A close friend had died
We went to his funeral in the local Catholic church and most of us were unfamiliar with the procedure. We were at the back and couldn't see properly, but there seemed to be a lot of messing around with what sounded like crockery. The woman next to me muttered "Is he doing the washing up?"

And I thought, oh dear, here we go. Giggling during weddings is one thing (my sister and I had always done that and usually had to be separated) but a funeral - oh no....

I kept my cool until the priest (who had a foreign dialect of some kind) said "Piss be with you" and I gave an involuntary snigger. Several devout Catholics glared in my direction, and I didn't blame them.

The thing is, I'm not a teenager. How much more undignified is it to be a mad old lady giggling in church? During a funeral, ffs? The only thing that sustained me and helped me forgive myself was that the deceased would have LOVED it and would have doubtless have laughed his socks off.
(grumpy old ratbag, Fri 2 Sep 2011, 19:15, Reply)