I’ve been thinking today, and sitting. Mainly sitting, to be fair.
One of the things I was thinking about was funerals. I tend to think about funerals more than I used to, which might be a sign of something. Specifically I was thinking of wickerwork coffins, as they seem to be gaining in popularity these days. I’ve not used a large sample in my researches (four funerals in the last two years) but two of them used wicker coffins. One of them was my cousin, who had a lifetime’s commitment to safeguarding the environment. The other was a friend, who did a lot of fishing. It’s probably inappropriate, but I still smile at the thought.
I’m making no recommendations here, by the way, just showing some examples. You can also have bamboo and seagrass coffins imported from China, which tends to suggest they are less environmentally good. You can also get cardboard ones, but they only come in small sizes. I am only available in 5XL, so I’m either going to build my own from recycled boxes or go wicker. They are also available from ebay and Amazon.
Actually, I’m going to pause there. £250 for a cardboard coffin? I’m definitely making my own.
Anyway, my conclusion on funerals is that I don’t want one yet.
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was on this afternoon. It’s a great film, and at the same time it’s appalling. Devil worship, witchcraft, Celts and a sheriff called George? What were they thinking? On the other hand, it does work, and I always watch it when it’s on.
I watched Grantchester later, wondering why I bother, as the TV stories don’t draw me in the same way that the books do. While I was watching, up popped Nick Brimble, last seen as Little John with Kevin Costner in Sherwood Forest.
All in all, not one of my most profound days.
I must eat more fish.
We happened on Countryfile on Sunday evening and saw an interview with a wicker coffin maker. She was asked what made her start the business. Apparently she had been thinking about her mother and decided she’d make one for her! It makes one wonder what sort of mother-daughter relationship they had!
I have a strange sense of humour so I’m still laughing at that thought! But yes, it does make you wonder. 🙂
We had a bit of a snigger.
Glad it’s not just me.
Hehehe!
I’m with you on Grantchester. The books are delightful. The series, not so much. If the creators of the show had just followed the stories a little more faithfully, then I think the TV series would have been much better. I realize that from page to screen there must be changes, but still!
Yes, they are trying to cram too much drama in. Better to leave it a little more lightweight like Father Brown.
Hopefully, a home-made coffin would have disintegrated by the time it was needed.
Not sure whether to thank you for the positive sentiment or take exception to your slur on my workmanship! 🙂
Giggle
🙂
Those wicker coffins are quite fetching, but I can’t imagine someone’s body being carried in them. Ah well, let’s hope it’s a long way off for all of us. I do like the idea of the fisherman in his own creel; I eat rather a lot of fish because I like it, but it may or may not make me healthier. As for television, I watched the first two seasons of Grantchester and it was quite miserable where the books are not. I think they injected a lot of extra drama (if it gets too soap opera like, I just think “oh for God’s sake” and never finish watching; I stopped watching Downton and will probably not watch any more Grantchester, though I do like the cast). I hope you begin to feel better soon. And goodness, I’d never known a tree ate Roger Williams’ corpse. How about them apples?
My unfortunate dislike of fish may be the subject of a future post.
At one of the funerals they moved the wicker coffin on a trolley, at the other they used pall bearers. They may be strengthened – they definitely add plywood to the bottoms of cardboard coffins to help with moving.
As for the apples – what are the odds that you are breathing some of the air Williams breathed?
https://rsloan.newsvine.com/_news/2009/05/03/2768580-the-odds-that-youll-breathe-a-single-molecule-of-air-that-once-traveled-through-the-lungs-of-jesus
‘Anyway, my conclusion on funerals is that I don’t want one yet.’
LOL, with you on that one. Or they can just dig a hole in the garden, put me under the apple tree.
Oh, Alan Rickman was so immortally great in ‘Prince of Thieves’. *shakes fist at 2016*
Yes, a Rickman was a great villain. Shame they didn’t keep him for a sequel – Robin Hood: Return of the Sheriff. 🙂
Wicker baskets sound like a good way to go. Cremation is far better than preservation with formalin, but is still expensive and puts contaminants into the air. Nothing like feeding a tree with one’s remains. 🙂 I have always been fascinated by the story of the tree that ate Roger Williams.
http://www.rogerwilliams.org/news.htm
That’s a new story to me. Interesting and slightly eerie at the same time.
Fish doesn’t work. I eat sardines a lot with no effect. I intend to take a long time thinking about my funeral but it doesn’t do to tempt fate.
Yes, these things need proper consideration.