Unkempt graves should be left to RIP | Zella Compton

The bosses of a London cemetery are investigating whether they can re-use graves which have been long neglected. The move comes as space is at such a premium.
PEACEFUL: Let the graves RIPPEACEFUL: Let the graves RIP
PEACEFUL: Let the graves RIP

The thinking goes, I suppose, that if no one is doing anything to maintain the graves they might as well pop in a few more bodies.

That might sound facetious but there are plans to advertise widely to track down official plot owners, and see what can be done without causing distress.

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It makes me think about my future and what I want to happen to my remains.

I’ve decided, given that I don’t want to share a plot, that I’m all for cremation and my ashes being used as fertiliser for a tree.

There are pod-type things you can buy, with an infant tree inside, so you’re basically consumed by another living organism.

Obviously I’d like the tree that grows to be one that can seed or have a cutting taken, and shared and regrown so my family and their descendants can plant me in any or all land they own or use. Saves them visiting me if I’m in their garden right?

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I much prefer that than the thought of burial, but then that’s because I am totally inconsequential and there will never be any pilgrimages to my resting place.

Not like the fine and the famous. George Michael is in the cemetery in question, not that I’ve been, but I have seen Nicolas Cage’s mausoleum structure which he has already placed in New Orleans.

It’s a pyramid. I’m not sure how many people will make pilgrimages there though, given as at the time most of the tour group didn’t bat an eye that he was dead, or alive.

The thing about graveyards is, however, they connect us to all sorts of times in our shared history, with dates, and names and pain and grief and celebration of those who were once loved as keenly as we love those around us.

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Somehow, that desolation of graves, the unkempt, the unloved, have the power to make us feel quiet and relaxed when we’re in their presence. For me, graveyards should rest in peace.

Where Kenya and China lead, rest of world should follow

It’s pretty cool that China is banning the sale of plastic bags in cities from the end of this year and in rural communities within a few more. All those people not using plastic has to be a brilliant thing.

I was in Kenya recently where plastic bags have been banned for a long time. The difference in amounts of rubbish to other African nations was startling. In Kenya we used soft cloth bags instead of small plastic ones, when buying fruit from roadside stands.

Now China is following suit. That should mean more nations inspired to fight the next battle against single use plastics and stop this wave of contamination sinking its claws in any further.

This girl can… and without all the usual sexist comments

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I’m glad to see the latest iteration of Sport England’s This Girl Can advert.

We’ve got swimmers, climbers, joggers and more making the most of their bodies and enjoying exercise without all the veneer which can be portrayed around women exercising.

I’ve tried a few different sports and still hear misogynistic comments which are supposedly said in ‘banter’ about women and exercise. It can be pretty grim starting a new sport when those around you are younger, fitter, of a different gender, and misogynistic, so the more Sport England pushes this message and empowers the fatties to join the fitties, the better.

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