Yesterday there was a funeral in the village. We were alerted to this by the sudden surge of traffic on the lane. By three thirty there were twenty or so cars parked in front of the church, a similar number in the car park and thirty or so on the path that marks the line of the old village walls. From the safety of the front gate we could see that a third of the 150 or so mourners wore masks.
As the service is set to begin a grass cutting tractor attempts to drive through the village. One of the undertakers storms over to tell the driver to switch off his engine while the coffin is carried into the church. ' Learn some manners' says the undertaker , although not quite in those precise words. The hearse driver, the other pall bearers and the retired Abbe all look on. The tractor driver, faced with an irate figure in a grey suit opts to do a circuit of the war memorial and head back in the direction he's just come from. 'That's not something you see every day' observes 'The Font'.
Later in the afternoon we see the old mayor. He's heading home after overseeing what he informs us is ' la toilette mortuaire'. This is a French term I'd never heard before and hope never to hear again.
8 comments:
I think Sophie knew she needed to go the other way - It is, after all, said to be bad luck if a black cat crosses your path. At least that what I've always heard.
Hmmm...so driving past a funeral in progress by chance is not OK, but having 150 mourners in a country where it is currently restricted to 30 because of the pandemic is OK.
That is indeed a video which demands further details. I remember being warned about encounters with wild boar when cycling in the mountains in Corsica.
Hari OM
... my question exactly... here in the Bonny Land, max 20 in attendance and that too kept at correct distance between parties and the hand hygiene and masks are provided at the door... and surely 'la toilette' had been attended to long before reaching this point?!! Anyway, I hope Angus is ready for the onset of the Six Nations??? YAM xx
I remember learning about comment faire la toilette d'un mort many years ago. I hadn't thought of it in a long time...
A black cat regularly uses our garden as a short cut, but so far I don't think Inca has noticed it. Judging by the occasional ferocious barking, she's certainly aware of the tabby and the huge white cat who regularly use the same route!
Happy unboxing - is that a threat or a suggestion? I'm still waiting for a parcel (birthday gift for January)from the UK, posted to me at the beginning of November last year. The local post office implies that I'll be lucky if it ever arrives and blames Brexit!
And you say nothing ever happens in your village! Cats! Goats! Huge gatherings of people! Errant lawn tractors! Washing of the dead! Sounds like it's time for a wee dram before the fire!
EU internal post labels in English? That must hurt.
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