Busy?

Recently the weeks have been going slower than they have in the past. It feels like time has slowed down a bit, days not flying by like they used to. I don’t think this is necessarily a negative thing, I’m not sure why but I think slowing things down a bit can be good. I’ve had a bit more time on my hands since Summer began, had a chance to do some completely indulgent activities like walking over the park.

I noticed that as well as all the memorial benches that are in the park, my favourites are dedicated to the four legged variety of deceased, they have now started a little area with some tree saplings with plaques too. I’ll try to get some photos next time I’m over there, but I also like to wander without my phone sometimes and take a step away from everything.

A thought that popped in my head this week was the common question people seem to ask us. Funeral directors, porters, other staff members, they all see mortuary staff and always seem to ask the same question. Family and friends outside of work the same again.

Busy?

I’m not completely certain most of these people realise the implications of that question in our line of work. In previous jobs that meant ‘do you have many projects on at the moment?’ or ‘had many customers today?’. However now that means something entirely different and what they are in effect asking is ‘many people die recently?’.

Most of the time there is a direct correlation between number of deaths and out workload. Higher numbers means that booking people in and checking them can take a lot longer and, of course, then the number of post mortems also increases. Although in the past few weeks we’ve been focusing on other things while this side of things has slowed. It won’t be long before the weather changes and the numbers of deaths rise again but in the meantime we have lots of other things to be occupied with. I too have studying and Death Cafe keeping me busy outside of work.

Lovely silly revision cards have become a staple of my studying!

Looking ahead, August is going to be a good month and in September I have trips to Birmingham, Hartlepool and Edinburgh to squeeze in. I’m going to enjoy my slow pace of life and my free time while it lasts and before I find myself on a long journey across the country. Just bear in mind what you might be implying when you ask if work has been busy!

MG x