Cock-up
by M Stevenson, NSW
Teacher, Aged 39
My grandfather's funeral pissed me off. The celebrant wasn't given much info about him I think. She talked like he'd fought in the war when he'd actually spent his service in a base next to the Glasgow shipyards. He was a plumber in ordinary life and the government prefers to keep plumbers alive in times of war. It's to do with public moral if the dunnies don't work after bombing raids. He had a good war and he always saw the funny side of it but the celebrant made it sound like he'd been on the front line and had a ton of medals. Not her fault I suppose.
He was a card-carrying atheist too and she made him sound religious. That would've got right up his nose.
My other grandfather died when I was 10. When my grandmothers die I'm going to make sure I have a hand in the funeral arrangements. They're both in their late eighties now so I'm writing out a bit of info about their favourite music and flowers and what they liked about the funeral they went to last week and so on. I don't want another cock-up like Granddad's funeral.
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