Dignified fairy lights.

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We all have our own ways of handling bereavement and none of us (not even me) ought to stand in judgement upon anyone’s death-related foibles and coping mechanisms. However I did find myself unintentionally but unavoidably sitting upon my portable judgement seat this morning in the supermarket when I spotted battery-operated grave lights on special offer. You can deduce all that needs to be deduced by considering the name given to the object, but noticing what was on sale stirred the rich graveyard of little memories that I carry around with me. Many years ago a young woman who I know (let us call her Linda, for that is her name) lost her boyfriend. On her first visit to his grave after the funeral, she was struck by the gloominess of the place at the vespertine hour of her visit. It was winter, and the dusk gathered quickly in the late afternoon as she hurried away, upset at her boyfriend having to lie there all night on his own in the awful darkness. Next day she bought solar lights and placed them around the grave to dispel the gloom and gladden the boyfriend’s heart. She found a new boyfriend the next week and hasn’t been to the grave since.