“I didn’t (mention it)? That’s terrible… Oh Christ Almighty, what an oversight. Oh man, me big brother’s gonna kill me… Do you know I forgot to mention me mum’s passing? I can’t believe it…“
Rod Stewart, after an an interviewer had pointed out the omission from his autobiography of any reference to his mother’s death.
In the event, there wasn’t a lot of call for regulation of the funeral industry in the aftermath of the TV exposés of eyebrow-raising behind-the-scenes practices at branches of Funeral Partners Ltd, Co-operative Funeralcare and Dignity plc.
There’ll always be those who want it, of course, and some of them work in the industry. But is regulation a panacea?
Below, there’s a newsclip from NBC highlighting recent industry malpractice in California.
Above, two YouTube clips showing Daniel Mandel’s hearse on fire after he sideswiped another vehicle. In the first, you can see him leaning against his hearse smoking a cigarette, hapless and, as it happens, drunk. Police managed to get the casket out before it was engulfed. It contained the body of a holocaust victim.
It looks as if regulation may fall a long way short of a panacea.
As far as Hallowe’en surprises go, finding a gang of men hiding in coffins bound for a funeral directors would be pretty spooky.
Especially when it’s a trio of stowaway immigrants trying to enter Britain illegally.
Border Force officers made the frightening discovery while searching a lorry from Bulgaria – across the border from Dracula’s Transylvania home.
Read all abaht it in (where else?) the Daily Mail.
It’s extraordinary how biddable bolshy Brits can be when they get to a crematorium — amazing what they put up with. Presumably it’s a matter of low-to-zero expectations. You expect it to be awful. It is. Whatever.
Up in Jarrow, some people have had enough. Resident James Southern rates South Shields crematorium “wholly inadequate”. He said:
“I recently attended a service at the crematorium in South Shields.
“I have over the years been to a handful of other services there too. What strikes me is how wholly inadequate the size of the building is. I have only once been able to get inside for the service and been left standing outside on the other occasions. Notwithstanding that, the loudspeakers used to relay what’s happening inside to the gathering outside are next to useless.
“I came away from the recent service feeling that I had not been able to pay my proper respects, as I was detached from the service and both unable to see it or hear it properly. Surely the council can improve this situation so that the people of the region can bid farewell to the sons and daughters of South Tyneside in a proper and fitting manner?”
Full story in the Jarrow and Hebburn Gazette here.