The GFG Blog
2010Apr
Cremation: an alternative to burial or an alternative to bother?
Charles
Apr
13
1 comment
There’s a fine new essay by Thomas Lynch in the The Christian Century. It’s as wonderfully well written as you’d expect – seductively so. Much of what he says about the modern funeral he has said before: that it “too often replaces theology with therapy, conviction with convenience.” Here are
Dead reckoning
Charles
Apr
12
3 comments
No UK funeral director ever went far wrong by slapping a more or less stonking margin on the price of a coffin. Coffins are much cheaper to make than almost anyone would realise. An oak foil veneer MDF coffin with a trade price of £50 looks to any uneducated eye
Rocky 3
Charles
Apr
11
No Comments
Once the principal place of worship for Portlanders, who trekked here from earliest times from all parts of the island, St Andrew’s church was severely damaged by a landslip in 1675, but only finally abandoned in the mid-eighteenth century. In its ruined graveyard some of the headstones and monuments bear
Rocky 2
Charles
Apr
09
No Comments
Here’s the Royal Naval cemetery on Portland. Is there a burial ground in the UK which commands better views? There are 65 First World War burials and 103 Second World War burials. Of these, 10 are unidentified, one is a Norwegian merchant navy seaman, and one a member of the
Rocky 1
Charles
Apr
08
No Comments
This blog is on holiday in its seaside cottage on the Isle of Portland. This little island, just four miles long and two wide, is where some of the world’s best limestone has been quarried. Find out what it’s built here. Beauty comes at a price. The devastation of the
The bureaucracy of bereavement
Charles
Apr
07
2 comments
Good piece by the George Pitcher in the Daily Telegraph: I’m afraid I slipped into a daydream in church on Easter morn yesterday. It started by wondering how different the story might have been if the Jerusalem of 2,000 years ago was like the London Borough of Bromley today. The
Sense and sustainability – 2
Charles
Apr
05
3 comments
I am incredibly grateful to Cynthia Beal for this long and deeply considered response to this post. I wish I felt I were worth it, Cynthia! But I know that all readers of this blog will find in your words a great deal of food for thought. Dear Charles, Thanks
Skulduggery
Charles
Apr
04
1 comment
Hat-tip to FuneralWise.com for this cheerful story: In Guatemala City, morticians called skullmongers speed to murder scenes looking to snag customers. When rival firms meet on the street, price wars ensue. Some skullmongers offer combos: a coffin, a wake and a funeral for as little as $150. Some mongers even
George Carlin. NB: Funny
Charles
Apr
03
No Comments
What it is to die: Jung
Charles
Apr
02
5 comments
