Today I'm angry about.....

[Dujon]

UKIP's immigration policy states the party wants an "end [to] the active promotion of the doctrine of multiculturalism by local and national government", and urges Britain to leave the European Union (EU).

I have no idea as to the rest of the UKIP platform, LK, but if that's all that's bothered the responsible authority then in my opinion the decision made seems rather strange.

[thebish]

we never get round to changing all the clocks in our house when the clocks go back or forward...

so.. this arvo - (sitting room clock) got fooled into going out an hour early to speak to a family about a funeral...

they weren't in!!

so - now it is the RIGHT time - off to try again - and it is cold and wet and dark outside now!

[Bruce Rioja]

^ How come cookers won't work these days until you've entered some or other time of day into them? According to mine it's currently 05:26 Hours.

[thebish]

^ How come cookers won't work these days until you've entered some or other time of day into them? According to mine it's currently 05:26 Hours.

^ dunno! my cooker is out of the ark and doesn't have a timer! I do remember my mother having a cooker - and the timer unit broke - which meant that she simply could not use the oven - and the quote to replace the timer unit was more than the cooker cost...

i suspect it's summat to do with a function that automatically turns the oven on and/or off while you are out - so there is a connection between the timer and the gas nozzle phlange grunion? - so probably a safety feature...

[Bruce Rioja]

But mine's electric.

When my Grandad used to describe such guff as being "Just summat else te ge wrong wi' it", he wasn't nearly as misguided as I then thought!

[thebish]

anyway - have done the visit now...

and I feel a bit weird...

down here there are not many crematoriums per square inch - it can take a long time from more remote locations to get there and back...

so... it seems (I learn today) that many people use a kind of american system - where you have the funeral at a church or chapel near where you live - and then the funeral director drives off with the body (in this case) to be cremated the next day in a "non-attended cremation"...

I don't really feel comfortable with that... no real reason why I should (the person is dead so doesn't know you're not at the crem) - but it just feels a bit weird and a bit sad to me...

I have done plenty of funerals where nobody except me (and the funeral director & bearers) have turned up - but at least in those cases - at the final moment - somebody is there to recognise that a life has passed and marks it in some way...

I suppose the crem attendant is there - and not all of them light a fag and drink a coffee whilst wanging the next one into the furnace...

maybe it's juts cos it's not what I am used to...

[thebish]

But mine's electric.

When my Grandad used to describe such guff as being "Just summat else te ge wrong wi' it", he wasn't nearly as misguided as I then thought!

and he was 150,000% right!! (see electric car windows!)

[Bruce Rioja]

down here there are not many crematoriums per square inch - it can take a long time from more remote locations to get there and back...

so... it seems (I learn today) that many people use a kind of american system - where you have the funeral at a church or chapel near where you live - and then the funeral director drives off with the body (in this case) to be cremated the next day in a "non-attended cremation"...

I don't really feel comfortable with that... no real reason why I should (the person is dead so doesn't know you're not at the crem) - but it just feels a bit weird and a bit sad to me...

Seriously, Bish. That's just saddened me, quite a bit really. If our life's run in the normal order of things then the thought of not being there as my mum goes through the curtain is absolutely unthinkable.
When my Dad's Dad passed away no-one even told him that his Dad had died until after the funeral as they didn't want to subject him to the 'hassle' of him having to get back from The Philippines, where he was working at the time. He told me how much this truly upset him and like he said "I was only a flight away". (Still, they look at me like I'm mental when I say something like I need to nip to Antwerp etc.).
So yes, I suppose it is all to do with what we're used to.
You posted on here once that you'd conducted a funeral for a guy that hoarded stuff and that no-one was there. It almost brought me to tears, and it was obvious how much it'd upset you.

[thebish]

down here there are not many crematoriums per square inch - it can take a long time from more remote locations to get there and back...

so... it seems (I learn today) that many people use a kind of american system - where you have the funeral at a church or chapel near where you live - and then the funeral director drives off with the body (in this case) to be cremated the next day in a "non-attended cremation"...

I don't really feel comfortable with that... no real reason why I should (the person is dead so doesn't know you're not at the crem) - but it just feels a bit weird and a bit sad to me...

Seriously, Bish. That's just saddened me, quite a bit really. If our life's run in the normal order of things then the thought of not being there as my mum goes through the curtain is absolutely unthinkable.
When my Dad's Dad passed away no-one even told him that his Dad had died until after the funeral as they didn't want to subject him to the 'hassle' of him having to get back from The Philippines, where he was working at the time. He told me how much this truly upset him and like he said "I was only a flight away". (Still, they look at me like I'm mental when I say something like I need to nip to Antwerp etc.).
So yes, I suppose it is all to do with what we're used to.
You posted on here once that you'd conducted a funeral for a guy that hoarded stuff and that no-one was there. It almost brought me to tears, and it was obvious how much it'd upset you.

