the committal - curtains for victoria
Victoria gets a nice ride in a hearse to Walton Lea Crematorium - where her dad was also cremated.
There is a delay outside the crematorium chapel and then Victoria's coffin is wheeled in. The half hour service begins. The Methodist minister talks about Victoria's favourite charities.
Soon the minister utters the words of commital
"It is no small thing to have enjoyed the sun, to have lived light in the spring, to have loved, to have thought, to have done."
"We here commit the body of our dear sister Victoria to be cremated: earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust."
"Any Road" by George Harrison starts to play and the curtains close around Victoria.
For all you fashionistas out there, this what Victoria wanted to wear for her final journey: her favorite dance outfit, blue velvet hot pants, French Connection white halter neck top, sheer shimmer tights, red "Burlesque" *Pleaser* dance shoes, silver toe ring and her wedding ring. Those rings will melt down and become blackened and mingled with Victoria's ashes
But although the handles and plaque of Victoria's coffin are made of plastic, nylon tights and plastic soles are out. According to Institute of Cemeteries and Crematoria Management (ICCM) which states: "Clothing the deceased in clothes made of natural fibres/materials is acceptable whereas plastic, nylon and other synthetic materials are not acceptable due to the impact on the environment via emissions."
The funeral director had taken off Victoria's velvet hot pants (fearing they contain synthetic fibres as well as silk), and the *Pleaser* dance shoes to leaving Victoria in her stocking feet. He should also have taken off Victoria's tights but he didn't. Perhaps he got distracted. Perhaps he wanted to preserve Victoria's modesty. Perhaps he ran his fingers along Victoria's stocking feet and felt it was right she made her final jouney in her tights.
The computer that logs time, date, duration, emissions, smoke levels, carbon monoxide, oxygen levels and the temperature in the different parts of the cremator, will record a little blip in nasty emissions as Victoria's tights ignite.
But to return to the crematorium chapel. The mourners are reciting the Lord's paryer. Not in horrible modern form, but in the form Victoria learnt at school.
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory
for ever and ever. Amen.
The minister offers a final prayer:
"I shall pass this way but once. Any good, therefore, that I can do, or any kindness I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it; for I shall not pass this way again."
and gives a blessing to the people:
"May the road rise to meet us;
May the wind be always at our back;
May the sun shine warm upon our face,
The rain fall soft upon our fields,
And until we meet again,
May God hold us in the palm of his hand Amen"
With this the mourners leave the the chapel. Once they have left the chapel, her coffin is still sitting where it had been, although the curtain has moved back again. A technician with a pole hooks Victoria's coffin and slides it straight onto an automated loader. By the time of Victoria's cremation, the technician has filled four urns from previous cremations and has two bodies cremating. Soon Victoria will be the third.
This is what Eliza Dushku (of Buffy fame) said: