Death

Yeah, It’s not the cheeriest of subjects as the festive season approaches, but Charles Dickens did okay. It’s something we all experience and not just our own, as we get older, more people we love die, be them family or friends and the way we deal with it affects us differently. Quite often there’s regret, usually because we feel guilty for not keeping in touch as much as we should, or perhaps the last words spoke were in anger and now they can’t be put right. The answer of course is pick up the phone, have a conversation while you’re both alive and instead of spending money on material crap you don’t really need, use it to go and visit an old friend and spend time with them.

Anyone would agree, there’s never a good time to die, though some days are better, let’s face it Christmas is pretty much a no, no, though with all the stress around, it’s not surprising that statistically there’s more chance of it happening, not really great ruining everyone’s festivities for the next 20 yrs. That said, it can also be a peaceful time if they were suffering, my dad died at the end of Nov 2016 and his funeral was the 9th December. In a strange way it felt quite good saying goodbye to him while everyone around had their demob head on*, it was a term he’d used many times and it made me smile.

*(It described how a soldier would get all giddy and happy as his time in the army was coming to an end, as in “to be demobbed”)

It’s also a good idea to try and avoid a loved ones birthday as well, you can lower the chances of a fatal accident as they blow out the candles, by staying in bed, though I guess if you did this every year, not only would they get suspicious, it’s also quite likely they’ll hate you for it, which kinda has the opposite effect of what you’re trying to achieve. The same goes for dying on your own birthday, look at William Shakespeare, after all the great writing’s he made during his lifetime, as soon as anyone mentions him, first thing they say is “Do you know he died on his birthday”?

Sometimes it can be healthy for your mind to try and see the humour connected with death and in my opinion no-one does this better than Monty Python. From their song “Bright side of life” to the not dead yet plaque victim in Holy grail, they’ve poked fun at our inevitable end. They did however pay it the ultimate homage in their final film, the Meaning of life, some absolute classic lines, delivered by the grim reaper himself, if you haven’t yet watched it, please do, hopefully it’ll make you smile and understand the irony of not actually eating the mousse. Ooohhh, that was a bit deep.