I have conducted quite a few funeral services where there is nobody that knew them there... It's a kind of sad indictment of the increasingly fractured and ever more isolating society that we now live in...

[TANGODANCER]

I used to follow Catholic doctrine on cremation (which has changed now, although some still claim not). Since the Bible says "Ashes to ashes and dust to dust" I'm thinking it's the best option. I spent quite a few years as an altar boy at funerals almost every week, and too many at friends and relations since, and burial is a much sadder occasion ( and more stressful) than a crematorium to me. Nothing sadder than seeing a loved one put in the ground on a cold, wet winters day. Think I'll go the fire route. No "My Way" for me. Play "Ravel's Bolero" good and loud.

[bobo the clown]

I used to follow Catholic doctrine on cremation (which has changed now, although some still claim not). Since the Bible says "Ashes to ashes and dust to dust" I'm thinking it's the best option. I spent quite a few years as an altar boy at funerals almost every week, and too many at friends and relations since, and burial is a much sadder occasion ( and more stressful) than a crematorium to me. Nothing sadder than seeing a loved one put in the ground on a cold, wet winters day. Think I'll go the fire route. No "My Way" for me. Play "Ravel's Bolero" good and loud.

In Jnr3 & Jnr4 I was the 'go to' person to be altar-boy for funerals. I 'officiated' over dozens & dozens Probably 1 a week.

It meant I was sort of marked out & so never got any weddings. That was a bugger, as I may be a bob for a funeral while a wedding, being more celebratory, was good for half-a crown at least, b'stards !!

I recall 2 especially. One, a former councillor and very much an 'elder' of the town. The cortege drove away from the church toward the cemetary but, on this occasion, the cars all pulled over by the Black Dog pub, just before the hump-back bridge on Chorley New Road. Everyone piled out & into the pub & upstairs to a function room. There was a buffet & various Irish music being played & them, a little bit of commotion & I looked over & there was the deceased, in the box, proped at a jaunty angle, lid off.

My first body. Not something I was ready for. I left the room & sat of the stairs till the journey resumed.


The second was on a wet day, we'd got to Ridgemont cemetary (high over town, on Chorley Old Road) and the mourners were gathered as the hearse arrived & the coffin brought over. It was very muddly/wet clay. The quite young wife had been distraught throughout the funeral & was wailing at the graveside, propped up by family. She was, in the true sense of the word, inconsolable.

The short graveside service concluded with the traditional lowering of the coffin followed by mmourners throwing a little soil onto the coffin. At this point, as the wife through the first handful in, she decided to follow it. She threw herself down the hole, lay on the coffin, banging the lid & shouting the husbands name, saying how she loved hin & he wasn't to go. The rest of the people there were dumfounded & after a few seconds a couple of the undertakers clambered down after her and managed to get her up & out. She was covered in clay & mud, mascara down her face and still crying helplessly.

Very, very sad .... I don't think, in all the fuss, that I even got my shilling that day.

[Dujon]

Bruce, there are times when it's almost inevitable. My mother passed a month ago. She was 92. All her friends had pre-deceased her. So, in her case, there was only immediate family - almost - in attendance.

I was touched when the driver who, some years ago, used to pick her up to take her to church and then back home again, took the trouble to attend the crematorium service.

My anger came from my inability to attend her farewell. Illness precluded the travel. My siblings had lumbered me with delivering a eulogy. It's darned hard to fit into a five minute time slot the qualities of a mother of five who had lived as long as she had. Anyway, I did the deed and recorded it. My first born brother took my MP3 file and burned it to a CD which was then played in the chapel. I suspect that it must have been a novel experience for those present.

[Worthy4England]

I can recall as an altar boy attending a service for a kid younger than me, but not by much, who'd died from something called lukeamia which I knew bugger all about. It was the first time (probably) that I realised there was some shit in the world...haunted me for weeks.

[Gary the Enfield]

Last Thursday two girls from my daughter's class were followed home by two men. One walking, one in a car.

On Friday evening an 11 year old girl was subjected to a 3 hour sex attack in a local park after getting off a bus from school .

My daughter is the same age. I'm angry because I feel powerless to protect her.

She is under strict instructions not to walk home alone, to stay on the main road if followed, to alert a local shopkeeper or homeowner to call the police (but not to enter the house) but apart from meeting her at the school gates (which, given my job is impossible) there's very little else I can do.

I hope they catch the bastard who attacked the girl soon.

[thebish]

Last Thursday two girls from my daughter's class were followed home by two men. One walking, one in a car.

On Friday evening an 11 year old girl was subjected to a 3 hour sex attack in a local park after getting off a bus from school .

My daughter is the same age. I'm angry because I feel powerless to protect her.

She is under strict instructions not to walk home alone, to stay on the main road if followed, to alert a local shopkeeper or homeowner to call the police (but not to enter the house) but apart from meeting her at the school gates (which, given my job is impossible) there's very little else I can do.

