Funeral Music

Sunday evenin, and  time on the phone to old friends - the ones in S. Devon go back to the Grammar School, the other a former colleague - all of them the sort of friends you can look shit and Death in the face with. And I know that's what I'm puttin off tonight...

The To Do list is lookin almost manageable, but one of the items not yet crossed off simply reads: Funeral Arrangements. I've been avoidin it for years, but this trip has brought it into focus... I may not get back all right. And then what?

Once I'd've said Pwah! Fantasy! But not any more. Shit happens...

From The Rough Guide to India:
"Four to five hundred (rail) crashes occur annually in India, causing between seven and eight hundred fatalities, which makes this the most dangerous rail network in the world, by a long chalk. Having said that, traveling by rail is considerably safer than using the buses. According to the most recent statistics, nearly 135,000 people died on the roads in 2010."

So tonight after tea, (I know I usually eat very late, but the timings on this blog are already set to Indian State Time,) I shall dig out the CD's and list the tracks I want played, and write out in neat those few lines from Waitin for Godot that say it all, locate the long passage in The Great Gatsby, that tells of all those who went to Jay's parties (more or less the first section of Chapter IV, always leaves me breathless), and then I shall go through my address book and mark off those I want informing ahead of the show.
Some Gatherin, eh?

There. I feel better, even before I've done it.