Cycling UK Forum

Tangled Metal wrote:You come into this world - your parents pay through taxation.
You get partly paid for healthcare - wholly paid for by taxation or you have to pay privately (eg dental work or optical care).
You die - why stop there? You pay for this as well. You don't want to pay directly? Let's have another tax and let the state decide on your funeral. Times of plenty it'll be good for those left behind. Time of austerity it'll be a bag and burnt. Possibly without family present.

Sorry to be pessimistic but you pay for everything one way or another if you're taxed. Of course you might not be paying enough to cover all the costs of your state services, there's a threshold earnings before your state contributions break even with your share of services.

Of course.

If taxation pays for all this, why not have a £500 funeral paid for too?
If you want more than a basic do, pay more.

Also, my dad died in debt and we never paid a penny for his funeral. Tell a lie, we bought the flowers.
Funerals are usually paid from the estate, and it there's no estate, the state pay. Therefore the ability of the state to pay for funerals is already allowed for.

Who gives a b****er, when I'm dead the relatives can do what makes them feel best, I won't know anything about it.
MickF, The same as you, I've no intention of dying for a long time and look forward to seeing your posts when i'm into my 90's

My Dad died last year and the service, whilst minimal, did involve Christian elements. But I felt that the people there, including myself, were not believers and it felt hollow. That made me think about my own funeral, and how to avoid that.

Sometimes I just feel myself to be atheist, pure and simple, with not expectation of anything beyond this life. At other times I feel there could be some deeper form of existence beyond this life, possibly along the lines of all individual consciousnesses returning to a central pool of consciousness. That has the Universe as God and us as part of it. Anyone who mourns me will have their own views.

So I'd prefer that their prayers or thoughts are expressed, if at all, in the informal relaxed setting of the scattering of ashes in a wild place with nature all around. Each would bring their own beliefs, or lack of them, and mourning could be just expressed through the kind of chatting that goes on during any stroll in a nice place.

Seems a bit perverse to make an expensive coffin that is soon buried or burned, wastes a lot of material I think

Cyril Haearn wrote:Seems a bit perverse to make an expensive coffin that is soon buried or burned, wastes a lot of material I think

I some times wonder if the coffin is removed if it is to be burnt, and resold? not as if you or any one else go and see you put into the furnace? Could be a nice little earner, I bet it happens some where. SO maybe the coffin should just be rented, much cheaper?

Sounds like Mick F is expecting the taxpayer to stump up for his funeral? He's not a true cornishman though so maybe he'll have to be buried at sea?

Nah!
I've done my sea-time. Can't say that I ever want to go back to it.

As for the taxpayer, I meant for the disposal of the body, not for a funeral.

My wife is buried in the local cemetery as was her wish in a double lair. It was a lovely sunny day and a much larger crowd than I expected turned up. The minister got the music mixed up due to a technical hitch but otherwise it all went smoothly. My shirt collar was drenched by the end with all these women weeping into my collar. Even case hardened nurses turned up in tears.
In due course I will join her there along with the ashes of our eldest son scattered there.
In rural areas we expect a bit more ceremony when people die I think.

My Father-in-Law wanted a low-cost, no ceremony, cardboard coffin and for his ashes to be scattered in our garden. He was true Cornish!
We bought the coffin, took it to the morgue then carried him to the crem in the back of the car.
All of this we did, then, a week later, held a happy get-together for all friends and relatives, when my wife talked first, then invited others to share stories and anecdotes.
It was a poignant but lovely afternoon, which lives in our memory far more strongly than the (usually) soul-less ceremonies we've attended, where the minister sounds bored and can't even remember the name of the deceased.
Personally, I go with Mick - I couldn't care less and I wouldn't want those who survive to shell out thousands.
Better still, use some of my log pile and have a Roman cremation in the garden, so the ashes just fall naturally into the ground.

Mick F wrote:Nah!
I've done my sea-time. Can't say that I ever want to go back to it.

As for the taxpayer, I meant for the disposal of the body, not for a funeral.

They could just chuck you down one of those really deep tin mines.

Being dead doesn’t matter to the dead person, and unless you follow particular religions the corpse is not there for reincarnation on Judgement day. But the mourning of someone close is part of what makes us human. It doesn’t have to be a massive ceremony with all the paraphernalia, but you should not deny your close ones time to say goodbye.

My father was of the opinion that he wasn’t bothered, just put him out with rubbish was his attitude too, he died quickly and suddenly. He had been out dancing with friends the night before Myself and my sister were left to organise the funeral The funeral gave closure to his partner Jackie, and many elderly relatives I forgot we had. His friends from his teens and friends from the modern day all turned out. We had a simple church service and then a cremation followed by tea the village hall, People came and told stories new and old stories remembering a life, The best memorial to anyone.
Then we had a wake large amounts of Alcohol all supplied by him, were consumed. More stories were told Music was played and people danced (my father’s favourite pastime) everybody had a goodtime. I later learned that some people I barely knew didn’t approve and thought it disrespectful, but I knew one thing if he was there he would approved and joined in.

Mick F wrote:

Tangled Metal wrote:You come into this world - your parents pay through taxation.
You get partly paid for healthcare - wholly paid for by taxation or you have to pay privately (eg dental work or optical care).
You die - why stop there? You pay for this as well. You don't want to pay directly? Let's have another tax and let the state decide on your funeral. Times of plenty it'll be good for those left behind. Time of austerity it'll be a bag and burnt. Possibly without family present.

Sorry to be pessimistic but you pay for everything one way or another if you're taxed. Of course you might not be paying enough to cover all the costs of your state services, there's a threshold earnings before your state contributions break even with your share of services.

Of course.

If taxation pays for all this, why not have a £500 funeral paid for too?
If you want more than a basic do, pay more.

Also, my dad died in debt and we never paid a penny for his funeral. Tell a lie, we bought the flowers.
Funerals are usually paid from the estate, and it there's no estate, the state pay. Therefore the ability of the state to pay for funerals is already allowed for.

£500 will not pay for even the cheapest 'funeral' which is direct cremation. The lowest price is just under a thousand. The price quoted in a previous link didn't include the professional fees of £500.
If there is nothing in an estate or relatives of a deceased don't have the means to pay, don't qualify for assistance or can't come to an arrangement with undertakers, then local authorities have a duty to make arrangements so at the end of the day it's often council tax payers who pay.

Mick F wrote:I have no intention (or expectation) of dying.

If you have no expectation of dying you are sadly misguided....

Sadly - or perhaps thankfully - life is a terminal condition. Without exception.