Funeral
I've been to a couple of funerals.

Danny, a colleague of mine, was killed in a volcano accident in Hawai'i and because he'd not specified a religion as part of his personal details for our mutual employer they put him through a Hawai'ian Protestant Christian service. When his estranged family arrived (he hadn't spoken to them in years, and his wife wasn't on speaking terms with them either) a massive fight kicked-off as his family were all seriously Jewish and Danny was the most atheist chap I'd ever met. They ended up with a non-denominational service at a crematorium. One thing : he was so passionately into his work that he asked that his suit (flame retardant, that had so radically failed him) be buried with him and he went into the oven his damaged body head to foot in a v-suit, including hat and visor!

From a more sobering perspective my friend Jim in Scotland who was very, very ill several years ago made me promise that I'd ensure that when it was his funeral (which he expected to be in a matter of weeks at that time (thankfully, he's still with us)) the church would have thousands (and he meant THOUSANDS) of white candles and "Who Wants To Live Forever" (Queen) playing. Despite its' being one of my favourite songs of all time every time I hear it now I get a shiver up my spine thinking of my commitment to Jim.

Finally a funeral I attended as a student of a distant relative was planned to such an extent that Rod (a musician, hippy, and all round nice chap) had instructed everyone that there were to be no tears and everyone was to smile. The non-denominational service was beautiful and all of his friends who he lived with at the time came to the front and one at a time told everyone their favourite memory of Rod. Laughed (sombrely) more that day than I have in a long time.

Hope it's a long time before mine.
(Seismologist Have patience. In time even grass becomes milk., Thu 11 May 2006, 21:22, Reply)