What a farce!

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Last week we unfortunately had to attend the funeral of an elderly family member. She had a long and full life but nevertheless we are still sad at her passing and she will be much missed by many. The funeral was held in a lovely old church and my partner was asked to be one of the pall-bearers, along with three cousins. I expected the slow procession of four tall, young(ish) men in dark suits solemnly carrying the coffin down the aisle of the church. However instead they had to push it on a wheeled bier, and honestly to see the four of them shuffling along, bent almost double, half backwards, bumping into the pews and almost tripping over each other as they tried to steer this unwieldy trolley to the front of the church – I almost laughed. It was more like a shopping trolley than anything else; it would have been more dignified if they’d had one young girl push it along. It was even worse when it came to the grave-side service. Since the church is about 700 years old it obviously also has a very old grave-yard, filled with head-stones of all ages, ancient yew trees, narrow gravel paths and very bumpy ground. The bearers had to pull and push, lift and rock this unwieldy trolley between old graves, up and down slopes, over mole-hills and through patches of subsidence, getting the wheels stuck a few times. It was so ridiculous; I thought the coffin was going to fall off! I don’t know whether this is the result of some health and safety issue or something but it was like something from an old comedy show. Most undignified. Thank goodness the deceased wasn’t able to see it, that’s all I can say. All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2018.