Where are you going tonight?

[Lord Kangana]

Personally I want Going Underground, or Burn Baby burn. But I'll only be there in body and not in spirit, so I'll have little control tbh.

[William the White]

today I conducted the funeral service for the very same bloke who made the outfits for Torville and Dean when they won Gold medals for the Bolero routine! you don't get much more "in" with the stars than that!

(he was called Steve!)

Was it short for Stevedor?

Dare I ask whether Ravel featured in the funeral music?

funnily enough - no! the family went the tired old "My Way, Sinatra" route...

I do a few services for deceased stevedors, what with being near the docks...

Might I ask, as a rough percentage, how many go out to 'Simply the Best'?

I had a friend who chose his own music. The last number was 'Sympathy for the Devil'.

[thebish]

Might I ask, as a rough percentage, how many go out to 'Simply the Best'?

percentage-wise overall it would be very low - because most people still don't use contemporary music. But if you narrowed it down to include only "younger" people or people that used non-classical recorded music - it might be as high as 5%! still massively outweighed by "My Way" and "Somewhere over the rainbow" (the eva cassidy version)

my recent favourite was a 19yr old guy - who had died having spent many years of his life in a wheelchair - he had "Silver Machine" by Hawkwind...

[Bruce Rioja]

my recent favourite was a 19yr old guy - who had died having spent many years of his life in a wheelchair - he had "Silver Machine" by Hawkwind...

I remember you mentioning that, in fact, I recall it started a similar debate.

I asked re - StB as a couple of members of my parents generation have headed through the curtain to that very caterwaul.

[The Axman]

Tonight, same as every night for the last three years, I shall walk my dog. The dog goes for the exercise, the relief, the sniffing opportunities, and the craic. I go for the beer: I walk the dog ~three miles to the nearest really good Real Ale pub. On the way there and back I usually mull over the day's events and sometimes even reach conclusions, but tonight however, during the walk, I shall have to review my choice of funeral music (I didn't realise it was such a competitive field, and I've put little thought into it; if I come up with a stunner I'll let you know).

[thebish]

in the end - it's not up to you anyway! you can only leave advice - not anything that legally obligates your NoK to carry out your wishes!

[TANGODANCER]

At on time, way back, I thought of leaving a record to be played, then they went out of fashion to casettes, so I thought "oh"....then they went out of fashion in favour of CD's. If they're developed enough (and still in vogue) I might just leave a hologram and scare the shxt out of everybody by singing "House of the Rising Sun" whilst playing? my guitar.

[bobo the clown]

in the end - it's not up to you anyway! you can only leave advice - not anything that legally obligates your NoK to carry out your wishes!

Yep. A few years ago I went to see a recently ... & rather suddenly ... bereaved lady who's husband worked for me.

She said that it had always been his wish to go out to "Fly Me To The Moon" with "Fly Like An Eagle" played during and that his ashes eventually be scattered from a plane. It was fitting as he flew light aircraft.

The problem being that his sudden demise came when actually out flying (or not) his light aeroplane.

She was very concerned that 'everyone else' simply wouldn't understand. We discussed it for quite a while as, clearly, it was preying on her. In the end she decided not to play those tunes.

She did scatter the ashes as preferred though.

[William the White]

Tonight I was at the Lowry Centre Studio for a new play written by a colleague at the uni. I'm glad I saw it today. It was based on testimony of soldiers returned from Iraq and Afghanistan, and dealt with post traumatic stress. It was powerful stuff, very moving, the action played out in front of a backdrop of Picasso's Guernica, created by Art students from Bolton Uni, brilliantly.

The climax came as a soldier read out his 'final letter' - the one to be sent to next of kin if he died in action - to his mother and father. Based on an actual letter from a soldier now dead. All around the theatre you could hear the attempt to control tears, and the failures to do so.

At eleven this morning I joined the 'silence' at the university. Tonight I had a glimpse of what it was really like - partly in the playwright's voice, of course, but deeply informed by the experience of combatants struggling now with the crazed stress of coping with what they had been through.

[Wandering Willy]

I had a friend who chose his own music. The last number was 'Sympathy for the Devil'.

Is my choice also.

