Absolutely John, but as he is an Abbé- a Catholic Church position only, as far as I know, that is hardly to be wondered at. I find it interesting that despite France being ostensibly a secular country the roots of Catholicism remain deep. Yet more oddly to me is how hard it is to visit Churches on a Sunday. I am not religious as I said but I am interested in old architecture in all its manifestations.
In another posting there is the discussion on rescuscitation, and I too have got all the details sorted out for my disposal - as cheap as possible (cardboard box et al) and cremation, so I was a bit surprised to learn that something like 80% of funerals here are burials with church service, so complexities exist everywhere.
My wife and I had the same feeling when we visited a house in the Dordogne when looking to buy. It was quite impressive at first but talk about a bad atmosphere! I christened in Dracula’s Castle (in English) and noted the smile on the French Agent’s face when I said it. That was over seven years ago and recently I saw that it was still up for sale at a rock-bottom price, but still no takers.
The CHinese have Feng Shui to explain bad vibes in a place, and only once did I see this at play and it was in an office in Budapest. It was a modern office in an old building but it really did have a bad feeling about it when you entered and I heard they had problems in retaining staff. Finally they called in an ‘expert’ on Feng Shui’ and I apart from moving the furniture about I don’t know what else, if anything he did. However there was no doubt at all the atmosphere of the place completely changed, and everybody was happy - staff and visitors alike.
I remain convinced we know very little of what surrounds us, but I also agree there are plenty of charlatans about who take advantage of that! Anyone remember ‘pet rocks’?
I find it great that you have the details sorted out for your disposal Norman.
I know what my family members want, we are all agreed on cremation with no religious service at all and the cheapest possible !
However, only some departments will accept the use of a cardboard coffin, I find that annoying, after all it’s going up in smoke so why pay for something fancy?
Have you checked that your department will accept this ?
That’s interesting Ann… I didn’t know about cardboard not being accepted, everywhere… mind you, it hasn’t been an asked-for option in the various cremations I’ve been involved with over the years…
now, I would like to know the answer… in case it does crop up…
How nice to have a good reason to visit the local Undertaker… other than a death…
Aha, another BS cult, or is it? When I was in HongKong, they had a building no one would use because of round windows the bad spirits could not escape! Would have cost a fortune to make them all square (acceptable to feng shui) So, they got a different feng shui master who declared it was fine especially after he had been paid! So ended any spiritual belief in feng shui.
Yes indeed Stella, surely if a certain temperature has to be reached then a carton is is better than varnished wood.
I know it can seem a morbid subject to some but it’s important that peoples wishes are respected and that the surving family doesn’t have a large debt to pay.
I do think that there are some organisations out there who do take advantage during a very difficult time.
In a large city like Paris, for example, everything can be organised on line at a much lower cost than having to use a ‘local funeral parlour’. I speak from experience as my partner organised everything this way for his father and also helped organise the funeral of his son’s mother.
Bit different here… the local undertakers are almost part of the family … seems every generation has used them… (in fact some of the team are related to my neighbours…)
There used to be a comedy series on tv, many years ago, can’t remember what it was called but it featured a Mr Shadrake (?) who was a local undertaker, I think.
Of course it may be one of my senior moments coming to the fore, that or the 2 euro a litre red wine !
I thought that was the case Mandy, added stress during an already heartbreaking situation.
To realise that the fees are paid for the députés here was a surprise to me, I had occasion recently to talk with some French people ‘of a certain age’ who didn’t even know that this existed …
This is outrageous. I couldn’t have any help from anyone despite asking everyone from the mutuelle to the Conseil Générale. They all knew about the desperate situation I was in.
Eventually, the Maire agreed to help but the fees have only just been paid after 3 months. I had to pay the crem fees before they would do the cremation so paid that myself.
It does seem odd that folk in Government (and families) who do earn good money… should get this help… but, I suppose this is one of the perks of a job in high places…
The amount has been cut back over the years… and this is an area which could be cut out altogether, surely… IMO