I hope they catch the bastard who attacked the girl soon.

scary stuff... and - I think I know what you mean with the feeling of powerlessness.. becoming a parent, i was a little bit shocked by the strength and force of the protective instinct I have towards my kids - and the consequent feeling of powerlessness when you can't be there to sort stuff out for them - in my case, when my daughter was being bullied at school... (and it wasn't even a massively major case of bullying!!)

[bobo the clown]

Last Thursday two girls from my daughter's class were followed home by two men. One walking, one in a car.

On Friday evening an 11 year old girl was subjected to a 3 hour sex attack in a local park after getting off a bus from school .

My daughter is the same age. I'm angry because I feel powerless to protect her.

She is under strict instructions not to walk home alone, to stay on the main road if followed, to alert a local shopkeeper or homeowner to call the police (but not to enter the house) but apart from meeting her at the school gates (which, given my job is impossible) there's very little else I can do.

I hope they catch the bastard who attacked the girl soon.

scary stuff... and - I think I know what you mean with the feeling of powerlessness.. becoming a parent, i was a little bit shocked by the strength and force of the protective instinct I have towards my kids - and the consequent feeling of powerlessness when you can't be there to sort stuff out for them - in my case, when my daughter was being bullied at school... (and it wasn't even a massively major case of bullying!!)

... & you can invoke the Almighty, Vicar.

Nasty Gary. After last week I'm hoping everyone is extra vigilant. Hopefully she can recall some details & descriptions you can pass on.

[thebish]

I hope they catch the bastard who attacked the girl soon.

they have arrested a bloke this afternoon...

[plymouth wanderer]

Last Thursday two girls from my daughter's class were followed home by two men. One walking, one in a car.

On Friday evening an 11 year old girl was subjected to a 3 hour sex attack in a local park after getting off a bus from school .

My daughter is the same age. I'm angry because I feel powerless to protect her.

She is under strict instructions not to walk home alone, to stay on the main road if followed, to alert a local shopkeeper or homeowner to call the police (but not to enter the house) but apart from meeting her at the school gates (which, given my job is impossible) there's very little else I can do.

I hope they catch the bastard who attacked the girl soon.

Makes my skin crawl

Hope they catch him

Short drop and a sudden stop for that fvcker

[truewhite15]

Christmas. Or rather, its expansion over the past 10/15 years or so.

Now, I may be looking at the past with rose-coloured specs, but when I was but a wee nipper, Christmas was December. It started on the 1st, Christmas spirit naturally built up over the next 3 weeks, ended on the 25th/26th, and the Christmas spirit filtered away naturally over the next week. We put our tree and decorations up on the 1st. Christmas themed adverts only started on the 1st, and Christmas themed telly started at the same time, if not a week or so later.

These days, Christmas seems to start in mid-October. People start banging on about it so early. The themed adverts start battering us senseless just after Halloween, and the themed telly isn't too far behind. Case in point; the Coca-Cola ad. When you saw that, you knew that Christmas really was just around the corner, cos it only ever aired about the 2nd week in December. This year, I had people spotting it two weeks ago.

I look at it like this - there is a finite amount of "Christmas Spirit" every year. The 25 days it should be contained within is the perfect vessel to get people the perfect amount of enthusiastic and/or excited about it. If you start extending those 25 days to 50, or even longer, then your Christmas Spirit gets worn thin, and by the time Christmas Day rocks up, you're bored shitless of it all.

I'm not a Scrooge, I'm the most Christmassy person around from the 1st of December. But I can't be the only one who gets quite infuriated about this?

[plymouth wanderer]

Christmas. Or rather, its expansion over the past 10/15 years or so.

Now, I may be looking at the past with rose-coloured specs, but when I was but a wee nipper, Christmas was December. It started on the 1st, Christmas spirit naturally built up over the next 3 weeks, ended on the 25th/26th, and the Christmas spirit filtered away naturally over the next week. We put our tree and decorations up on the 1st. Christmas themed adverts only started on the 1st, and Christmas themed telly started at the same time, if not a week or so later.

These days, Christmas seems to start in mid-October. People start banging on about it so early. The themed adverts start battering us senseless just after Halloween, and the themed telly isn't too far behind. Case in point; the Coca-Cola ad. When you saw that, you knew that Christmas really was just around the corner, cos it only ever aired about the 2nd week in December. This year, I had people spotting it two weeks ago.

I look at it like this - there is a finite amount of "Christmas Spirit" every year. The 25 days it should be contained within is the perfect vessel to get people the perfect amount of enthusiastic and/or excited about it. If you start extending those 25 days to 50, or even longer, then your Christmas Spirit gets worn thin, and by the time Christmas Day rocks up, you're bored shitless of it all.

I'm not a Scrooge, I'm the most Christmassy person around from the 1st of December. But I can't be the only one who gets quite infuriated about this?

Golly gosh i think we agree on something