[TANGODANCER]

Been thinking on this topic. In terms of appropriate music to pass on by I'd be quite happy with the greaceful adagio from "Concierto Aranjuez", no words, just beautiful music. Not sure though that playing something associated personally with you doesn't actually inspire more grief to those left behind than if you just didn't bother with music at all, or maybe just go with the undertakers canned elevator selection of "Top tunes to burn your boats by". Mind you, that might include "My Way", in which case I'd do a Finegans Wake and jump back out in protest.

[Prufrock]

I remember reading somewhere one guy went through the curtain to 'Bombtrack' by Rage Against the Machine !

[TANGODANCER]

Back on topic and I've been visiting down "the village" today. Not been down there for quite a while but most of the landmarks ( pubs) still seem in evidence. My brother's just come back from a few years living in Spain and taken a grand little ground floor appartment in Little Lever. He and his wife are retired now and it's just ideal. We've been good mates as well as brothers all our lives so had a Guinness or two,caught up with lots of things and topped it off with a nice roast dinner. Grand.

[Bruce Rioja]

Back on topic and I've been visiting down "the village" today. Not been down there for quite a while but most of the landmarks ( pubs) still seem in evidence. My brother's just come back from a few years living in Spain and taken a grand little ground floor appartment in Little Lever. He and his wife are retired now and it's just ideal. We've been good mates as well as brothers all our lives so had a Guinness or two,caught up with lots of things and topped it off with a nice roast dinner. Grand.

"The Village" has nothing to do with Little Lever in modern parlance, Tango.

[TANGODANCER]

Back on topic and I've been visiting down "the village" today. Not been down there for quite a while but most of the landmarks ( pubs) still seem in evidence. My brother's just come back from a few years living in Spain and taken a grand little ground floor appartment in Little Lever. He and his wife are retired now and it's just ideal. We've been good mates as well as brothers all our lives so had a Guinness or two,caught up with lots of things and topped it off with a nice roast dinner. Grand.

"The Village" has nothing to do with Little Lever in modern parlance, Tango.

Ah, well, I guess working sixteen years across the road from the old Railway with lots of folk from there who called it that, sort of implanted it in my head. Life moves on and I'm way out of touch with Little Lever these days. Not much of an authority on modern parlance either.

[The Axman]

Once again I'm going down t'pub tonight. I've been to the same pub every single day* since my dog was old enough to walk a few miles (*except for 28 days when I've been on holiday in Scotland, when I walked even further than usual and went to different pubs; and Monday's when my usual pub is shut).
I've calculated that I've walked in that period (nearly three and a half years) 1.66 miles to the pub and 1.66 miles back Tuesday to Friday, with 1.86 miles to the pub and 1.86 miles back each Saturday and Sunday, and 0.96 miles to another pub and 0.96 miles back each Monday for a total of 4,127.47 miles.
I've further calculated that in that period I've drunk 3,832 pints.

That means I walk at 8.6mpg...

[bobo the clown]

Once again I'm going down t'pub tonight. I've been to the same pub every single day* since my dog was old enough to walk a few miles (*except for 28 days when I've been on holiday in Scotland, when I walked even further than usual and went to different pubs; and Monday's when my usual pub is shut).
I've calculated that I've walked in that period (nearly three and a half years) 1.66 miles to the pub and 1.66 miles back Tuesday to Friday, with 1.86 miles to the pub and 1.86 miles back each Saturday and Sunday, and 0.96 miles to another pub and 0.96 miles back each Monday for a total of 4,127.47 miles.
I've further calculated that in that period I've drunk 3,832 pints.

That means I walk at 8.6mpg...

Worthy ..... Worthy ..... we have another a numbers kind of guy for you to play with !!

[Wandering Willy]

The calculations are incorrect. Axman has clearly not allowed for the staggering on the way home which increases the distance for the return journeys.

[boltonboris]

Do you sit at the bar? If you don't you need to take that into account. also any toilet breaks that you take will also have to be measured.

[The Axman]

The calculations are incorrect. Axman has clearly not allowed for the staggering on the way home which increases the distance for the return journeys.

At an average three pints a night I should hope there's no staggering whatsoever!

Do you sit at the bar? If you don't you need to take that into account. also any toilet breaks that you take will also have to be measured.

No, I sit by the fire (in winter) or outside in the fresh air (in summer) and do the crossword (if I'm not being bothered by talky types like my missus) so no further calculations necessary...
but I must admit I probably need to add in a good few miles for the pee breaks.