Funny Things at the crem'

I think people are quite shocked at the thought of anything to do with a funeral being funny, but often there is something or other that makes for a bit of light relief and brings a bit of (unintended) laughter into the proceedings.

Some of this year's highlight's include these five:

The couple who (sitting quite centrally in the Crem') were trying to talk to each other without being noticed as the welcome was under way. After the hymn and the readings one of the family got up to say something and they began talking in a much more animated fashion and then got up and left! When I came out of the Crem' after the service they were sitting on the bench outside. Seems that they'd got the time wrong and had arrived an hour early (just as we were going in) and rushed in with them thinking it was their service.

The 'Mexican wave' service where the people on the front row sat down and seeing this, so this many of the others. Someone on the front row realised people were standing and stood up again, those who were sitting got up and those who were still up were just beginning to sit. This was repeated a couple more times and a new record of the person on the from sitting and standing six times before we got underway was set! Don't think that's going to be a record easily broken :)

An excellent, and hitherto unseen, attraction was the lady who sat on the front row fiddling with her umbrella. We were just into the committal (ashes to ashes bit) when there was an audible click (made all the louder by the fact it came in the gap before 'dust to dust') and one of the most colourful (and biggest) golf umbrellas appeared!

The person who stood up to pay tribute to the dearly departed and as they did lost their top set of dentures into the lap of a lady on the front row, rushed round, retrieved than and carried on as if nothing had happened. What a trouper!

And my favourite, thus far: The toddler who walked up during the Nunc' and disappeared behind the curtains that now concealed the coffin. The child was oblivious to the panic caused as they spent a final few moments with their great grandparent behind the curtain, but I was nearly killed in the stampede to retrieve them. Funny thing was, it only took one person to go and get them but in the end there were five people (and a toddler, now screaming in response to the panic in the adults) standing behind me to help me do the blessing!

Who ever said funerals were always the same :)

Happy Friday people