As the year continues to speed by and the world carries on behaving in more and more bizarre ways, another week has passed in a blink of an eye once again. As of today where I live now sits firmly in a Tier 2 area of the UK so I can no longer be inside with anyone who isn’t from my household which means no visiting family. It’s concerning that there seems to be rising infection rates locally to me however the impact at work is not being felt how it was in March or April. Yet. I add yet because it could happen, anything could happen in all honesty and of course I wish I knew what would happen. However there is no way of knowing what will happen now, in a week or month or even year, not exactly great for anyone’s anxiety.
That being said, the weeks speeding by does have the impact of meaning I feel like either not a lot or an awful lot happens all very quickly! On Monday the episode where I am interviewed for The People of Pathology Podcast was released which I am yet to bring myself to listen to but I have had some lovely feedback from others. I love taking part and discussing my work with others, but I would love to not worry about how I come across or sound. Dennis was great to speak to, his interest in my work was brilliant and I hope to discuss with him some more the differences between the US and the UK death industries.
On Tuesday Rachel and I hosted the October Zoom Death Cafe which was a great exploration of some death related topics with some new faces. A friend who I haven’t spoken to in a long time also attended which was lovely and I’m pleased it meant we could catch up a bit in these wild times. We began by discussing soul midwives and death doulas, a friend who is a trained soul midwife attended and was able to explain to the group what they are. Absolutely fascinating and a planned blog post topic for one day! Other topics explored included mortuary visits, animal death, how to speak to the dying and living your best lasts. That last topic was very interesting, thinking about how you would live knowing each act could be your last. For example how much pressure you could put yourself under to make a great cup of tea if it could be your last one!
On Wednesday I planned and arranged the next Death Cafe event, producing the flyer and updating the website with the details. I’m often asked what it takes to host these events, and it’s really not complicated or a lengthy process. In pre-COVID times I would have flyers made and spend a little more time gathering flyers or interesting articles to take along with me but nothing has really changed in the switch over to Zoom. The next event is on the 3rd November and if you would like to join please get in touch.
Thursday a colleague and I headed to do some Halloween shopping after work which I was very excited about all day. I spent way too much money but was chuffed to bits with the pieces I bought for my home. I am pleased that my neighbour has already commented on my display and hope I bring some smiles to faces who wander past our house.
Yesterday was a good day, we were busy at work but felt like we had done everything we needed to in good time and worked well together. There was a slightly horrid moment first thing in the morning when I discovered a hatching spider nest on my clothes that I had worn to work but I never really want to think of that ever again if I can. My husband (still fairly strange to write that even nearly two months after we got married) and I headed to the pub where we had our mini reception drinks for the evening which was nice and we bumped into some old friends who we caught up with (socially distanced of course!). We then went home and began watching The Haunting of Bly Manor. I’m not one to spook easily but it’s not for the faint hearted, we will probably continue watching this evening and I may not sleep easily for some time.
MG x
Mortuary Gem 
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