. “Scythe? Scythe? You must be joking. Scythes went […]
Life is like…
“Life is like a movie; no one ever wants to walk out in the middle of a movie. But in the end we all do that.” More quotes, please, beginning Life is like… and also getting to the poignant truth, as the quote above does. C’mon, kickstart that brain! Keep Herr Dr Alzheimer from the […]
Variants, please
There’s quite a good joke here — it must be an old one but I’ve not come across it before — in this week’s Spectator by Robin Oakley. It goes: Asked why he had sent a wreath in the shape of a lifebelt, a friend at the funeral of the man who had drowned replied, […]
It won’t make you dead
Gail Rubin is a writer and blogger in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I’ve just looked up Albuquerque on google maps. It’s a long way from a decent beach. Gail has written a book, A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die, which will be published at the end of this month. She […]
Happy tail
Charming story here from Australia about funeral director John Hopkins who brings his dog Finbarr to work every day. “He’s a great icebreaker,” John said. “Families come in here not knowing what to expect. “They often haven’t dealt with a funeral home before and they’re apprehensive. “He gives them a lick and will lie at […]
Trying it on
Here’s a bit of fun. Over in New York there’s an exhibition in the Merchant’s House Museum of post mortem photographs from the Burns Archive. It’s an interesting exhibition space: According to historic preservation rules the installation had to be creatively planned. No photos could be hung on the walls or placed directly on the furniture of this […]
