As I said earlier this week, I had some time off work and yesterday I had arranged to meet my friend Joely in Chelmsford before heading into London in the evening. It would appear I can't do anything or go anywhere now without checking out a graveyard or two. In Chelmsford a short walk down... Continue Reading →
The Day They Gave Me A Scalpel
I knew the day was coming, but I did not know it was so soon or I would have got crazy excited/nervous and freaked out about it! As per any day when we are conducting post-mortems in the mortuary, we started by getting the people out of the fridges and loading them onto the struts... Continue Reading →
The Arrivals Lounge at the Mortuary
I had a question during the week about what I had referred to as ‘the booking in process’. I think I’ve briefly covered what we do before but it’s definitely worth going into a bit more detail. Especially as this is something my manager has been focussed on recently and the whole process has changed... Continue Reading →
The Things That Make Us Who We Are
One of the things I love about working with the deceased is thinking about the person and who they are. One of the funeral directors that visit us always come in with a little booklet for each person, and at the front is a little blurb which can be so detailed sometimes. I always make... Continue Reading →
The Week I Discovered Cerebellums Are Really Squishy
I was the first person to arrive at the mortuary yesterday morning, and the last person to leave. I mean out of the staff who work there, not other hospital staff or the deceased just to clarify. People arrive all through the night, deceased people accompanied by alive people who place them in fridges for... Continue Reading →
Brompton Cemetery In The Sunshine
I first visited this cemetery a long time ago, I don't remember exactly when but I think I was at university... I don't even what to think about how long ago that was! In a post wedding fair haze (we decided to call yesterday (Saturday) something like 'many weddings and a funeral' but couldn't settle... Continue Reading →
The Magnificent Seven
Nope, not the 2016 film starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt, or the 1960 film of which that was the remake. I'm talking cemeteries, of course, I'm always on theme. In the 19th Century, the cemeteries of London were becoming a very serious problem. Think overcrowding, huge hygiene issues causing outbreaks of disease and just... Continue Reading →
Awards, Aromas & Anger
It would appear the busy times at the mortuary are yet to come to an end for a while. We had the busiest night on Wednesday which was a bit sad for a moment when I realised these people died on Valentines Day night! We prepared today for a busy weekend, it does make my... Continue Reading →
At Home With The Dead
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! Hope you’re having a good day no matter what, I’m still cheery even though my other half left my card and present at work. Maybe I'm cheery because Pancake Day is more my thing and yesterday I ate a lot of pancakes. Standard. Earlier this week I was pointed in the... Continue Reading →
Do I Actually Own a TV?
It was a fair question to be asked this week and got me thinking. I usually notice when I say something regularly, and of late it’s become ‘I was listening to a podcast the other day....’. Once upon a time it was ‘reading’ and ‘book’, but I seem to have become engrossed and a tad... Continue Reading →