I went to the funeral of a friend last week. For years he'd said that the Russian national anthem was so dirge-like that he wanted it played at his funeral. His death was sudden and unexpected so it came as a surprise to find out that he had left very specific instructions. As his coffin entered the chapel the organist stopped playing her voluntary and a scratchy recording of the Red Army Ensemble singing the anthem rumbled from an old sound system. And do you know what - we all giggled! Dave had cracked his last joke from the beyond - it was a brilliant moment.

Looking at Rowana's earlier post reminded me that when my father-in-law, who was also a naval officer, died his widow asked for something with a maritime connection to be played. The only thing the organist knew that was vaguely connected with water was 'Oh Shenandoah' and she was blasting away at this while we awaited the coffin in the chapel. She, the organist, was blind and the arrangement was that the undertaker would slam the chapel door hard so that she would know when to start playing solemn music for the progress of the pall bearers. Unfortunately she was so stuck in to 'Shenandoah' that she didn't hear the door closing and the undertaker had to open and slam the door three times before he could carry on.